WHILE LISTENING, PERPLEXED, to Tuesday’s “Say No To Bell” press conference led by Quebecor Inc. Cogeco Inc. and Bragg Communications, I tweeted “Horse is out of the barn, is lost in the woods and the barn is on fire.”
Many of us are fond of using the “horse is out of the barn” cliché when it comes to big media mergers, noting it’s far too late now to close the door on any of it. That is undeniable, and the proposed Bell Media purchase of Astral Media is just about the last of them. The Canadian barn…
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IQALUIT – Northwestel has launched its new satellite Internet service in Nunavut, offering residents of six communities faster Internet speeds, unlimited long distance calling and more customer choice.
As part of the new service package, customers in Arviat, Baker Lake, Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Kugluktuk and Rankin Inlet may now bundle their long distance telephone and Internet services together on one bill, subscribe to unlimited Nunavut calling for $1 per month, or unlimited North American long distance for $10.95 per month.
For a limited time, Northwestel will provide and install the small satellite dish needed to access the new services for…
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MONTREAL – Second quarter profits at Quebecor’s TVA Group almost doubled, helped by the sale of its interests in two English-language specialty channels late last year.
The Montreal-based television and magazine company reported net income attributable to shareholders for the quarter ended June 30 of $23.7 million, up from $13.8 million in the same quarter of 2011. TVA said Tuesday that it realized a $12.9 million gain after selling its 51% interest in The Cave and its 50% interest in Mystery TV to Shaw Media.
Its television sector's operating income dropped by more than $2 million to $17.04 million…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment said Tuesday that it will join CBC/Radio-Canada, Rogers Media and Shaw Media in the Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX).
Unveiled in April, CPAX is an online, real-time bidding exchange service that provides advertisers and agencies with access to premium digital inventory.
With the addition of Corus, CPAX now provides buyers with a central gateway to premium Canadian digital advertising inventory across more than 150 domains in both English and French, reaching an audience of more than 16 million Canadians. Each media company maintains their unique, direct sales operations with a portion of their inventory flowing directly into…
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TORONTO – Calling all future reality TV stars, Big Brother Canada kicks off its national casting call Wednesday for the first Canadian edition of the show.
Shaw Media is offering Canadians 19 years and older the option to apply online and in person at open casting calls at select cities across Canada between August 1 and October 16. The show will air on Slice during the winter of 2013.
"Big Brother has been a top performer on Global for over a decade. Canadians love this format and we are so excited to offer them the chance to participate in the newest…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media said Wednesday that it will launch its new female-focused channel Lifetime on August 27.
Lifetime, which replaces Showcase Diva, will include series like Dance Moms, The Client List, Drop Dead Diva and The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet, plus original movies featuring A-list stars including Lindsay Lohan and Grant Bowler in Liz & Dick, acclaimed singer, songwriter and actress Jewel in Ring of Fire, and Queen Latifah in Steel Magnolias.
"Lifetime is one of the strongest female centred cable networks in the U.S., and will augment our domination of the most desirable female targeted channels in Canada,"…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Television has received the CRTC’s permission to move forward with its plans to launch British Columbia’s first all-news channel.
The English-language Category B service, which was green-lit by the Commission on Friday, will be called Global News: BC 1 and programming will include “a mix of local and regional news, traffic, weather, business, sports and entertainment information devoted to serving residents of British Columbia, with a special focus on the Vancouver/Victoria Extended Market”, according to its application.
In response to an intervention by Victoria-based local broadcaster CHEK-TV, the CRTC imposed a condition of licence that precludes Global News:…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications has made “significant progress” in restoring services to customers impacted by last week’s fire at its Calgary-based headquarters.
The company said that Shaw Court experienced extensive water damage as a result of the sprinkler systems, and that it has contingency plans in place to relocate employees throughout Calgary in order to continue business operations. Technical and IT essential staff will remain in the building 24 hours per day to monitor and support as required.
"Special thanks go out to the City of Calgary and the Calgary Fire Department for their assistance in a full evacuation…
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CALGARY – An explosion and electrical fire at Shaw Communications’ Calgary headquarters on Thursday morning has knocked out telephone and Internet services to some of its customers. No one was hurt in the incident.
According to a CBC report, the Shaw building is a "key hub" for national, provincial and municipal networking infrastructure and its back up systems failed to kick in. The cause of the fire remains unclear.
“We absolutely apologize for what has happened, and we're doing our best to restore services and we are in an emergency restoration process”, said Shaw president Peter Bissonnette. “So it may seem it's…
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OTTAWA – The Supreme Court sided with the likes of Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Telus, and Apple Thursday in a number of copyright cases related to the use of music on the Internet.
In the first case, the court determined that Internet service providers (ISPs) and other digital providers that offer music services should not have to pay copyright fees when music is downloaded, but that artists should be compensated when their music is streamed online.
In another case, broadcasters, TV service providers and movie theatres won’t have to pay fees for the music used in a film or a television show that they air. That’s…
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