OTTAWA – The CRTC should immediately regulate monthly contributions to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) and establish an arms length dispute resolution mechanism to deal with any concerns raised about the fund, recommended the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications in its report released Thursday.
The second recommendation of the report, The Challenges Ahead for the Canadian Television Fund, is that the government re-examine the CTF’s spending envelopes, especially with respect to the CBC/Radio-Canada.
One of the complaints of Shaw and Quebecor when they withdrew their monthly contributions earlier this year was that 37% of the CTF went…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications Inc. announced Thursday it plans to implement a two-for-one stock split of its issued and outstanding Class A participating shares and Class B non-voting participating shares.
The split has already been approved by company’s board of directors, but it must still be approved by shareholders at a special meeting in Calgary on July 10, 2007. It is also subject to regulatory approval.
The expected date of the stock split is July 30, if all approvals are received.
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LONDON – Ed Jarmain, the man widely considered to be the first to bring cable television to Canada died yesterday. He was 99.
Born and raised in London, Ont., Jarmain originally ran his father’s dry cleaning business in the city in the 1930s through the ’60s. In the 1950s, however, as one of the first families in London with a TV set, he suffered through spotty reception from U.S. signals (there were no local broadcasters at the time). As an engineer, he thought there must be a better way to get these signals.
After reading about cable and then…
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TORONTO – Digital TV channels WFN: World Fishing Network and GOLTV: Soccer 24/7 have been added to Shaw Digital Cable, channel owner Insight Sports Ltd. announced Tuesday.
“Shaw strives to provide channels our customers will appreciate and with the growing number of sports enthusiasts who subscribe to our digital television service, they will now have access to new and unique content,” said Shaw Communications President Peter Bissonnette.
The all-fishing channel WFN, on channel 152, and the all-soccer network GOLTV, on channel 151, will be on free preview until May 31. The two channels will then be added to Shaw’s…
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OTTAWA – While Shaw Cable might say that American cable channel USA Network doesn’t compete with existing Canadian services, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters begs to differ.
In February, Shaw submitted an application asking that the popular general interest channel – which is seen in 90 million American homes and is anchored by shows like Monk, The 4400, pro wrestling, a couple of Law & Orders, reruns like Walker Texas Ranger, Coach and JAG and feature films – be added to the eligible satellite list for digital distribution.
The rights to all those shows – and several others, not…
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TORONTO – Canadian animation fans will soon have two additional outlets from which to get their favourite Teletoon content.
The channel is taking some of its most popular Canadian cartoons to viewers "where and when they want them," says the press release, with the launch of two new digital services, video on demand on April 27 and mobile TV on May 15.
Building upon the recent re-branding of the network, the expansion positions Teletoon as a driver in the move towards fully integrated digital content. "Teletoon now offers a more flexible and far reaching suite of services from traditional…
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OTTAWA – If 2006 was the year of local forbearance and the fight over deregulating the wireline phone market, 2007 will be the year newcomers and incumbents wrestle over wireless.
In fact, the lobbying has already begun. Last week, as reported by Cartt.ca, Quebecor Media CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau told Ottawa’s Canadian Club that the cozy oligopoly of existing players keeps prices high, stifles innovation and ensures new wireless applications already available in other countries are slow to market in Canada.
On Monday at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, a large roomful of wireless regulatory lawyers, financial analysts,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has added NASA Television to the list of foreign TV channels eligible for carriage in digital in Canada, despite objections from CTV’s Discovery Channel.
The CRTC noted in Broadcasting Decision 2007-43 that it found “the overlap between NASA TV and The Discovery Channel or Discovery HD is minimal and that NASA TV is sufficiently different in terms of target audience, service orientation, programming genres and programming to be considered neither partially or totally competitive with The Discovery Channel or Discovery HD.”
The request to bring the U.S. channel featuring documentaries, archival programming and coverage of…
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A REPORT IN THIS morning’s Globe and Mail newspaper puts to rest any speculation about Shaw Communications being in play.
While the company’s share price has shot north of $45 recently, fuelling speculation in some quarters (again) that the company might be sold, founder and controlling shareholder JR Shaw told columnist Gordon Pitts that neither Shaw Communications nor the media company he controls, Corus Entertainment, are for sale.
Click here for the story.
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CALGARY – Continued customer growth across all its products produced improvements in consolidated service revenue, operating income, and net income at Shaw Communications.
In detailing second quarter financial results, the company also announced a dividend increase of 12% or $0.12 per share for both Class B and Class A shares.
During the quarter ending Feb. 28th, Internet and digital subscribers increased by 40,694 to 1,389,333 and by 28,641 to 725,528 respectively. Digital phone lines increased 41,721 to 292,625, basic subscribers were up 6,625 to 2,220,082, and DTH customers increased 928 to 872,562.
“We are pleased with the performance across…
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