VICTORIA – Cable television engineer Cor Maas passed away on June 7 at his home in Duncan BC after a battle with colorectal cancer. He was 68.
Maas, who had recently retired from Shaw Communications, also held roles at BCTel, Telesat, and Rogers Cablesystems before joining Shaw where he worked on Vancouver Island. He had a lifelong passion for ham radio and was an active supporter of any system using the airwaves.
Long-time colleague and friend Tony van Wouw, who began working with Maas in 1980 at Premier Communications, described him as “a dear friend” and a “walking, talking encyclopedia on…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – If the Canadian TV industry is to fend off the growing power of unregulated sources of video (yes, especially Netflix), exclusive deals on content must be allowed, Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told the CRTC Monday afternoon.
He was appearing in front of the Commission on day one of its hearing into the regulatory framework on vertically integrated corporations (those big four companies which own big broadcast assets and big distribution companies: Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor).
While noting “vertical integration is the only viable tool to allow us to protect the Canadian broadcast system,” Péladeau also…
Continue Reading
IN OUR EVER-MORE connected world, there are fewer secrets. People talk, they e-mail, they SMS, Facebook, tweet and YouTube.
They often use those outlets to speculate, pontificate, fustigate, postulate and guesstimate. Which means those “secrets” are sometimes true. Sometimes not. Sometimes educated guesses. Sometimes hopeful. Sometimes fuelled by less than good intentions.
So, it’s a good idea once in a while to take a few of those secrets and rumours floating around and ask someone in charge about them – and also to put the issues of the day facing our industry in front of someone at the top.
For this Cartt.ca…
Continue Reading
LOOKED AT THROUGH A Darwinian lens, the current Canadian television industry is at an evolutionary crossroads.
Changes in the ecosystem have resulted in a new species of TV-content provider: the non-Canadian, unregulated video sector, known as over-the-top (OTT). Among those migrating into the country are Netflix, Boxee, Apple and Google TV (oh, there are more – and more to come).
Like any addition to an environment, it’s changing the landscape, but the question is whether it’s a threat or will it be assimilated.
“We don’t see a big problem at this point. Look at OTT, whether Netflix or Apple TV or Google….
Continue Reading
BANFF – The independent production community got a close look at the new terms of trade agreement on Tuesday during a standing room only breakfast session with the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and representatives from Corus and Bell Media here at the Banff World Media Festival.
The deal, which was struck in April, applies to all independent productions produced by English-language Canadian independent television producers and private broadcasters Astral, Bell Media, Rogers Broadcasting, Shaw Media and Corus. Its terms, which came into effect on June 1st, apply to the entire life cycle of a show – from first…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Shaw Media announced today it has made a couple of new hires in its marketing department.
Sherida German has been appointed to the newly created role of senior director, marketing, Global News. In this role, she will oversee all news marketing and community relations strategy for the Global stations across the country, as well as Global National. German first the company in 1998 and most recently negotiated the largest co-marketing initiative in the company’s history with Johnson & Johnson’s brand Motrin, which resulted in brand exposure for TVtropolis and Wipeout Canada in 1,400 major national retail outlets.
She will…
Continue Reading
BANFF – Vertically integrated media companies in Canada are essential to the long term health and viability of the Canadian production industry, delegates at the 2011 Banff World Media Festival heard Sunday afternoon.
Speaking at a panel discussion called ‘Canadian Media Leaders: The State of the Nation’ here on opening day, it wasn’t a shock that representatives from Bell Media, Rogers Media and Shaw Media took that tack. But it was somewhat surprising that CBC and Astral, neither of whom is affiliated with a BDU, would agree so readily.
“There’s a lot to be said for how’s this industry has been working…
Continue Reading
BANFF – CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein is one busy guy these days – just ask him. “We have a hearing virtually every month which is unheard of”, he told Cartt.ca on Monday morning at the Banff World Festival.
A few of the biggest broadcast-related issues on his plate at the moment – the pending digital transition and the impact that the over-the-top services are having in Canada – figured prominently in his annual breakfast speech to delegates here on the confab’s first full day.
Congratulating the country’s TV broadcasters on their efforts to date to comply with August 31st deadline,…
Continue Reading
WOODSTOCK, NB – Xplornet Communications has acquired more than 1,300 satellite broadband subscribers predominantly in Alberta and B.C. from NetKaster, a division of Northwestel, the companies announced Friday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
These subscribers will migrate over to Xplornet’s network and packages starting in July.
“This kind of acquisition speaks to our aggressive growth model and follows on other similarly successful acquisitions”, said Xplornet CEO John Maduri, in the announcement. “More importantly, these new Xplornet subscribers will see the benefits of Xplornet’s 24/7 customer service, our coast to coast dealer network and constantly upgraded network. We look…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Bell’s decision to repackage Canadian specialty channel The Cave while continuing to distribute its own like-minded service and a comparable foreign service smacks of undue preference and disadvantage, the CRTC ruled Friday.
The Cave (formerly known as Men TV) is a category 1 specialty service controlled by Quebecor’s TVA Group and licensed to Shaw Television. Quebecor filed a complaint with the Commission last December over Bell’s decision to repackage it from the ‘Lifestyle 2’ package, where it had been for the past eight years, to the ‘Variety 3’ package, alleging an undue disadvantage and an undue preference…
Continue Reading
