GATINEAU – Tuesday afternoon, BCE president and CEO George Cope (who looked a little grey as he fought through a bad cold) was unequivocal when it came to MPEG-4 video compression technology: Without benefits money, the company won’t do that upgrade.
Ever.
Bell’s proposed benefits package proposes an MPEG-4 conversion for Bell Satellite TV that would then see it able to carry all local OTA TV stations which are eligible for the local programming improvement fund (LPIF is a fund created by the CRTC in 2009 to assist small local TV broadcasters). Those local ‘casters have long complained that the fact…
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LOS GATOS, CA – Netflix has done so well since its launch in Canada four months ago that it is planning to expand in to a second international market later this year.
In a letter to shareholders earlier this week detailing the company’s Q4 financial results, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings described the company’s Canadian results as “excellent”, and predicted that the service will have between 750,000 and 900,000 Canadian subscribers by the end of March, 2011.
While Netflix declined to specifically break out the current number of Canadian customers, it did report 3.08 million new subscribers overall in its fourth…
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OTTAWA – BCE insists that it does not have to pay tangible benefits on its proposed acquisition of CTVglobemedia, noting requiring it to pay a second time is inconsistent with Commission policy.
In reply comments, the company argues that it paid a $230 million benefits package in 2000 when it first acquired CTV and despite the decision to sell an 85% stake in the broadcaster in 2006, it never relinquished control and therefore shouldn’t be required to pay again.
“If the Commission were to require that the same acquirer (BCE) pay tangible benefits on the same assets (CTV) on…
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TORONTO – Global Television’s original drama series Combat Hospital has been picked up by ABC, Shaw Media said Monday.
The 13 episode series, the second Global series to be picked up by the U.S. network, will air in simulcast with ABC this summer (airdates TBC). Set in a hospital inspired by the Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan, Combat Hospital charts the frantic lives of the hospital’s resident doctors and nurses from Canada, America, the UK and other allied countries.
“With the record setting success of Rookie Blue, we’re looking forward to partnering with ABC on another…
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U.S. CABLE OPERATORS likely ended up generating a record US$5 billion in commercial services revenue in 2010, up 25% from $4 billion in 2009, according to the latest data (figures in US dollars).
What’s more, the three largest American MSOs all scaled the $1 billion threshold for business services revenue for the first time last year. In December, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications all indicated that they would easily clear the $1 billion mark for 2010.
Speaking at a Light Reading conference on cable business services in New York recently, Craig Collins, senior vice-president of services sales and marketing…
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MARKING A STUNNING break with the past, North American cable operators are now embracing telco-like PON (passive optical network) technology to deliver multimedia services over fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks.
In a key move signaling this change, CableLabs recently announced that it would shortly issue a new set of standards for leveraging Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) technology on fibre lines. The planned new specs are designed to provide a common way of using DOCSIS provisioning and back-office systems for supporting EPON-based fiber networks. Known as DOCSIS Provisioning of EPON (DPoE), the specs are intended primarily for commercial-class IP and Ethernet…
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THE CRTC MUST ENSURE that independent broadcasters have sufficient access to distribution in the wake of the BCE Inc. proposed acquisition of CTVglobemedia, say those ‘casters.
As well, the Commission has to force BCE to pay the full benefits to producers in the form of 10% of the transaction’s entire $3.2-billion value, say some of those producers. These are two of the critical issues that the CRTC will have to stickhandle once it begins hearing arguments on the proposed transaction on February 1st.
Generally, Bell’s fellow distributors are in favour of the transaction. But they say that safeguards need to…
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“COME WITH ME. I’LL show you why I wanted to be president of the CBC.”
Those were CBC president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix’s first words to me last week as we sat down in the meeting room overlooking the Montreal skyline and St. Lawrence River at Radio-Canada’s headquarters. I jumped to my feet and followed him into his office.
Just inside his door is a headless mannequin dressed in a whimsical suit, topped with a bowler cap. “It might be a bit before your time but do you know who this is?” he asked me, excitedly. I wrack my brain…
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OTTAWA – A coalition of cultural organizations is pleading with the Federal Court to consider the “devastating” impact that foreign ownership in the telecom and broadcasting industries would have on Canadian culture.
ACTRA, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting were granted intervenor status for the Court’s judicial review of the government’s decision to licence wireless provider Globalive, which began on Wednesday. The coalition said that telecom companies “have a responsibility under the Telecommunications Act to strengthen and safeguard Canadian cultural sovereignty”.
“This case raises fundamental questions about the relationship between foreign ownership and Canadian…
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TORONTO – Omnicom Media Group has named Adam Ivers as the new president and CEO of its Toronto-based agency Highway Entertainment.
Ivers joined Highway Entertainment in 2007 and most recently held the role of executive vice president. Prior to Highway, Ivers was VP of programming for the former CanWest Global Broadcasting (now Shaw Media), in addition to stints at International Management Group Canada (IMG) and TSN.
“Adam’s experience in broadcast programming, entrepreneurial approach to deal making and his innate skill for working collaboratively, has resulted in both company growth and new ways of delivering value for our clients in a rapidly evolving…
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