EXTON, PA – Three industry veterans have been named to the electoral slate to represent Canada on the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) board of directors for 2010.
The candidates for the position of Director-At-Large Canada (representing SCTE’s Canadian members) are:
– Boris Eventov, director, digital video engineering, Cogeco Cable;– Tony Faccia, vice president, wireline access networks, Rogers Cable Communications; and– Bruce Marshall, technical director, Shaw Cablesystems.
Rogers’ Dermot O’Carroll is the current Canadian board rep. Newly elected directors will begin their two-year terms on October 19th in conjunction with the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2010 set for October 20…
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TORONTO – After losing Paul Roberston to Shaw earlier in the day, Corus Entertainment named Doug Murphy to the role of president of Corus Television.
Murphy joined Corus in December 2002 and was most recently EVP and GM of Corus Kids and president of Nelvana. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing Corus’ global kids business, including the specialty networks Treehouse, YTV and Nickelodeon (Canada), as well as Nelvana, Kids Can Press, KidsCo and qubo. Prior to this position, Murphy was president of Nelvana Enterprises.
He assumes his new role immediately and will report to Corus Entertainment president and CEO…
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TORONTO – The CRTC is incorrectly interpreting the BBM statistics on television viewership numbers during its examination of community television policy, says Rogers.
As part of this proceeding, the Commission issued a report on April 8 which Rogers says has been used by some critics of cable-provided community television to "prove" that Rogers TV is not often watched. The report states that in the 2008-09 broadcast year, Rogers’ community television stations generated a 0.2% share of the Canadian English-language television market.
But according to a Canadian Media Research Inc. (CMRI) study commissioned by Rogers TV, that figure is deceptive because BBM share…
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GATINEAU – After watching day one of the CRTC’s hearing into its policies on community television, we settled on couple of key takeaways.
1) It would appear unlikely the Commission will adopt the CACTUS plan where the estimated $130 million already devoted to cable community channels via 2% of subscriber fees would be redirected to a new fund backing dozens of new independent, not-for-profit community channels/multimedia centres across the country.
2) The CRTC commissioners do seem to want a higher level of access, accountability and transparency from the cable companies who already offer their own community channels.
First into the live CPAC.ca…
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Perry Hoffman
OTTAWA – It’s not very often the country’s telecommunications and cable firms agree with anything the regulator has to say, but on foreign ownership rules, they at least partially support the CRTC’s proposal to a Parliamentary committee studying the matter.
One after the other last week, they addressed the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on the need to liberalize current foreign investment restrictions for both telecommunications and broadcasting companies. They echoed the CRTC’s position that regulations can protect Canadian content on television and radio.
“While we do not believe there is a problem today, given…
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TORONTO – By the end of 2014, new wireless entrants will capture 22% of the Canadian wireless market, says a study from Toronto’s Convergence Consulting.
And the effect of the newcomers is already being felt – and will continue to be. Despite wireless data’s 36% revenue growth in 2009, total wireless service ARPU declined, says the report. New wireless entrants will increasingly put pressure on both data & voice prices (the US has already seen major impact in this regard) leading to lower ARPU (at least over the next three years), regional (West, Quebec, Atlantic) bundle battles, a shift in…
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OTTAWA – CRTC audits of the community channels operated by some of Canada’s biggest cable companies show “numerous abuses”, according to the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
From 2002 through 2005 (the last year in which the CRTC monitored them), CACTUS said that the audits prove that cable companies “routinely” exceeded the maximum of two minutes per hour of promotional ads, and the 15-second limit for sponsorship messages.
Calling out Rogers in particular, CACTUS said that one of its OHL hockey programs contained 24 ads in one episode, plus another 41 ads two nights later, yet none of…
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AS OF YESTERDAY, there were 17 months left for Canada to make the transition from analog over-the-air TV broadcasting to digital. Given the lack of action so far, hitting the August 31, 2011 deadline for the shut off of analog TV is now nearly impossible.
Everyone in and around the industry knows it. Everyone. It was openly talked about during the two CRTC hearings in the fall. It was as if the deadline meant nothing. But few want to acknowledge the industry’s and the federal government’s failure to act. In fact, as you’ll read, the federal government still hasn’t even…
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VANCOUVER – Citytv-owned CKVU debuted in high definition on Monday for viewers who receive the basic HD service from major cable operators serving the Vancouver market.
"Citytv is thrilled that viewers in the Vancouver market are now able to watch their favourite programming in HD," said Renato Zane, VP and GM of Rogers Media Television B.C., in the announcement. "We’re confident that audiences will enjoy this enhanced viewing experience."
Cable operators offering CKVU HD include Novus Entertainment, Shaw Communications and Telus TV.
www.Citytv.com
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IF YOU TALK TO ANYONE under 20 they will consider it quaint to hear tales of phones that were connected to walls; notes that were sent with a stamp; and televisions that were housed in large cabinets offering four channels, if you were lucky, accessible with the turn of a dial.
Online and offline; wired and wireless, the world is a dramatically different place than it was 19 years ago. Yet the Canadian media market is still governed by broadcasting legislation from 1991 at a time when urgent action is needed to bring regulation in line with technology to meet…
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