TORONTO – Is Canada’s broadband infrastructure lagging or leading that of other countries?
According to a recent report by Canadian telecom consultant Mark Goldberg and Giganomics’ Suzanne Blackwell, that question can be difficult to answer. International comparative statistics have been conflicted on Canada’s broadband performance, in large part due to methodological errors in some of the research that in turn biased the resulting rankings.
The authors are particularly critical of the OECD rankings which they describes as “highly dependent on per country sampling data used”, while its penetration metrics are biased in favour of countries with smaller household sizes. Also, the OECD…
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TORONTO – The new board of the new Canadian Media Fund launching in April is new and much smaller – with a much more prominent voice from the companies which must funnel a piece of their revenue into it – but how, exactly, will the administration of this $300 million money pot change as compared to the old CTF?
The BDUs (Rogers, Shaw, Bell, et al), which have to contribute 5% of their revenues to this fund to create Canadian content challenged the way it was run almost three years ago and said they should have more…
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CALGARY – Shaw has added The Score and History Television to its high definition programming package Shaw HD Plus.
“High-Definition is in great demand with our customers," said president Peter Bissonnette, in the announcement. "Our customers can now watch History Television and The Score in full HD quality and clarity. We continue to expand our HD line-up with popular and high quality programming services and we are delighted to offer our customers these new services."
In other news, Shaw TV will once again broadcast live coverage of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds games on its community channel.
www.shaw.ca
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CALGARY – Shaw has bulked up its video-on-demand offerings to include eight prime time shows from Global, plus classic movies from the Warner Bros. collection.
Popular new and returning series, including Survivor, Lie to Me, The Good Wife, Family Guy, Glee, Bones, 90210 and NCIS, will be free on VOD to all Shaw digital TV customers until October 18, 2009. After that time, the Global programming will be offered exclusively to Shaw’s ‘Triple Play’ customers, who have the bundled product lines of digital TV, Internet and phone.
Timeless classics like Mutiny on the Bounty, Casablanca, Ben Hur, and An American in Paris have been…
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CALGARY – Just in time for Thanksgiving, Shaw is bringing ‘Turkey TV’ to its local channels and to Shaw Direct over the weekend.
Turkey TV will feature continuous coverage of a roasting turkey, surrounded by all the trimmings, including frequent bastings, fire stokings and authentic ‘snap, crackle and pop’ to add ambience to viewers’ holiday weekend plans.
Turkey TV was developed in 2006 based on Shaw’s Christmas ‘fireplace’ video, which first aired in Edmonton in 1986.
www.shaw.ca
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TORONTO – History Television will launch its HD service Thursday on Shaw Cable.
History Television joins Showcase and National Geographic Channel as Canwest’s third specialty channel to launch in high definition.
“History Television HD offers viewers an unparalleled viewing experience, combining stunning clarity with industry-leading content", said Barbara Williams, Canwest’s EVP of content, in the announcement. "With over 90% of our primetime schedule in high definition, we are committed to delivering viewers the very best programming from Canada and around the world."
The channel will be available as part of the Shaw HD Plus package. Canwest confirmed that it is currently in discussions…
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TORONTO – Bruce Claassen didn’t want to be the bad guy. He wanted to be the white knight who saved CKX-TV Brandon and used it as a springboard to build another national TV network.
With the market for smaller TV stations set in the $1-range (and with Shaw Communications having backed down from its much-ballyhooed calling-of-CTV’s-“bluff”) Claassen announced in July that his investment vehicle, Bluepoint Investments, would purchase the beleaguered station from owner CTVglobemedia as the start of Bluepoint’s grander plan to become a major media player.
But, after “trying everything to make it work,” Claassen said he made…
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OTTAWA – Charles King is leaving well-known communications and government lobbying firm Earnscliffe Strategy Group in order to become vice-president, government relations for Shaw Communications, starting October 5th.
King has been at Earnscliffe for a dozen years and knows the ins and outs of Ottawa well. He was recognized this year by The Hill Times newspaper as one of the top 100 Ottawa lobbyists.
From 1988 to 1994, he worked at the National Liberal Party Headquarters in various positions, including Executive Assistant to the President. In 1994, he joined the office of the Human Resources Development Minister and also served in…
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BRANDON – The final newscast of CKX-TV Brandon will happen tomorrow at 6 p.m., station owner CTVglobemedia told staff Thursday evening. Thirty-nine employees will lose their jobs.
The company that had announced in July that it was purchasing the station, Bluepoint Investments, has walked away from the $1 deal to buy it, a surprised CTVgm CEO Ivan Fecan told employees today, calling a letter he received from Bluepoint late Thursday an “unanticipated development”.
“Bottom line, they didn’t think there was a sustainable business without satellite coverage, which they cannot get,” said Fecan in a memo to staff.
“Brandon, like many of…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications has announced a senior note offering of $1.25 billion which it says will be used to repay debt, and could be used for “potential acquisitions”.
The senior unsecured notes will be due in 2019, and will be made available in Canada and the U.S. under Shaw’s previously filed shelf prospectus, pursuant to an agency agreement with TD Securities Inc. acting as lead agent.
Closing is scheduled to occur on October 1, 2009 and, based on the closing purchase price, the effective yield of the notes if held to maturity, is 5.692%.
Moody’s Investors Service assigned a Baa3 rating…
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