QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – Members of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance have not yet decided how it will deal with the demise this week of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association.
As first reported by www.cartt.ca, the board of the CCTA voted to close down the association less than two months after Shaw Communications resigned its membership. The association will shut its doors forever on Wednesday.
The loss of the CCTA can be overcome by the larger companies with big regulatory arms and more resources. However, for the smaller operators, the loss of the CCTA is devastating and leaves independent cablecos…
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WHISTLER, B.C, – There was precious little new information doled out today by some of the participants at RBC Capital Markets annual telecom and media conference in the B.C. ski town.
However, one key parallel was drawn during the afternoon session featuring Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonnette, Rogers Cable president Edward Rogers, Bell Canada’s consumer solutions president Kevin Crull and Bell Nordiq CEO Roch Dubé.
When talking about the potential for cable telephony market penetration, Rogers said that a 15% to 20% local market share gain by cable companies was probably too conservative when saying it could be done…
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CALGARY – Advertisers on the TV listings channels in a number of smaller Shaw Cable communities can now make their own ads, if they like, opening up the service to all kinds of advertisers from local businesses to someone selling a used car.
Corus Custom Networks, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc. today announced the launch of its Create Your Own Ad service, enabling Canadians in Shaw Cable communities across western Canada to design their own television advertising online for the TV Listings Channel.
Corus, which is controlled by the Shaw family, owns the TV listings channels carried by…
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WHEN PEOPLE FIND OUT I AM the president of Babytel, an independent provider of high-speed Internet phone service, the first question I get is about our name, (most love it), followed closely by “how in the world can you compete against the big guys?”
How we compete is quite simple: we are finding unique opportunities, such as being the VOIP backbone for partners like independent cable companies and ISPs, and we are selling to niche markets like Asian and African communities in Canada.
(I will refer the genesis of our name to later.)
There is incredible opportunity. VOIP opens…
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DESPITE THE IMMINENT SHUTDOWN of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, a move which will cost 26 jobs, Canada’s smaller independent operators have already decided they must have a continuing presence in Ottawa.
As reported first by www.cartt.ca early Friday afternoon, Rogers Cable, the largest remaining member of the CCTA, decided to rescind its support of the association, effectively killing it – even though no other member wanted to pull the plug. Even Rogers didn’t really want to do it.
However, no CCTA member is blaming Rogers for the demise of the 50-plus year-old association. Indeed, the CCTA’s board of…
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OTTAWA – Bragg Communications, the parent company of Halifax-based MSO EastLink, has appealed to the CRTC to expand what can be shown in the two minutes of ad time U.S. cable channels make available for local ads.
CRTC regulations currently say that cable companies may only promote their video or audio services within that avail time. Cablecos can claim 25% of the time and must give the rest up, at cost, to Canadian broadcasters to promote their channels. Channels like CNN and the Golf Channel make two minutes per hour available to its carriers to sell advertising, which is…
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SASKATOON – Canadian broadcaster Keith Morrison, a former Saskatoon broadcaster who now works for NBC in Los Angeles, is coming back to the Prairie province to host Crystal Meth: Toxic Speed, a one-hour, open line program which will be broadcast live on Sunday, February 12 from 6 to 7 p.m. on Shaw TV as well as most other media outlets in the province.
Spearheaded by Shaw Communications, the program will be hosted and moderated by Morrison, and a primary panel of four will facilitate a meaningful discussion with a live studio audience of experts and interested parties. Viewer and…
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SASKATOON – While his brainchild, Crystal Meth: Toxic Speed, will air as planned on Sunday, Shaw Cable program manager Jim Mattern has been fired, says the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix.
Two reports in the newspaper say that Mattern was fired last week and that Mattern thinks it stems from a political call-in show during the election.
On January 17th, a live telecast saw an anonymous caller accuse Conservative candidate Maurice Vellacott of sexual assault. According to the newspaper Vellacott demanded the phone number and immediately promised libel action, because the now-MP (he won the election handily) had never been accused…
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Worldwide cable telephony service revenues rose from US$4.5 billion in 2004 to US$5.6 billion in 2005, and are projected to reach US$10 billion by 2009, reports American research firm In-Stat.
"The widening availability of VOIP-based cable telephony services has resulted in thousands of new cable telephony subscribers for operators like Time Warner Cable and Cablevision in the United States, Videotron and Shaw Communications in Canada, and Liberty Global in Europe," says the In-Stat release.
"The key attraction for cable operators is the cost advantage that VOIP offers in comparison with circuit-switched service," says Michael Paxton, In-Stat analyst….
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TORONTO – Thanks to integration expenses (of Microcell and Call-Net), Rogers Communications posted a loss of $66.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005, ended December 31st..
While that’s a far larger quarterly loss than in Q4 2004, the wireless, cable, telecom, and media giant’s annual loss was 33.5% lower than last year at $44.6 million.
Revenue in the quarter was $2.12 billion, a 35.4% increase over the same period last year and operating profit was $513 million, a 14% jump. Revenue for the full year was $7.48 billion, a 33.4% increase while OP was $2.14 billion, a 23.6%…
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