CALGARY – Shaw Communications made its first significant restructuring move under new CEO Brad Shaw on Wednesday, letting more than 500 people go.
“About 150 were VP, director, supervisor, that sort of level,” company president Peter Bissonnette told Cartt.ca. “It was just over 500.” The payroll reduction will result in $30-$40 million in annual savings, he added.
The hardest hit areas were Calgary, where approximately 150 were let go; the Vancouver area, with about 100 cuts (including the closure of the company’s Langley warehouse); and Saskatoon, where a 58-person call centre is being shuttered (traffic to that call centre will…
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OTTAWA – Granted, it’s just another in the thousands of oft-ignored parliamentary committee reports, but a new one released today by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage wants the CRTC to hold a public hearing about whether or not the likes of Netflix, Google TV, Apple TV, etc., should be contributing funds to the Canadian television industry.
The report, “Impacts Of Private Television Ownership Changes And The Move Towards New Viewing Platforms,” was informed by five fall 2010 meeting days which heard from 21 witnesses representing Canadian media companies (big and small), carriers, producers, Continue Reading
TORONTO – Global TV and ABC will simulcast a new four part miniseries called Titanic in Spring 2012 which will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the tragic event.
Written by Oscar winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) along with producer Nigel Stafford Clark, BAFTA winner for Bleak House, the series will re-tell the Titanic’s fateful voyage from the points of view of several protagonists including a steerage passenger, a waiter, an engineer and a middle class financier. Filming begins this spring on location in Budapest, Hungary.
"Despite its legendary fate, on the whole, the Titanic remains a mystery to most, which explains…
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THUNDER BAY – Add Tbaytel to the list of IPTV providers who credit the Microsoft Mediaroom platform for smoothing the way for the rollout of video services.
After selecting the Calix B6 Ethernet Service Access Node (ESAN) for the launch of its advanced IPTV services to residential subscribers in Thunder Bay, Canada’s largest independent telco added Microsoft Mediaroom-powered TV services to its list of services last November by leveraging VDSL2 and Active Ethernet fibre access technology.
Tbaytel president and CEO Don Campbell told Cartt.ca that the VDSL2 multi-year deployment is well underway, but that it will still take “a couple of…
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CALGARY – Shaw Direct has launched a new on-line video-on-demand (VOD) library allowing customers to watch hundreds of movies and TV shows on their Internet-connected computers anywhere in Canada.
By visiting VOD.SHAWDIRECT.CA, customers may select TV shows from HGTV, Food Network and History Channel; new release movies from Universal Studios, Maple Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); or music programming from one of 40 on-line channels available on the Galaxie Broadband Player. In addition, customers with Movie Central as part of their TV package can watch its movies and shows at no additional charge.
"The entertainment landscape is changing and more…
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TORONTO – Canada’s broadcasters and telcos are rumoured to top the list of suitors interested in acquiring the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.
The OTTP confirmed Saturday that it will “explore the possibility of selling” its 66% majority share of the sports and entertainment giant which reportedly includes more than a billion dollars worth of assets ranging from Air Canada Centre to the Toronto Maple Leafs to sports channels Leafs TV, NBA TV Canada and Gol TV.
The Toronto Star published a report last December claiming that Rogers Communications was in talks to buy the…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media is building a new internal digital sales team after it transitions broadcast sales over from Postmedia Network, the company said Monday. The team will be headed up by Graeme Mackrell, who has been with Shaw Media for over 14 years.
“As digital increasingly becomes an important part of our clients marketing campaigns, we want to ensure that we have strong expertise in-house to work with our Sales and Marketing Ventures teams” said Errol Da-Ré, SVP of sales for Shaw Media, in a statement. “This will allow us to deliver highly integrated solutions across all platforms in…
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TORONTO – Global News has been chosen as the 2011 recipient of the ‘Bill Hutton Award of Excellence’ from RTNDA Canada: The Association of Electronic Journalists.
Formerly known as the ‘Friend of RTNDA Canada Award’, the award was renamed in 2009 to honour the late Bill Hutton, RTNDA Canada’s first president. The award is given to individuals or organizations which have shown a true commitment to RTNDA and the betterment of broadcast journalism in Canada.
"I’m happy that Global News continues to be a loyal friend of RTNDA Canada”, said RTNDA Canada president Andy LeBlanc, in the announcement. “Global News and…
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TORONTO – Showcase has released a national consumer advertising campaign in support of its new original series Endgame in advance of its premier on March 14 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
At the cornerstone of the campaign is a street stunt which will see eight-feet high chess pieces displayed around high-traffic areas of the downtown Toronto core. Playing on the theme of the series, the king pieces, one black and one white, appear murdered: the white piece by hanging and the black piece by a knife, both branded with the Showcase logo and Endgame tune-in. The campaign also includes transit shelter ads…
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CALGARY – Shaw has rolled out a new service that allows customers to customize their home entertainment services by choosing only the features that they love and want.
With the Shaw Plan Personalizer, customers purchase a core home entertainment and communications package that can includes Internet, digital TV (including HD channels at no additional cost), hardware options and a home phone plan, and then customize the plan exactly how they want it.
"Our customers are telling us they want more choice, more value and more freedom to choose what’s important to them," said president Peter Bissonnette in Tuesday’s announcement. “We listened, and…
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