WE JOURNALISTS JUST love our year-end lists, don’t we? They are everywhere. However, we don’t do predictions here. They only thing I have found to be certain when trying to predict the future is that nearly all the time, the predictions are wrong.
So instead, here’s our list of 10 open questions heading into 2011.
1. How much market share will the Telus and Bell Canada IPTV services take from incumbent cable companies? The user experience of the Microsoft Mediaroom-driven Optik TV and Fibe TV is just so darn good and so darn integrated (I’d switch just for the whole-home PVR…
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OTTAWA – The death of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters appears to have been greatly exaggerated.
Months after the 84-year-old private broadcasters’ lobbying group announced plans to close up shop, it decided instead upon a major restructuring which resulted in a smaller board with a fresh mandate to focus solely on matters of collective importance for the entire broadcasting industry.
“The CAB never closed its doors," newly appointed chair Sylvie Courtemanche, who is also the VP of government relations at Corus, told Cartt.ca. “There was a thought that we were going to proceed towards a wind up, but when we started looking at the activities of…
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TORONTO – A newly formed coalition of Canada’s largest accessibility organizations, called Access 2020, will be asking the CRTC to adopt a new approach to accessibility in its May 2011 policy hearing on vertical integration.
“While current regulatory trends mean that sight- and hearing-impaired Canadians will only obtain complete access to television in thirty years, Access 2020’s goal is to achieve fully captioned and described television content within the next decade,” said Beverley Milligan, on behalf of Media Access Canada which is leading the coalition. “We will be inviting the CRTC to empower Canada’s accessibility organizations to research, test, develop…
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TORONTO – Released on December 4, Shaw Communications’ Global Television App for iPad was the number one free download on the Canadian App Store during its entire week of launch (which is not entirely unusual for new apps featuring high end video content).
The Global App for iPad offers viewers another way to access the network’s library of premium content, including full episodes of House, The Good Wife, NCIS: LA, The Office, Rookie Blue and Survivor.
"We’re always looking for innovative ways for our customers to access content whenever, wherever they want," said Peter Bissonnette, Shaw’s president, in a press release.
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NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. – Long-time head of the Canadian Cable Television Association, Michael Hind-Smith, died December 3rd from complications due to cancer. He was 80.
Hind-Smith was the longest-serving CCTA president and CEO and oversaw a period of massive growth and change in the cable business during his 15 years (1975-1990) heading the now defunct organization.
“He was such a good representative for the cable industry,” Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind told Cartt.ca in an interview. “He had some terrific battles with the CRTC (pay-TV, specialty channels, “6 and 5”, pole access) but he kept the association together for a long time….
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OTTAWA – BCE’s proposed tangible benefits associated with its bid for CTV’s television broadcasting assets “falls way short of the mark of what is expected under the CRTC’s tangible benefits policy”, says the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA).
The organization representing the interests of English-language screen-based media companies in Canada said that it warned the Commission during the Shaw/Canwest proceeding that bending on the tangible benefits policy could de facto establish a new standard.
“It is clear that BCE has mirrored its application to that of Shaw/Canwest,” said CMPA president and CEO Norm Bolen, in a statement. “Bell’s acquisition of CTV is a strategic…
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TORONTO – The future of cable is “outstanding”. Just ask Louis Audet, the president and CEO of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Cable.
Speaking with Cartt.ca prior to presenting the company’s 2010 financial results to shareholders in Toronto last week, Audet shared Cogeco’s plans for wireless, why he’s not worried about Netflix, and his thoughts on vertical integration in Canada.
“There are good reasons to believe that”, Audet said about his unshakeable belief in the cable industry’s rosy future. “It’s not a wanton statement.” A perfect example of cable’s ability to evolve is Cogeco’s plans to trial addressable advertising in Canada next year. “This…
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CALGARY – Shaw’s fire log has returned to warm the homes of Shaw and Shaw Direct customers this holiday season.
The fire log can now be found 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through January 2 on ‘The Frame’ for Shaw and Shaw Direct customers. The Frame is available on Shaw on channels 165 SD and 212 HD, while Shaw Direct customers can check their local listings.
"We’re already hearing how the Fire Log adds to Canadian holiday tradition," said president Peter Bissonnette, in the press release. "Every year, the lighting of the Shaw Fire Log ignites the holiday…
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CALGARY – Shaw will offer $500 million principal amount of 5.50% senior unsecured notes due in 2020, as well as re-open its offering of 6.75% senior unsecured notes due 2039 for an additional $400 million.
The net proceeds of this offering will be used for repayment of debt incurred under Shaw’s credit facility to complete the acquisition of the broadcasting assets of Canwest Global Communications Corp. and effect a subsequent related debt refinancing.
Closing is scheduled to occur on December 7, 2010 and, based on the closing purchase price, the effective yield of the 2020 notes and the 2039 notes, if…
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OTTAWA – Canadian children’s series Dino Dan has been named the winner of the 2010 Shaw Rocket Prize.
Produced by Toronto-based Sinking Ship Entertainment, the show stars Jason Spevack as Dan Henderson, a 10-year-old boy with an obsession for dinosaurs. It airs in Canada on TVO, Knowledge Network and Access, plus recently debuted in the U.S. on MTV Networks-owned Nick Jr.
Producers J.J. Johnson, Blair Powers and Matt Bishop received their $50,000 prize by from Heritage Minister James Moore at a ceremony in Ottawa earlier this week which celebrated the top five Canadian programs for kids aged 6-12. An international jury of…
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