CALGARY – Shaw Direct will introduce its customers to a new high definition PVR next week.
The Advanced HDPVR will allow customers to watch up to 175 hours of recorded programming, customize series recordings using ‘smart PVR technology’, and find out what’s on 14 days in advance thanks to a new interactive on-screen guide. It will also acts as a platform for more interactive channels and new features coming in the future, Shaw said in an annoucement.
Starting September 1st, customers can purchase the new Advanced HDPVR 630 for $399, or qualify for a current customer rental program of $15 per month.
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CALGARY – The Shaw family has purchased an additional 1,000,000 class B non-voting shares of Shaw Communications.
The Shaw family, and entities owned or controlled by them, holds 49,217,591 class A and class B shares of the company, and said that it would continue its practice of purchasing shares on a regular basis.
www.shaw.ca
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TORONTO and FENELON FALLS, Ont. – Independent cable company Cable Cable is the first non-Rogers carrier to sign up for Rogers Sportsnet One, the new 24/7 sports channel launched last week.
General manager Mike Fiorini told Cartt.ca it was a move he felt he had to make, saying there were a number of customers who expressed their frustration at not being able to find Toronto Blue Jays games on their dials. Sportsnet One had three Jays games over the past weekend and has 23 more on the schedule through the end of the baseball season.
The channel also has NHL,…
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OTTAWA – Should broadband be deemed an essential service for all Canadians in the same way as basic telephone service?
Count the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) firmly on the ‘yes’ side of that question. In a new report called Is Broadband Basic Service, the Ottawa-based consumer organization details how Canada could benefit from such a plan, and how countries like Japan and the European Union have been successful thanks to policy and infrastructure investments that make broadband service a basic right for their citizens. All of which stands in contrast to Canada where no such regime exists –…
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WHY WOULD KEITH PELLEY move to Rogers Communications? That’s the question the industry is asking this week. There are many speculative answers, but let’s try to look at some facts before we lob our own opinion-grenades.
Pelley is a sports guy. A TV guy. A sports TV guy. He’s a heck of a broadcast executive who is still riding a massive wave of goodwill generated by the stellar Winter Olympics broadcast, one which he constructed from the ground up and oversaw. He and his people did a terrific job and with a bit of downtime between now and…
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FINALLY, A CANADIAN, PUBLICLY traded wireline telco has made a real commitment to the future, despite what the country’s financial community thinks.
MTS Allstream has been absolutely crucified in the markets this month for daring to cut its quarterly dividend in order to try to properly prepare the company for what’s next by launching a $125 million fibre to the home overhaul. Good for Pierre Blouin and his team for deciding that if the company is to continue in the wired communications game and gain a real competitive advantage in its service areas, it had to make the fibre-to-the-home switch,…
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CALGARY – The Competition Bureau has cleared Shaw Communication’s $2 billion acquisition of 100% of the over-the-air and specialty television businesses of CanWest Global Communications Corp.
In an announcement on Friday, Shaw said that the Competition Bureau concluded that the transaction “will not likely give rise to a substantial lessening or prevention of competition under the Competition Act” because of a number of factors, including effective remaining competition, the effect of the regulatory environment, the absence of relevant concerns expressed by market participants and numerous alternatives available to advertisers.
"The Bureau has conducted a very thorough review and we appreciate their…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC’s proposal to include broadband as part of the basic service objective (BSO) for telcos is getting lukewarm support, at best. The Commission proposed the idea in a broad consultation on a variety of telecom matters, referred to as the “Obligation to Serve” proceeding.
MTS Allstream Inc. and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) are two that have said making broadband part of basic service would represent a logical extension of the current regime. Presently the BSO only applies to local voice services.
“Including broadband access in the Commission’s universal service objective would also recognize the…
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GATINEAU – While wireless incumbents and newcomers vehemently disagree on future auction rules, both say Industry Canada has to get a move on, and make the decisions required to open up more spectrum for more bandwidth and more products and services.
The federal government’s digital economy consultation elicited many different opinions and recommendations on how to proceed with respect to creating the right frameworks and policies going forward. But many took the opportunity to complain about current regimes.
Such was the case with Canada’s largest wireless carriers. They are using the federal government’s digital economy consultation to wail about…
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GATINEAU – Citing “serial abuse” by Shaw Communications, Telus has reiterated its demand for immediate interim relief from the CRTC over the Calgary-based cableco’s tactics when customers want to switch from Shaw Cable or Shaw Direct to Telus’ Optik TV.
It did so while lamenting the Regulator’s decision to extend and expand CRTC 2010-406, the call for comments on the customer transfer process and related competitive issues, the very thing Telus (and others) want solved. Now. As reported by Cartt.ca, the Commission (prodded by Rogers Communications) decided to extend the deadline for comments on the proceeding because it…
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