Search Results for: shaw

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

It’s time to drop “archaic” diversity of voices policy; consider more foreign ownership, says Corus CEO

TORONTO – Given how Canadians now consume video, and from where, measuring the level of industry consolidation here based on share of linear TV viewing is wrong, Corus Entertainment CEO Doug Murphy told an investors conference in Toronto Wednesday morning. Appearing at the Scotiabank Telecom, Media and Technology conference, Murphy would not comment on yesterday’s Globe and Mail report which said Shaw Communications and the Shaw family is looking to sell the company. “I’m not prepared to comment on articles, rumours, or speculation,” he said. What he was prepared to talk about was the bright future he… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

SiriusXM Canada to air every 2018 CFL season game

TORONTO – SiriusXM Canada will once again offer subscribers every game of this year’s CFL season, including regular season and playoff games, starting Thursday, June 14. Every matchup, right through the 106th Grey Cup presented by Shaw in Edmonton, and featuring the SiriusXM Kick-Off Show, will be available live to SiriusXM satellite and streaming subscribers on Canada Talks (ch. 167). French-language broadcasts of Montréal Alouettes and Ottawa RedBlackd games can be heard on Influence Franco (ch. 174). In addition to play-by-play coverage of every game, subscribers also get access to Inside the CFL on Canada Talks (ch. 167), hosted by Mick… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Upfronts 2018: How Bell Media is using strategic scale and leverage to match Netflix and Apple TV

TORONTO – Randy Lennox says he promised when first joining Bell Media from Universal Music Canada not to "do change for change's sake." But scale for scale's sake? Bulking up by bringing top U.S. premium brands like HBO, Starz, Showtime, Bloomberg and iHeartRadio into Bell Media's Canadian content tent has made size a strategy at the Toronto-based media titan. "We are committed to becoming the Canadian custodian of scalable world brands,” Bell Media CEO Lennox told Cartt.ca on Thursday ahead of his Upfront presentation in Toronto. But the focus at Bell Media isn't on bulkiness, or even synergies, but on leveraging new… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

ANALYSIS: Five questions need answers before we set new policy for a digital Canada (Question #2)

WITH THE REVIEW OF the Broadcasting Act (Telecom and Radiocom, too) now under way, as was announced Tuesday, we’re all very anxious to hear what Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly will have to say about it this weekend when she addresses the Banff International Media Fest (Cartt.ca will have a reporter in the room, of course). Now, since we’re looking at at least another year of discussion and debate, the best course of action to solve such tricky and complex policy challenges is to ask (and answer) the right questions in the right order – and right now…. Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CTS 2018: Human and machine, or how AI will transform telecom

TORONTO – Telecom companies are eager to leverage the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to process big data, improve operations and increase revenue, and it isn’t as new as we think it is. AI is already used in various ways such as automating customer service inquiries, routing customers to the proper agent and routing prospects with buying intent directly to salespeople. However, the massive growth of Internet of Things (IoT) and the exabytes of big data being produced thanks to connected everything has renewed interest in how AI can provide real value to that data. AI has the ability to fix… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

CTS 2018: Telecom execs tangle over CRTC proposals and “joke” wireless plans

TORONTO—As might be expected, Canadian telecom executives are already choosing up sides for the forthcoming battle over the CTRC's proposals for reshaping how the feds regulate and tax traditional and new media across the country. That much was evident at the Canadian Telecom Summit here late Tuesday. Speaking during the annual "Regulatory Blockbuster" panel moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O'Brien, execs representing industry incumbents and upstarts battled it out over the Commission's new recommendations to "develop better regulatory approaches that engage all audio and video services and for each to participate," producing plenty of verbal fireworks. Generally backing the… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

ISPs pledge allegiance to Feds’ low-cost broadband initiative Connecting Families

TORONTO – Rogers, Telus and SaskTel were quick to endorse Connecting Families, the new initiative designed to help make the Internet affordable to low income Canadians, announced Wednesday by Innovation, Science and Economic Development minister Navdeep Bains at the Canadian Telecom Summit. Connecting Families will invest $13.2 million over five years, starting in 2017-2018.  For $10 per month, up to 220,000 qualifying households will receive an Internet package of no less than 10 Mbps download speeds (or the fastest available) and a minimum of 100 GB of data usage each month, with no equipment or installation fees.  Families must… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Thursday’s CFL on TSN broadcasts draft Canadian musicians

TORONTO – The Canadian Football League (CFL) is kicking it up a notch for the 2018 season by adding performances by Universal Music Canada artists to its Thursday night broadcasts on TSN. Canadian Country duo The Reklaws will perform at the CFL season kickoff game on opening night when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers host the Edmonton Eskimos on June 14 at 8:00 PM ET.  Other confirmed musicians include CTV’s The Launch artists Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, the James Barker Band, Tim Hicks, The Beaches, LOUD, Kardinal Offishall, Jazz Cartier, and Chad Brownlee. TSN’s Thursday Night Football presented by The Brick will… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CTS 2018: Bains brings more spectrum for 5G and $10/month broadband for low income families

TORONTO – We’ve oft been in audiences covering dreary, news-free ministerial speeches. The Navdeep Bains keynote to the 2018 Canadian Telecom Summit today in Toronto was not that. The Innovation, Science and Economic Development minister came with a crisp, fully loaded speech which satisfied some important needs for which many of the Canadian telecom gathering’s delegates have been clamoring (and he didn’t say “middle class families” once). An issue which Summit co-founder Mark Goldberg and others have long been hounding various governments about has been the lack of a national, co-ordinated program to help connect low income families to the Internet…. Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CTS 2018: 5G will change everything, but uncertain regulatory path may slow deployment

TORONTO – Once fully deployed, the move to 5G wireless will fundamentally change how we live in Canada, but when and how that will happen is still open to much debate. That’s the message from a panel of telecom executives who gathered on Tuesday at the 2018 Telecom Summit in Toronto to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the next wireless revolution. In time, 5G will power self-driving cars, but for now it’s the federal government that is driving the 5G show in Canada and it’s taking the slow lane when it comes to releasing spectrum. While Rogers, Telus, Shaw… Continue Reading