INDUSTRY MINISTER JAMES MOORE likely caused a number of folks in the Canadian subscription TV business to choke on their turkey this Thanksgiving weekend.
In a few media interviews, Moore dropped a preview bomb of this Wednesday’s Throne Speech by saying the federal Conservative government will make it its business to micromanage sectors of the economy, beginning with dismantling the TV channel packaging practices of Canadian broadcasters and broadcast distribution undertakings. “We don’t think it’s right for Canadians to have to pay for bundled television channels that they don’t watch,” he told CTV’s Question Period in an interview broadcast Sunday…
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WHILE THE CANADIAN WIRELESS world and the politicians who oversee it spent the dog days of summer 2013 barking at each other over policies they said were either wrecking the business or boosting competition (depending on your point of view) one player, Halifax-based Eastlink, remained largely silent.
While Eastlink is a big deal in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island especially, and does daily battle down East with Bell Aliant, CEO, Lee Bragg told Cartt.ca in a recent interview that adding his own voice to that cacophony would have accomplished little. And besides, even though he can’t side with government…
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TORONTO – Cineflix Media on July 25 surprised the production industry by saying it was restructuring as it pulls back from Canada to focus on the U.S. and U.K. markets. The reason given for the pivot was an "in-depth evaluation of our operations and our broadcasting client requirements."
Translation: Cineflix Media's business model on the factual side to create original series and intellectual property (IP) and sell those shows worldwide is being undermined by localized format adaptations like Big Brother Canada and Amazing Race Canada both of which have been hits for their Canadian broadcasters. "The general consensus in the…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Network Operators Consortium has filed an application with the CRTC asking that a number of new regulations be applied to cable company ISPs who are not fairly treating its members acting as third party internet access providers.
The independent TPIAs (such as Teksavvy, Primus and Telnet) who provide internet service to their customers by purchasing wholesale high speed access service from the likes of Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron say that either through malice or indifference their businesses are being seriously harmed by the cable companies and the CRTC must step in.
“This is necessary because ISPs,…
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QUISPAMSIS and TORONTO – Shaw Media has been named ‘supplier of the year’ by the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance Inc. (CCSA).
The announcement was made official at ‘Connect 2013’, CCSA’s annual conference held last week at Mont Tremblant, Québec. The CCSA recently finalized an agreement with Shaw Media in a deal that includes SD, HD, non-linear set-top box VOD and broadband rights for 18 of Shaw’s services.
“It gave us great pleasure to recognize Shaw Media as Supplier of the Year during our 20th Anniversary celebration”, said CCSA president and CEO Alyson Townsend, in the announcement. “Shaw Media has consistently proven to…
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MONT TREMBLANT – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance celebrated its 20th anniversary in grand style Monday with top notch seminars, a well-attended trade show, awards and a gala dinner which featured Canadian comic Sugar Sammy.
After an opening speech by CRTC vice-chairman telecom Peter Menzies, “unmarketing” pro Scott Stratten wowed the audience with an entertaining take on how in order to go viral, you have to give up control (and don’t sweat your logo too much). Then, with over 300 delegates at this year’s conference, the trade show floor was packed through mid-day then customer service…
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VANCOUVER – Two of the country’s biggest unions say they’re happy that Verizon has decided against entering Canada’s wireless market, but stress that should not take public focus off the problems plaguing the telecommunications industry.
The newly merged Telecommunication Workers Union (TWU) and United Steelworkers (USW) said Monday that they support parliamentary hearings and on-going public debate about Canada’s telecommunications policy.
"We clearly and consistently pointed out that giving Verizon preferential access to Canada's wireless infrastructure and spectrum would be a bad deal for Canadian workers and consumers," said Lee Riggs, national president of the TWU, which represents 13,000 Telus, Shaw and other…
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GATINEAU – Broadcasters, distributors and special interests all took predictable stances on the CRTC's proposed framework for the distribution of national news services in interventions published this week.
The comment period for the framework, which launched from the Commission's August decision to deny mandatory distribution to Sun News Network, ended on Monday night. Last-minute submissions were posted to the CRTC site Tuesday and Wednesday. The Regulator’s proposals include rules on carriage, packaging and channel placement for national news services licensed as Category C, which would categorize all such services – new and…
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OTTAWA – There simply is not a wireless services competition problem in Canada, according to a report released today by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
Wireless Competition in Canada: An Assessment argues that it’s too simplistic to draw conclusions about the state of competition by comparing Canada’s high average revenue per user (APRU) and lower penetration rates with international carriers. For instance, many countries tend to have significantly higher prepaid subscribers than in Canada and have a calling-party-pays protocol, “both of which encourage inflated user counts.”
During a press conference on Parliament Hill Thursday morning, one of the…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media’s Global is jumping into the TV Everywhere market Thursday with an app called Global Go.
GlobaI Go will live stream the network 24/7 via web, iOS or Android platforms on smart phones, tablets and home computers anywhere in Canada, plus let viewers catch-up on entire seasons of more than 20 shows for up to 60 days after the finale (versus the 2-3 episodes which are currently available for catch-up). Those shows include the likes of Rookie Blue, NCIS, Elementary and Hawaii 5.0. It also includes a two week look-ahead schedule, and an interface with intuitive search and social…
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