By Lesley Hunter
ST. JOHN’S – Newfoundland and Labrador broadcasting icon Geoff Stirling, founding chairman of the board of Newfoundland Broadcasting, died peacefully at his home in Torbay, NL on December 21st. He was 92.
Born in St. John’s in 1921, Stirling founded the weekly newspaper Sunday Herald in 1946, now known as the Newfoundland Herald. He brought radio and commercial television to the province with the launch of CJON-AM radio in 1951, followed four years later by CJON-TV which later became known as the NTV network. In 1977 he launched the first FM radio station in Newfoundland , now known as OZ-FM .
Outside of Newfoundland, Stirling…
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MONTREAL – CTAM Canada’s newly elected board of directors for 2014 includes a number of familiar names and faces.
The executive committee is:
– Gary Pelletier from Stingray Digital as President;
– Drew Robinson from Shaw Media as Vice-President;
– Jennifer Salmon from CCSA as Secretary; and
– Jeff Taylor from Rogers Communications as Treasurer.
The newly elected 2014 board selected the new chapter executive along with committee chairperson assignments, following the last meeting of the 2013 board on December 10th.
Joining the organization are Valerie Heroux from Videotron, Anne Lavigueur from Cogeco, Lisa Purdy from BBC Kids, Andy Garrett from Eastlink, Leanne Shearer from Bell…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is expected to rule this week on Corus Entertainment’s request to buy French specialty channels Historia and Series+ and the piece of Teletoon (including its other animation brands) it does not yet own.
Corus agreed to purchase the assets last March as part of the divestitures required as conditions of Bell Media’s purchase of Astral Media. While Corus already held 50% of Teletoon/Télétoon (as well as Teletoon Retro in English and French, and the Cartoon Network) with Astral, it owned neither of the two French specialties, both of which had been split…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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– 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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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