OTTAWA – Despite a drop in prices for many high-volume talk, text and data plans, Canada’s mobile wireless prices once again rank among the highest when compared to other G7 countries and Australia, according to an annual report commissioned by Industry Canada and the CRTC.
Prepared by Ottawa’s Wall Communications, the 2015 edition of Price Comparisons of Wireline, Wireless and Internet Services in Canada and with Foreign Jurisdictions is an annual telecom services price comparison study that combines and averages wireline, mobile wireless, broadband Internet, and mobile Internet service rates, as well as bundles of these services along with basic digital TV…
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THERE ARE TWO Canadian TV carriers who offer Netflix to their customers directly via their advanced television set top boxes: Cogeco Cable and Telus Optik TV.
After seeing a recent demo of Optik TV’s impressive capabilities and living with the Cogeco TiVo system for several months, it’s become impossible to imagine what all the other carriers could possibly be waiting for. Offering Netflix to existing customers this way is an utter slam dunk.
While my wife was once ambivalent about our cable subscription and asked repeatedly if it was worth what we pay, I’d have to move into my…
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BANFF – Telling trends from fads is too often a mugs game. A peek at Amazon suggests that a book on trends seems to be written every 15 minutes and at times, here in Banff, it was frequently difficult to parse true trends from professional aspiration or wishful thinking.
But we did get some glimpses.
Canadians have over 600 television services to choose from, and one in four of us is a four screen consumer (TV, tablet, PC, phone) and the emerging bias to enhanced pick-and-pay was viewed by many as heralding more investment in programming to survive in a world…
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BANFF – Ireland (the republic), has a population of roughly 4.5 million folks, and yet it was one of the first countries to create a tax relief program for independent producers back in 1987.
That original approach is now much like the U.K. tax credit scheme. Although it still retains a penchant for encouraging doctors and dentists to invest, an approach Canada found illusory and awkward in our salad days of tax credits, it has succeeded – the Canada-Ireland co-pro Vikings series being a powerful case in point. The show has won eight major awards and been nominated for another…
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TORONTO — Juggling the daily demands of directing one of Canada’s major national news organizations, while also overseeing a structural migration to digital and maintaining journalistic integrity in the face of internal and external attempts to influence editorial decisions, is keeping the country’s top news executives on their toes.
The heads of the three major Canadian television news organizations (two of which are also the biggest radio operators) took part in a panel discussion Friday that kicked off RTDNA Canada’s annual conference in Toronto. The special “Bear Pit” panel, moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien, featured a lively…
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TORONTO — Adding some broadcast content into the mix at the Canadian Telecom Summit last week, experts from the video content creation and distribution industries discussed the challenges and opportunities arising from the advent of over-the-top services during a special panel discussion.
OTT is about a “content revolution”, said George Burger, advisor at Internet TV provider VMedia, an upstart BDU. “ a massively disruptive event…and it’s going to make the disruption that happened to the music industry, with Napster, pale in comparison completely,” Burger said.
“It’s flourishing from the consumer point of view. Consumers have never, ever had it better,”…
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VANCOUVER – Seeking to keep up with its rival Shaw, Telus is making free public Wi-Fi available at more than 8,000 hotspots across B.C. and Alberta.
Available to both Telus and non-Telus customers, the Wi-Fi network integrates with Telus' 4G wireless network, with Telus smartphones automatically establishing a secure connection to the #TELUSdirect network when they are in range. Non-Telus customers can connect to #TELUS through a splash page for the same service.
Telus said that it has been actively expanding its public Wi-Fi network since early 2014 to strategically select locations with high foot traffic and/or dwell times. Telus Wi-Fi is also…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media and the Banff World Media Festival announced the recipients of this year's Shaw Media Mentorship Programs that take place at the annual Festival from June 7-10 in Banff.
Both the Shaw Media Drama & Comedy Showrunner Training Program and Shaw Media Writer's Apprentice Program attract experienced producers, directors, and writers from across Canada each year to participate in instructive training programs that provide insights into the demands of producing and programming successful television programs.
The recipients for the 2015 Shaw Media Drama & Comedy Showrunner Training Program are:
Larry Bambrick
Andrew Carr
Josh Gal
Mike McPhaden
Raj Panikkar
The recipients for the 2015…
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TORONTO – The top-rated broadcaster's splashy, star-driven upfront presentation to ad buyers on Thursday at the Sony Centre in Toronto, featuring stars from DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Gotham and Marvel's Agent Carter, was a tour-de-force in messaging.
Staged with big screen visuals and pyrotechnics, newly-installed Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke talked about a push for data-driven TV commercials, and Perry Macdonald, senior vice president of CTV sales, told invited agencies and clients his network had the hit shows and ratings to earn media dollars quite possibly headed elsewhere in a fast-changing digital landscape.
"We deliver more and we deliver better,"…
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TORONTO – Despite relentless digital disruption and CRTC deregulation causing stormy seas for Canadian broadcasters, top Shaw Media programmer Christine Shipton on Wednesday said she isn't ready to build an ark.
The network's chief creative officer instead told Cartt.ca she remains committed to – and after the recent Los Angeles Screenings – heavily invested in, that traditional advertising stalwart – conventional TV.
"It's not like we are going to suddenly readjust our schedule because there are over-the-top competitors. It's not suddenly in our minds to make a left-turn to what we are offering," Shipton said as her network got its 2015-16…
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