CALGARY – Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct have become the first BDUs in Canada to launch AMC in high definition.
The US-based movie network, which will air the third season of the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning Mad Men, and Emmy award-winning series Breaking Bad, will launch on September 1st. Shaw HD customers will receive a three month free preview before the channel becomes part of Shaw’s ‘HD Plus’ package and Shaw Direct’s ‘HD Extra’ package in December.
"Shaw is leading the way in bringing high value HD programming into Canadian homes”, said president Peter Bissonnette, in the press release. “We…
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DAVE LEWIS HAS BEEN at this satellite thing for a long time. Thirty-one years, to be exact.
He’s worked for Telesat, Alphastar, Cancom/Star Choice, Lincsat and Ciel – just about every satellite company in the country. And he says there’s no way existing Canadian BDUs can offer up all channels in high definition without multi-billion-dollar upgrades which would include a massive consumer set top box swap-out program.
He believes the best way to deliver local-into-local TV signals – and his new company would deliver every OTA broadcaster in Canada – in high definition (including 1080p), is to start over with a…
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PRINCE RUPERT, BC – CityWest has added seven new HD channels to its digital cable line-up for customers in Prince Rupert, Port Edward and Terrace.
APTN HD, CTV West HD, City-TV HD, TVA HD, Global West HD, Raptors NBA TV HD, and The Score HD will make up a new HD-theme pack available at no extra charge for customers who currently subscribe to all of the company’s digital theme packages.
“Once you’ve seen something in high definition, it’s hard to watch anything else, so we’re committed to continue to add more high definition channels in the future”, CEO Rob Brown said…
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TORONTO – Consultations around the Canada Media Fund (CMF) will be ongoing forever, and any issues not captured in its inaugural guidelines could be incorporated later, Canadian Television Fund (CTF) president and CEO Valerie Creighton noted during a virtual townhall held Thursday.
The guidelines must be finalized and approved by the CMF board by April 1, the date the new fund is set to replace the CTF. The $300-million-plus CMF will have two streams – convergence (TV component with a tie-in to at least one other platform) and experimental (no TV connection needed).
Given the deadline to produce the guidelines, there…
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GATINEAU – One option for getting over-the-air television to every Canadian when the transition to digital happens come August 31, 2011, appears now to be off the table.
Both Shaw Direct (formerly Star Choice) and Bell TV (formerly ExpressVu) have told the CRTC that since the Regulator insists on pushing ahead with distant OTA signal charges and increasing the Local Programming Improvement Fund, they no longer have any interest in offering up their satellite platforms to help small market local broadcasters serve everyone in their contours once the transition to digital happens in 2011.
Since Bell has twice presented this “Freesat”…
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VANCOUVER and CALGARY – Novus Entertainment has filed legal proceedings with the BC Supreme Court, and plans to complain to the Competition Bureau that cable giant Shaw is offering major discounts in an attempt to steal its customers in Vancouver.
"Shaw is abusing its dominant position in the market by offering services – which it normally makes nearly 50% margins on – at a sizeable loss as a means to destroy a local competitor," said Donna Robertson, co-president and chief legal officer of Novus, in a press release on Tuesday. "The millions of existing Shaw customers paying full price should…
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VANCOUVER – Novus Entertainment is the latest independent BDU to tangle with Shaw Communications.
The privately owned company said that it is “pursuing a formal complaint” to the Competition Bureau and has begun legal proceedings with BC’s Supreme Court after Shaw allegedly begun offering major discounts on its services to Novus customers in Vancouver.
"Shaw is abusing its dominant position in the market by offering services – which it normally makes nearly 50%margins on – at a sizeable loss as a means to destroy a local competitor," said Donna Robertson, co-president and chief legal officer of Novus, in a press release. "The millions…
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OTTAWA and TORONTO – For a guy whose new company is about to jump into the competitive world of mobile communications – but only after it has been scrutinized in a very public review by the CRTC – Globalive Holdings chair and CEO Anthony Lacavera seems pretty relaxed.
Calling the upcoming review of Globalive’s ownership and control “fairly standard procedure”, Lacavera told Cartt.ca that his only moment of concern came when he read that the CRTC could take up to 120 days after the close of the hearing in September to render a decision, which could have pushed back his launch…
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VANCOUVER – The Shaw Tower in Vancouver has been awarded the highest level of environmental certification by The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), an accomplishment shared with only five other Canadian buildings.
The building, which is managed in partnership with Westbank Projects Corp., demonstrated outstanding achievements in the areas of energy and water resource management, waste and emission reduction, indoor environment and management systems. It also initiated green programs such as battery recycling, commuter ride-sharing and a joint landlord/tenant action committee, the press release detailed.
"At Shaw, we are committed to promoting sustainability and conservation practices with our employees, in…
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HAMILTON – After half a century in cable, Owen Boris decided this year, at the age of 77, it was finally time to retire.
In July of 1959, Boris launched Mountain Cable in a brand new Hamilton subdivision where aerial utilities (phone and power) weren’t allowed, meaning his system was one of the first, if not the first, to go underground.
Just prior to the launch of the cable company, Boris had been a member of the engineering team who helped create the famous, and infamous, Avro Arrow jet. When that project was killed, Boris needed something to do. He had…
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