CALGARY – Shaw Communications ended the fiscal year on a high note Thursday, after posting double digit profits for both the fourth quarter and annual period ended August 31, 2014.
Net income jumped 64% to $192 million for the quarter and rose 13% to $887 million for the 2014 fiscal year. The company said that the current periods benefitted from higher operating income before amortization and restructuring costs, lower amortization and interest expense and improved net other costs and revenue, partially offset by higher income taxes. On an annual basis, the impact of the aforementioned items was partially reduced by…
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HAMILTON and TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced today in its third quarter results that it has purchased Hamilton’s remaining independent cable company, Source Cable, for $160 million.
Source Cable is a cable, Internet, and phone service provider with approximately 26,000 homes passed and 43,000 total service units, says the Rogers press release. For years it was known as Southmount Cable, before a rebranding effort in 2003.
The company has approximately 16,000 basic cable customers, however that figure is not in the press release. Using that number, the traditional cable valuation metric over the…
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TORONTO – Four traditional Canadian telcos which not that long ago had no TV subscribers now represent about 1.3 million Canadian subscription television customers.
A key reason behind that growth has been the offer of much more flexible packaging than what had been available from their cable and satellite competitors. While the telco TV companies’ cable competitors have made strides in that direction of late, it was the availability of smaller theme packs of specialty channels and some a-la-carte offerings that set the IPTV carriers apart from their more mature competition – who stuck with larger tiers for a long…
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TORONTO – TSN is shining the spotlight on the game’s next generation of star players after forming a new partnership with College Hockey Inc. to air expanded live coverage of the 2014-15 NCAA men’s division 1 ice hockey season.
Nearly 200 NHL draft picks are currently playing NCAA Hockey and more than 30% of all NCAA Hockey players are Canadian. TSN’s live coverage consists of 37 games, including the Frozen Four championship, all of which are available for live streaming and on demand viewing to TSN subscribers through TSN Go.
“We’re very excited to showcase so many of hockey’s emerging…
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OTTAWA and CALGARY – Shaw Communications finalized a ten-year agreement with the Ottawa Convention Centre that will see the downtown venue be named Shaw Centre, effective immediately.
The partnership will provide Shaw with the opportunity to showcase its media brands and products, as well as provide visitors with free access to its carrier-grade wifi network Shaw Go WiFi. The Shaw Centre will continue to use 'Canada's Meeting Place' as its descriptor, and will continue to partner closely with Ottawa Tourism in all domestic and international marketing efforts to ensure the Centre is positioned as the premier meeting venue in Canada's Capital. …
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OTTAWA – Spectrum set asides, eligibility to purchase set-aside spectrum, and the band plan remain the primary sticking points for Canada’s wireless service providers in reply comments to Industry Canada’s consultation on the AWS-3 spectrum auction framework.
The country’s large wireless operators have panned many aspects of the department’s proposed approach to the AWS-3 auction. A 30 MHz set-aside that includes spectrum contiguous to previously auctioned AWS-1 spectrum gives new entrants a considerable leg up, they argue. Not only do they believe that the set aside is the wrong approach, they think if the department does indeed set…
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TORONTO – Soon to be launched Canadian SVOD service shomi has locked up more content after signing a multi-year deal with Starz Digital Media, the global digital and on-demand licensing and content syndication arm of Starz.
The deal includes exclusive second-window access to select Starz original series such as The White Queen, Da Vinci’s Demons, Black Sails, Magic City, Power and Spartacus.
“Our partnership with Starz brings a phenomenal mix of immersive dramas and loveable comedies to our members,” said Marni Shulman, shomi’s head of content and programming, in the news release. “Every program in this deal offers premium content for our viewers…
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TORONTO – Mystery TV will become Crime + Investigation on November 3, Shaw Media said Friday.
The re-branded channel, a partnership between Shaw Media and A+E Networks, will still offer series such Law & Order, NCIS, Rookie Blue and Haven, as well as exclusive docuseries like My Haunted House, I Killed My BFF and The Haunting of…
As part of the rebranding, Crime + Investigation will be available as a free preview to Rogers Digital customers from November 4 to December 11, 2014.
"With series that take viewers behind the crimes and into the investigations, Mystery TV has evolved into Crime +…
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CALGARY – Just in time for the start of the NHL and NBA seasons, Shaw has added TSN Go and Sportsnet Now to its TV Everywhere offering.
Available on iOS and Android devices, TSN Go will give Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct subscribers on the go access to the TSN feeds they subscribe to, including the ability to view live and on-demand content. The app will also allow for live audio streaming of TSN Radio's all-sports stations in Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal.
Shaw customers who subscribe to TSN's suite of feeds in their cable and satellite packages can…
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BANFF – Three days of great weather, stunning scenery, clean mountain air and a ton of networking and learning made for another super CCSA CONNECT conference, where much of the talk surrounded the lengthy and somewhat contentious TV Policy Review hearing.
After CRTC vice-chairman broadcasting Tom Pentefountas opened the conference Monday morning with his speech (one which pretty much stayed away from the hearing), one of the conference’s sponsors AMC’s Lesley Fields, showed she’d been listening to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV hearing when she noted she felt nervous following Pentefountas saying: “I feel the need…
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