IF RHETORIC AND HYPERBOLE were gasoline, a single spark would have razed the entire Toronto Congress Centre this week.
The speeches from Bell Canada Enterprises CEO Michael Sabia and Telus CEO Darren Entwistle at this week’s excellent Canadian Telecom Summit – as well as comments from a few others who work under them – suggest that not only are the communications of all Canadians utterly crippled by wacky regulation, but that our CRTC stands in the way of all Canuck creativity, innovation and productivity.
It’s an absurd notion, really. But it’s one much of the nation’s consumer media has…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Telecom Summit’s "regulatory blockbuster" session is a must-view event every year.
This year was no different as regulatory chiefs from Bell Canada (Mirko Bibic), Rogers Communications (Ken Englehart), Telus (Janet Yale), Shaw Communications (Jean Brazeau), and MTS Allstream (Chris Peirce) traded barbs for over an hour about the competitive state of the industry, and just whom is benefiting most from the current state of regulation. It was funny and terse and interesting. ("Ken Englehart’s has such a learned and scholarly style, you automoatically think what he’s saying must be true, even though it isn’t," said…
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CALGARY – Residents of Strathmore, AB, can now dial digital with Shaw.
For $55 per month, the primary home line service includes unlimited local and long distance calling within Canada, 1,000 international calling minutes per month, voicemail and call waiting, installation, customer service support, enhanced 911 access, and operator and 411 service.
Shaw is promoting the VoIP service to Strathmore residents with an introductory offer of $29.95 per month for the first three months.
“Our business is built on providing an exceptional customer experience, and our results and customer feedback to date have shown that Digital Phone delivers on…
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TORONTO-BORN BRAD SCHWARTZ’s task looks to be a programmers dream.
To establish a new, analog channel with 4.5 million pre-existing paying customers using one of the world’s best-known media brands among the highly coveted young set: MTV.
The man knows his television. His first job in the industry was as assistant to Saturday Night Live founder and executive producer Lorne Michaels. From there, Schwartz hung around the music and media industries, working his way onto MTV and up the ladder there to director of global marketing in New York, before returning to Toronto as senior vice-president and general manager…
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TORONTO – Comcast-owned cable channel G4 has acquired CHUM Television’s strange and silly “Ed the Sock’s Night Party!”
The half-hour show will air on G4 (formerly G4techTV, formerly Tech TV), which is available in nearly 60 million U.S. households via cable and satellite. The program airs Wednesdays at 12:30 a.m. ET/PT as part of the channel’s “Midnight Spank” late night programming block.
G4 in Canada, of course, (a partnership between Rogers Media, Shaw Communications and Comcast), will not be airing the show here. The abrasively funny, cigar-chomping, green-haired, politically incorrect toe enclosure will remain on Citytv and other CHUM outlets in…
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OTTAWA – Cable and satellite companies can now advertise their Internet and voice offerings on CNN, A&E, SpikeTV and other American cable channels, the CRTC has ruled.
The American channels make two minutes per hour available for local ad sales – which is a multi-billion-dollar business for U.S. MSOs. However, Canadian cable companies are not allowed, by regulation, to sell the time here.
Seventy-five percent of the time has to be given – at cost – to Canadian broadcasters, while 25% of the time could be used to promote cable’s video offerings – meaning the cablecos could not advertise…
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CALGARY – Digital signs, such as big food court screens in malls or smaller ones at the gas pumps, are popping up everywhere.
So this week, Corus Custom Networks, a division of Corus Entertainment, announced the launch of its new digital signage division.
“With strong TV listings and broadcast news brands and nearly 20 years of experience in non-traditional media, Corus Custom Networks is well positioned to expand into the rapidly growing digital signage arena,” said Tyler Alton, vice-president and general manager of Corus Custom Networks, in a press release. “Our unique ability to provide end-to-end service in sales…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has told Shaw Cable it has to change its community channel ad policies.
After coming across a rate card and hearing about Shaw Cable selling ad time during Western Hockey League games shown on its community cable channels, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters complained to the CRTC. This month, the Commission sided with the broadcasters.
In the Broadcast Distribution Regulations , cable companies are not allowed to air traditional ad spots and there are limitations on the types of advertising community channels can air. Mainly, cable must stick to general branding or soft-sell…
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OTTAWA – As the so-called "account stacking" proceeding progresses, reply comments were due in last week and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters let it be known again that the practice runs contrary to existing regulations.
The complaint (originally made by Videotron and first reported here, and followed up here) centers on Star Choice’s decision to allow customers to buy more than one receiver but pay just one bill, on the assumption that any additional receivers are in cottages or other such locations.
The broadcasters insist that the regulations and individual contracts say that one address equals one subscriber…
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KELOWNA – It’s hot here in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. And we don’t just mean the weather.
While it was sunny and 32-degrees Celsius Wednesday in this town of 105,000, inside the Coast Capri Hotel was a hot new technical trade show. More than 170 attendees enjoyed the air conditioning – not to mention the 38 vendor tables and six hours of training at the CommTech Trade Show and Training Seminars.
Six more hours of training and vendor tables are on tap for Thursday, too. (Tune in to cartt.ca for seminar coverage later this week.)
This was…
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