OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has told the CRTC it will implement high definition simultaneous substitution as the Commission has previously told it to.
A December 7th letter to the Commission says the HD sim-subbing Shaw Cable and Star Choice weren’t doing, will begin being done by December 31st. Two weeks prior to that letter the CRTC set a January 15th, 2008 hearing date for Shaw to appear and explain its non-compliance.
After a complaint filed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in June that said neither Shaw Cablesystems nor its sister satellite company Star Choice were performing their…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications is again in hot regulatory water over the sponsorship messages that have appeared on its cable community channels out west.
Last week, the CRTC issued a letter decision to the company saying some of the ads appearing on Shaw TV aren’t allowed under the regulations and applied new reporting requirements to the big cableco, since this is the second such violation.
When we reported on this in 2006, we noted that the Broadcast Distribution Regulations , say cable companies are not allowed to air traditional ad spots and there are limitations on the types…
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IN 2003, WHEN THE HOUSE of Commons Heritage Committee issued the “Our Cultural Sovereignty” report (better known as the Lincoln Report) it recommended that “the existing foreign ownership limits for broadcasting and telecommunications be maintained a current levels.”
At that time, the then Canadian Alliance Party, whose leader was Stephen Harper, put out the following dissenting opinion: “The Canadian Alliance disagrees with (this recommendation). The Canadian Alliance supports relaxing foreign ownership rules on Canadian industry, including telecommunications and broadcast distribution. We suggest conducting an immediate review to determine whether to reduce or completely remove these rules.” Those very same…
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WINNIPEG – MTS Allstream says it expects growth across all metrics in 2008, not huge overall growth mind you (1% to 3% on the EBITDA line), but the company projects a solid performance in 2008.
“For the first time since 2004, MTS expects to achieve overall revenue growth for the company and each of our divisions, making 2008 the year we set MTS on a new growth trajectory,” said president and CEO Pierre Blouin.
"Clearly, our strategy is working. In 2007 we have twice increased our earnings per share target, and we are positioned to achieve the upper end…
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I READ WITH INTEREST your item, "Shaw intros voice mail through e-mail" and felt it our duty to set things straight. Aurora Cable introduced its Cablephone VOIP service in April of 2007, complete with the voice mail through e-mail feature.
My apologies to Greg Pultz of Shaw for not sharing this information with Cartt.ca when we launched. Perhaps we should note for the record that we also provide number roaming which involves a subscriber taking a router anywhere in the world and calling back to their local calling area for free.
And then there’s our foreign exchange roaming…
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TORONTO – If you’re a hockey fan with a high definition television set, you want to see as many games as possible in crisp, clear HD.
And if your favorite regional National Hockey League team is playing on Rogers Sportsnet, you don’t want to hear the technical and league reasons why there is poker on Sportsnet HD (shot in standard definition) while the game (shot in HD) appears in fuzzier analog on the SD Sportsnet channel.
The reasons why that was, was confusing enough for those of us in the industry, let alone a regular hockey fan.
Years ago,…
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TORONTO – Canada’s big three wireless incumbents will be wearing handcuffs when the advanced wireless spectrum auction begins on May 27, 2008.
Industry Minister Jim Prentice was in Toronto this afternoon to announce the rules of engagement when the federal government auctions off the 105 MHz worth of spectrum. The auction itself will take two to three weeks.
Of that spectrum, 40 MHz will be set aside for new wireless entrants to bid on alone. The remaining 65 MHz will be open to everyone. “The spectrum being set aside amounts to less than 14% of the total mobile spectrum…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has taken aim again at the Canadian Television Fund. In a full-page advertisement on the back of the sports section of Saturday’s edition of the Ottawa Citizen, Shaw asks: “What do you call a $250 million boondoggle?” The answer, also in all capital letters, reads the ad: “The Canadian Television Fund.”
The advertisement notes the CTF has lost is way, and has “little to show” for the $2.5 billion it has spent on promoting and developing quality TV programming in Canada.
“Who made the decisions to spend billions of your dollars only to achieve so…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has told Shaw Communications that it must appear at a public hearing on January 15th over the company’s apparent refusal to simultaneously substitute certain over-the-air digital television signals.
After a complaint filed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in June that said neither Shaw Cablesystems nor its sister satellite company Star Choice were performing their simultaneous substitution duties as required under the broadcast distribution undertaking regulations, the Commission issued decisions on the matter in August.
The Regulator directed Shaw Cablesystems and Star Choice, to do the sim-subbing (substituting a Canadian TV signal over an American…
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TORONTO – Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) and NDTV, two channels owned by the Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN), have launched on Shaw Cable.
SET is a Hindi-language, 24-hour general interest entertainment channel from India that is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
“We are very pleased to add both Sony and NDTV to our compelling South Asian lineup on Shaw Cable in western Canada. ATN’s flagship channel is already available on Shaw with the finest of programming from Both ZEE TV and STAR PLUS, along with ATN Alpha ETC Punjabi and B4U (Bollywood For You) the Movie…
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