Search Results for: shaw

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Bell Media kicks off French-language free preview

MONTREAL – Bell Media is making ten of its French-language specialty channels available for free to subscribers of Bell Satellite TV, Bell Fibe TV, Cogeco Cable, Shaw Direct, Videotron, and select other service providers. The month-long free preview, dubbed Le Grand Débrouillage (The Great Freeview), runs from December 12 to January 12, 2014 and includes Canal Vie, Canal D, Ztélé, Historia, Séries+, VRAK TV, Disney Junior (French), MusiquePlus, MusiMax, and RDS Info. The event also includes a contest where viewers have a chance to win $25,000.  Bell Media is promoting Le Grand Débrouillage with a multi-platform campaign on television, radio, out-of-home,… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Updated: The cake took a while to bake, but new channel for Canadian foodies launches this week

OTTAWA – Leveraging a long line of food and lifestyle programming already under his belt, Chris Knight is taking his next gig, Gusto TV, to the Canadian TV masses this week. With shows like Cook Like a Chef, Licence to Grill, The Great Canadian Food Show and Road Grill part of Knight’s pedigree Gusto is “a natural extension” to what he was already doing. The concept behind the channel came in 2009, when as he says, he looked at media concentration that was taking place then and realized “I was running out of guys to make TV shows for.” Thus… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Shaw launches apps for Treehouse, YTV

CALGARY – Shaw Communications is helping to keep kids entertained this holiday season with the launch of the Shaw Go Treehouse and Shaw Go YTV apps. Available for all iOS and Android devices, the apps give Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct subscribers on-the-go access to their favourite Treehouse and YTV programs – including SpongeBob SquarePants, Toopy and Binoo and Dora the Explorer – at no extra cost. After authenticating their account at first use, Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct customers who subscribe to Treehouse and YTV will be given instant access to an extensive catalogue of kids content.  Both apps feature… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Cogeco connects with TGV Net Mauricie

– SHAWINIGAN, QC – Cogeco Cable and TGV Net Mauricie have finalized a partnership aimed at providing businesses, organizations and residences in the Mauricie region with access to an inter-connected fibre-optic network and a range of related services. TGV Net Mauricie is a non-profit entity whose mission is to act as a ‘carrier’ providing broadband connectivity throughout the Mauricie region by having accredited service providers offer various telecommunications services to businesses, organizations and homes in the region.  This agreement allows Cogeco to offer high-speed Internet, telephone and digital television services, using the public network owned by TGV Net and its… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Shaw realigns senior management

CALGARY – Shaw Communications has tweaked its senior management structure in a move it claims will “better enable its strategic decision making ability and to improve the efficiency and enhance the customer-centric alignment of its operational management”. The company said Monday that following changes are effective immediately: – Peter Bissonnette, president, has agreed to postpone his previously announced retirement until December 2015.  In addition to his current duties, he will also assume responsibility for Shaw's regulatory and government affairs activities and strategic priorities, as well as providing support and leadership for Shaw's social responsibility activities. This is an important move for… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Analysts doubt Rogers’ new NHL power play will produce big profits

TORONTO – Rogers’ new 12-year $5.2 billion broadcast and multimedia deal with the NHL may have grabbed headlines across the country, but will likely have little impact on the company’s bottom line, say industry analysts. Rogers Communications executives said Tuesday the deal will be immediately EBITDA-accretive to its Media division, predicting an influx of $25 – $35 million in the first year, rising to more than $60 million per year after that.  But Dvai Ghose, managing director/head of research for Canaccord Genuity, pointed out that Rogers Media only accounted for 4% of the parent company’s 2013 third quarter adjusted EBITDA. In… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

The Cartt.ca Interview: CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais talks #talktv, communicating, and outcomes

AT THE 2013 Canadian Telecom Summit, just a day after the CRTC released its Wireless Code of Conduct, Commission chairman Jean-Pierre Blais told delegates, essentially, what’s good for your business should be good for the customer – and vice versa. In his June 4 speech, he quoted Mary Kay Ash, the enormously successful founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics – a brand built on direct personal relationships who said: “Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, 'Make me feel important.' Never forget this message when working with people." Blais went on to note: “Mary Kay… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Bell can to launch more community VOD channels, says CRTC

OTTAWA – Bell has received CRTC approval to launch its own community channels via video-on-demand to select official language minority communities in Ontario and Quebec. The Commission said Friday that it will amend the broadcasting licences for Bell’s terrestrial BDUs so that it is authorized to redirect up to 2% of its gross annual revenues derived from broadcasting activities to each of its English- and French-language community VOD channels in Hamilton/Niagara, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Oshawa, Ottawa, Peterborough, Stratford, Toronto and Windsor, and their surrounding areas, in Ontario. In Quebec, the communities include Drummondville (region of Centre-du-Québec), Gatineau, Joliette (region of… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CTAM CANADA: TV Everywhere challenges remain, but VOD shows new monetization promise

TORONTO – Call this a case of bad news, good news. The bad news is that TV Everywhere still faces some serious hurdles before it can really take off for cable operators, telcos and other video service providers. The good news is that video-on-demand (VOD) may be on the cusp of reaping significant ad revenues for Canadian pay TV providers. These twin assessments of the market for advanced video services emerged from the packed CTAM Canada Broadcaster Forum held Wednesday at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle Hotel. In back-to-back panel sessions, cable operators, programmers, equipment vendors, online experts, audience measurement specialists and… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

CTAM CANADA: Pick-and-pay brings more choice, risk

TORONTO – What is the best way to offer choice to your customers when the very act of choosing is personal and subjective? That was the basis of a panel entitled ‘Packaging Flexibility: Customer Choice vs. Brand Investment’ at the CTAM Canada Broadcaster Forum held Wednesday in downtown Toronto.  And that panel, a mix of broadcasters and distributors moderated by Rogers’ senior vice-president of content David Purdy, all agreed that Canadians’ ability to choose their own television channels was inevitable, whether mandated by the government, the Regulator, or driven by consumer demand. “This… Continue Reading