TORONTO – The CBC, Bell Media and Shaw Media are the top three English broadcaster recipients of Performance Envelope allocations for 2013-2014 as announced today by the Canada Media Fund.
Of the CMF’s program budget of $360.7 million, $173.3 million has been allotted in Performance Envelopes for 21 English broadcasters. CBC will receive $58.1 million, Bell Media $32.6 million and Shaw Media will receive $27.3 million. Thirteen French broadcasters will share $85.7 million, of which Radio-Canada will receive $32,7million, Groupe TVA $22 million and Astral (French) $16.4 million.
CMF’s envelope system was designed to…
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TORONTO – Fans tuning in to the third-season finale of Showcase’s original series Lost Girl this Sunday will be able to interact with their favourite characters at the same with a new mobile app for iOS and Android that launches the same day.
Lost Girl: The Game is Showcase’s all-new mobile app that connects the show’s fans worldwide by delivering a fully interactive social gaming experience. Featuring an original storyline written by the show’s staff, fans can create a customized character from the show's Fae world that they can use to navigate through mysteries set in…
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HALIFAX and FREDERICTON – Shaw Media-owned Global News announced it is rebranding its Global Maritimes operations to Global Halifax and Global New Brunswick as part of its mandate to tell more locally-focused stories.
The separation of Global Maritimes into the two new stations, which takes places April 15, moves both Global Halifax and Global New Brunswick from being an amalgamated regional news source to focusing more on local stories in both areas. Global is highlighting the move with new programming and the hiring of new on-air talent
The two stations will continue to share some…
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CALGARY, ALTA – Think a 100G network is fast? That’s so two years ago. Shaw Communications, in conjunction with Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent, announced today it has completed a successful field trial – the first in North America – of 400 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) data transmission over an existing optical link carrying live network traffic.
The trial ran over a 400-kilometre route between Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta using Shaw’s current transport network, designed for speeds up to 100 Gbps. Using Alcatel-Lucent’s 1830 PSS with the 400G Photonic Service Engine (PSE), Shaw says the technology doubled the capacity of…
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OTTAWA – Competition in Canada’s wireless industry could be hampered by more stringent spectrum licence transfer regulation, new entrants and incumbents alike are telling Industry Canada.
Rogers Communications warns the department that its proposal will lead to an inefficient market where the existing secondary trading market for spectrum licences will become limited as some operators will see their options to sell spectrum holdings constrained. These new rules could “dampen new entry by increasing the risks associated with selling their business to the highest bidder if they fail to establish a viable wireless business” and “possibly result in lawsuits by aggrieved…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Cable companies reported a modest growth in revenues and subscribers in 2012, while satellite companies recorded a decline in these categories, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial results for the industry released today.
Combined revenues for both cable and satellite companies increased by 4.2% from $13.5 billion in 2011 to $14.1 billion in 2012. Similarly, the total number of subscribers (which includes customers subscribed to IPTV services such as Bell’s Fibe TV or Telus’ Optik TV), rose by 1% from 11.4 million to 11.5 million. (We checked with the CRTC and the only…
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GATINEAU – There's no Say No To Bell campaign this time around, but most of Bell's major competitors have again told the CRTC they are strongly against the takeover of Astral Media by BCE, even with the new promises to divest English-language TV assets.
Quebecor, Rogers and Telus all said they were against the deal in submissions sent to the Commission on Friday, the deadline for interventions in the new application for change of ownership.
Quebecor Media, which owns the Vidéotron cable provider and broadcaster TVA, "asks the Commission to categorically refuse the approval of the revised application," saying it would…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire fibre-optics network provider Enmax Envision Inc. from Enmax Corp. for approximately $225 million. Enmax is a wholly owned division of the city of Calgary and is primarily an energy provider.
Envision is a data communications provider operating one of Calgary's largest fibre-optic networks and specializing in providing large bandwidth solutions to businesses that require a dedicated internet connection or need to connect multiple locations over private networks.
“This transaction catapults our growth in the competitive Calgary business marketplace, and demonstrates…
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OTTAWA – In a decision released today, the CRTC approved three of the four changes requested by Shaw Media in its application to amend certain aspects of the tangible benefits package related to the transfer of control of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc.’s broadcasting companies.
The Commission approved Shaw’s proposals to reallocate the $14 million of the tangible benefits package devoted to news and public affairs so that it would spend $6 million on a current affairs show and $8 million on the expansion of international news bureaus. It also approved the reallocation of $2.4 million…
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TORONTO – Cineflix Media Inc. announced today it has appointed Andrew Akman to the newly created position of chief operating officer.
Akman is responsible for overseeing the company’s corporate operations, information technology, and post-production. He is also responsible for setting up and overseeing the operations of partnerships and acquisitions. Andrew is based in Cineflix’s Toronto office and reports directly to co-CEOs Katherine Buck and Glen Salzman.
Akman was previously at Shaw Media, where he oversaw strategic…
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