TORONTO – Sonic hit the shelves this week, a new music magazine developed by Max Trax, Galaxie and Toronto-based ad agency ZiG. It’s a free bilingual consumer publication “for music lovers with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to constantly expand their music collection,” says the press release. Sonic (Volume I, Issue I, at right) will be distributed to all Canadian cable and satellite providers beginning the week of September 12.
The 20-page premiere issue features rock icons U2 on the cover, as well as articles looking at seven genres of music found throughout the…
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THIS IS A BIG JOB. No wonder Rogers Communications Group’s president and COO Nadir Mohamed doesn’t want to talk about succession. He’s got lots on his plate to worry about now, rather than what his next job might be.
Besides, last week’s National Post Business article beat that story to death (and then some) last week.
What we wanted to know is where the company’s priorities lay. What’s job one for him rightnow? How is he going to bring together two disparate groups (cable and wireless, together a $5 billion business), two completely different technological platforms, into a cohesive,…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications today announced the company and its employees will assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The company is making an initial donation of $250,000 to support the efforts of the Red Cross as they help families through this tragedy. In addition, Shaw will match all employee donations to the Red Cross dollar-for-dollar for a total contribution of up to $500,000 by the company, in addition to the contribution of individual employees.
"Like all our customers, everyone at Shaw has been shocked and saddened by the impact of Hurricane Katrina and we’re rallying our team to do…
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CALGARY – The NFL season may have kicked off last night (the Patriots beat the Raiders) but Shaw and Star Choice customers got their extra point today.
Shaw Communications launched the NFL Network on both of its digital platforms, at no additional cost. On Star Choice, however, there’s a free preview for two months before the service is placed in its $2.50 monthly sports package, for no additional fee.
League-owned NFL Network is a 24/7 channel dedicated solely to pro football.
Shaw also announced that anyone ordering NFL Sunday Ticket will be entered in a draw for a trip…
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THERE IS SO MUCH on the docket for lawyers working the telecom file in Canada these days, it’s almost hard to keep track.
The CRTC begins its hearings into forbearance from regulating the local phone market on September 26th (same week as Cable Week) while at the same time Industry Canada is deep into its Telecom Policy Review. Then there’s the Federal Court appeal of the CRTC’s telecom win-back rules and the ILECs’ VOIP decision appeal to cabinet, among other things.
So how will a coherent national telecom policy be developed from this muddle of related…
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CALGARY – Longtime Shaw Cable executive Randy Elliot will be retiring on Oct. 31, 2005, company CEO Jim Shaw announced yesterday.
Elliot (right), currently Senior Vice-President of Technical Operations, joined Shaw in 1971, becoming the first person hired to look after the company’s technical aspects.
Colleagues were quick to say how he’s made a huge contribution to the industry.
“He’s been contributing to the rapid expansion of technology in the cable industry: telephones, data, digital, high definition, and fibre,” says Dick Green, president and CEO of Cable Television Laboratories, the research consortium for the cable industry. Elliot has been…
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EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers have announced their 2005-2006 TV schedule, which will see all but four of the 82 regular season hockey games televised.
Fifty of the 78 broadcast games will be on Rogers Sportsnet West, with 12 games on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, 10 exclusively available on pay-per view, and six on TSN.
The pay-per-view games will be available to customers of Bell ExpressVu, Star Choice, and Shaw digital cable. The first Oilers pay-per-view special will air Nov. 3, when Edmonton visits Detroit. Pricing will be announced later.
The Oilers’ home opener is Oct. 5 against…
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WHILE WE CAN’T SAY for sure that Compton Communications will be the smallest North American video on demand provider when it launches this fall, we figure it’s pretty unlikely that many other 5,000-customer cable companies in Canada or the U.S. are planning on offering it that soon.
It’s a very expensive technology, fraught with difficult to solve issues, especially for a small operator. Think Paramount’s EVP of programming will have Compton’s VOD launch on his priority list, for example?
Compton Cable (which serves the Port Perry, Ont. region, about an hour’s drive northeast of Toronto, on Lake Scugog) has…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications was advised today that the Shaw Family (its controlling shareholder), and entities owned or controlled by them, completed the purchase of an additional 1,000,000 Class B Non-Voting Shares of the company.
Trading at around the $25.80 mark this morning, the transaction is worth about $25.8 million.
Company CEO Jim Shaw and founder JR Shaw have told the financial community that they believe the share price is undervalued and the family will continue its practice of buying shares when it sees fit.
According to information provided to the company, the Shaw Family, and entities owned or…
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – As if the voice market wasn’t crowded or confusing enough, Google Inc. yesterday launched Google Talk, a downloadable Windows application that enables its Gmail users to quickly and easily talk or IM with their friends for free.
Google Talk is not voice in the way that carriers such as Bell or Rogers or Shaw or Cogeco or Primus offer it. Those carriers offer voice service the way most people use it – on the phone. Google Talk is chatting via computer
"Google Talk further enriches our users’ communications experience, whether they choose to communicate via…
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