GATINEAU – “Contrary to the assertions of some parties, there is simply no problem to solve when it comes to Canadian broadband.” Those comments from Ted Woodhead, senior VP of federal government and regulatory affairs at Telus Communications, during the company’s reply on Wednesday pretty much sum up the views of all the major incumbent ISPs when it comes to wholesale broadband access regulations which the CRTC has under review.
The big players have argued throughout the hearing that competition is alive and well in retail Internet access markets between the cable and telephone companies, and any decision that grants…
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TORONTO – Launching next Thursday for customers of Bell, Telus, Bell Aliant and EastLink is the traditional TV industry’s latest salvo in the battle to retain customers by providing more content to television subscribers on more devices at any time.
This morning at the Bell TIFF Lightbox, the company officially revealed CraveTV, a $4-a-month service which will give subscribers to a traditional TV package access to more than 10,000 hours of content on their handsets, tablets, PCs and their regular set top boxes. It will also be available soon on other platforms such as AppleTV, Chromecast and Xbox.
Costing…
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IROQUOIS, ON – Ross Video has promoted Shawn Snider to marketing product manager for its Inception Newsroom Computer System, Streamline Media Asset Management, and EZ Prompt Teleprompter solutions.
Snider, pictured, has been with Ross Video since 2007, where he started as a developer for the company’s OverDrive Automated Production Control System, and quickly rose to become an integral part of the company’s software design team.
“The market response to Inception News has exceeded our expectations and it is time to expand our product marketing team to…
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CALGARY – Shaw Business is launching an upgraded Managed WiFi solution that it says will enable hotels, resorts, casinos and conference centres of all sizes to keep up with the ever-growing demand for Internet connectivity.
Available in January 2015, Managed WiFi will deliver Internet access and a scalable WiFi solution to properties in one package at one affordable price, eliminating the need to buy these services individually while ensuring a property's bandwidth requirements are always met. It also includes a complimentary site design and analysis to determine the optimal WiFi solution for each property.
“Consumers rank Internet connectivity and WiFi availability…
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GATINEAU – The current wholesale broadband access regime has made it very difficult for new IPTV providers to compete against incumbents, argued independent ISP/IPTV provider VMedia in appearance before the CRTC’s Fibre Hearing on Friday.
Company representatives said that costing under capacity-based billing (CBB) doesn’t make sense for them and the resulting inconsistent rates affect its ability to offer a triple-play bundle of voice, Internet and TV at prices that are competitive with the incumbents.
In its opening remarks, VMedia provided details about rates it would be required to pay to access facilities from an incumbent to replicate current incumbent IPTV…
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GATINEAU – Cogeco Cable says it doesn’t need to be all or nothing when it comes to regulating wholesale access to incumbent broadband facilities. The company told the CRTC Thursday morning that establishing a framework which encourages negotiation while providing a reference rate as a backstop could help stimulate more wholesale competition.
“We’re proposing something that will actually help the markets move from a current situation with regulation to a completely deregulated market. We think we need some steps along the way so that’s why we’re proposing this approach,“ said Philippe Jetté, senior VP of technology and strategy…
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OTTAWA – While official spectrum license transfer applications were filed by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications in early September, sources tell Cartt.ca senior officials at Industry Canada have let Rogers executives know they’re unlikely to be granted control of Shaw Communications’ unused AWS wireless spectrum.
In January of 2013, as part of a larger deal, Rogers bought an option from the Calgary-based company to acquire its AWS spectrum in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Northern Ontario to be exercised when the moratorium on its sale expires. It ended September 1st and the two companies applied to…
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TORONTO – When the Xbox 360 app for Rogers/Shaw’s shomi subscription video-on-demand service is launched next week, it will be thanks largely to Digiflare, a Toronto-based TV Everywhere app developer.
Digiflare has been working with the shomi project team for the last several months on the design and implementation of the shomi Xbox 360 application, expected to be officially launched on Dec. 2. Digiflare also contributed previously to the front-end design and implementation of the shomi.com website launched in early November and is working currently on a Chromecast app, which as of yet has no announced release date.
“From our standpoint,…
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TORONTO – Once viewers are convinced to try the various TV Everywhere platforms being made available by carriers and broadcasters, keeping them engaged with great content and a seamless user experience reduces subscriber churn and leads towards making a profit from the significant investments that broadcasters have made in TVE apps and services.
A panel moderated by Cartt.ca’s Greg O’Brien at the CTAM Canada Broadcaster Forum held Wednesday at Toronto's Sony Centre saw experts from Vidéotron, Corus Entertainment and the CBC offered insight into their organizations’ current TVE services, while TVE platform experts from U.S. technology providers Accedo…
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TORONTO – TV programmers and BDUs should consider their TV Everywhere offerings as a way to retain paid TV subscribers, in the face of increasing consumer use of OTT services and the continuing trend toward channel-trimming and cable-cutting.
That was the consensus among broadcasting industry experts who spoke at CTAM Canada’s 2014 Broadcaster Forum, held on Wednesday at the Sony Centre in downtown Toronto. More than 250 were in attendance.
Gord Hendren, president and CEO of Charlton Strategic Research in Toronto, presented research done earlier this year which indicates the vast majority of paid TV subscribers are very likely…
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