YELLOWKNIFE – In preparation for local competition in its territory, incumbent Northwestel said Monday that it is rolling out a new home telephone service to its cable customers in Yellowknife.
Called Cable Home Phone, the service uses the same high-speed broadband network as the company’s Internet and cable television services, and includes traditional landline features such as call display, call waiting, call forwarding, and voicemail.
Customers may also opt to add on a new long distance plan offering unlimited, anytime long distance calling for $9.95 per month when bundled with Northwestel’s digital TV and Internet services.
“Cable Home Phone is a common…
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TORONTO – At his company’s Wednesday morning executive briefing to kick off its upfront presentations, Shaw Media president Paul Robertson told TV writers that the company’s near total lack of sports content doesn’t concern him a bit.
When compared to Rogers Media (owners of the Sportsnet brands, The Toronto Blue Jays, NFL games on Citytv and some others) and Bell Media (TSN brands, RDS, NFL games on CTV and soon, co-ownership of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment with Rogers), Shaw has almost no sports – save some professional golf on Global on the weekends.
No biggie, though, said Robertson. “You…
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TORONTO – Global is going heavy on the one-hour dramas this fall according to its new programming schedule released Wednesday at the Shaw Media ‘upfront’ presentation.
A modern-day series about detective Sherlock Holmes called Elementary topped the list of new dramas, which also includes Vegas, Chicago Fire, Last Resort and Made in Jersey. Global is also adding some new comedies into the mix, such as Mathew Perry’s Go On and Jimmy Fallon-produced Guys With Kids about three new Dads.
Viewers will also see many of their favourites returning to the network including Bones, Family Guy, Glee, Hawaii Five-0, The…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media will launch two new U.S.-based channels in Canada this fall, plus re-brand its History Television as History to match its American counterpart, the company said Wednesday at its ‘upfront’ presentation in Toronto.
Thanks to the company's partnership with A&E Networks, Canadian viewers will be able to tune in to female-skewing Lifetime, which will take the place of Showcase Diva. With a new logo and tagline – "Your life. Your time.", the channel will premier movies like Liz and Dick starring Lindsay Lohan, and The June Carter Cash Story (wt), starring singer/songwriter Jewel. Other programming will include Dance Moms,…
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TORONTO – Rogers-owned Citytv is banking on “LOL funny” to attract even more viewers this fall.
The network was the first to stage its ‘upfront’ presentation this week, unveiling its newly minted 2012-13 fall and mid-season prime-time schedule on Tuesday. Shaw Media and Bell Media are slated to hold their events on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
The schedule includes nine new comedies, including two originals set to debut mid-season, four new dramas, and the first Canadian version of reality series The Bachelor. In addition, Citytv said that 67% of its programs are returning from last year (the most of any Canadian network, it claims), noting…
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TORONTO – The end of the 2011/2012 television season sparked a war of press releases from Canada’s private broadcasters headlined by declarations like “we’re the most watched!” and “we’re growing the fastest!”
After cutting through the hype, what’s clear is that with the exception of NHL hockey, Canadian audiences still opt for the big American hit shows. Of the top 20 most-watched shows this season, The Big Bang Theory, The Amazing Race and Survivor ranked number one, two and three for total viewers, with all averaging audiences north of 2.5 million. CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada (east) ranked ninth with 2.07…
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BOSTON – In its younger days, the cable industry moved, for the times, at a pretty good speed on the technical front. While operators in the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s concentrated on signing up subscribers, delivering clear signals, and then launching an ever-increasing number of new channels, they were heavily reliant on just a couple of big suppliers and their engineers for their most important network systems.
General Instrument (Jerrold before that and now known as Google-owned Motorola) and Scientific-Atlanta (now Cisco) were the two dominant players for ages. There were lots of other suppliers of many other things,…
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BOSTON – A large contingent of Canadian cable delegates who journeyed to Boston rose to lead a standing ovation for Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind as he was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame Monday night.
Lind and five others, Ann Rallis Carlsen, CEO of Carlsen Resources; legendary CNN broadcaster Larry King; BET Networks chair and CEO Debra Lee; Lenfest Group president and CEO Gerry Lenfest; and Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner of InterMedia Partners (but best known as the CEO who turned around TCI and the fortunes of U.S. cable in the late 1990s leading the so-called “Summer…
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BANFF – Some of the country’s most notable media leaders will share their perspectives on the key issues facing the Canadian media industry at next month’s Banff World Media Festival.
Shaw Media president Paul Robertson, Bell Media president Kevin Crull, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley, and CBC Executive vice-president Kirstine Stewart will participate in a panel discussion on topics such as the impact of further consolidation and vertical integration within the media industry, as well as how the Canadian content industry can become more globally relevant.
Delegates at the event will have the opportunity to submit questions via Twitter (@BanffMedia) or on…
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TORONTO – Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has kicked off a new television campaign to help promote its descriptive audio service AMI-audio.
AMI-audio is the world's largest broadcast reading service whereby volunteers read and record current articles from newspapers and magazines, which are then broadcast on TV and online.
The campaign's 30 second TV spot features a blind man walking into a variety store. He sets up the story of an attempted robbery and then clicks on a television set to reveal the AMI audio channel where the announcer completes the news story. It is airing nationally in English Canada on a…
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