Search Results for: shaw

Cable / Telecom News

Shaw phones Whalley

CALGARY – Shaw Communications has launched its local phone service in Whalley, B.C., the company said today. Shaw Digital Phone offers customers an alternative to the traditional home phone service. "With more than 250,000 people already experiencing Shaw Digital Phone, we are proud to expand our service to this region (just outside of Burnaby)," said company president Peter Bissonnette. www.shaw.ca Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

This forbearance ain’t forbearance, say telcos

OTTAWA – Despite the CRTC’s announcement today that it has deregulated the local telephony market in Fort McMurray, Alberta – where resident have been among the keenest adopters of cable telephony – Canada’s two largest incumbent telcos remain unhappy. Shaw Cable boasts a high speed Internet penetration rate in the city of over 80% of its basic cable customers there. Convincing those customers to add cheaper VOIP phone service has been easy so far and incumbent Telus has admitted it’s lost well over 25% market share in the community when it applied for forbearance last fall. Today, the Commission… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Toronto’s Pearson Airport to offer all-business radio

TORONTO – The Greater Toronto Airport Authority said Monday it will launch a new all-business news radio station from its 1280 AM frequency. The new CFBN will replace CFYZ, which functioned as a travel information station for Canada’s largest airport. The GTAA has hired Newsroom Productions to provide programming, sales representation and technical services for the station, which will launch April 9th. Additionally, www.cfbnnews.com will stream programming on line. “This is a good move for the GTAA and further enhances the services being offered to travellers and the Toronto community” said Steve Shaw, vice-president, corporate affairs for the… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Shaw wants USA Network, new regulatory approach for foreign TV channels

OTTAWA – Shaw Communications Inc. is looking for CRTC approval to carry on a digital basis USA Network, a popular U.S. channel that broadcasts blockbuster theatrical movies. At the same time, Shaw is asking the commission to change the way foreign TV channels are put on the list of non-Canadian services eligible for carriage in Canada. The cableco wants the CRTC to automatically approve all general interest non-Canadian services, and to allow distributors to carry channels on the eligible lists on either an analog or digital basis. Specifically, Shaw wants the commission to remove section C from the lists… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Bloc, Conservatives dissent on CTF report tabled by Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage

OTTAWA – The CRTC should amend the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to stipulate distributors must make monthly, rather than just annual, contributions to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), the all-party Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage recommended in a report released this week. That was one of six recommendations contained in the report, entitled The Future of the Canadian Television Fund. It includes dissenting opinions from the Bloc Quebecois and Conservative Party members. The report was tabled on March 21. The Standing Committee under recommendation number one strongly condemns the actions of Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media – both of… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Shaw expands digital phone service to Chilliwack, BC

CALGARY — Shaw Communications announced Wednesday it has expanded its Shaw digital phone service to Chilliwack, B.C. Currently, more than 250,000 Canadians have Shaw’s digital phone service, according to Shaw Communications Inc. President Peter Bissonnette. Like other Shaw Digital Phone customers, Chilliwack residents have the choice of two home telephone plans: Shaw Digital Phone, which includes unlimited long distance calls within Canada and the U.S. and 1,000 minutes per month of international calling to 50 countries; and Shaw Digital Phone Lite, which doesn’t include long-distance. Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

COMMENTARY: Showered with content

DEJA VU IS A CURIOUS THING. It happens sporadically to most of us where we think "hey, I’ve been here before." It often feels like that time is now in the media/telecom space: That we have been here before, riding a weird, growing technological and services wave. Just like the late 1990s and into 2000-’01 it seems like we have every company (some really big, some really small) going a million miles an hour in every direction all at once. Back then, AOL bought (snicker…) Time Warner, CanWest bought The National Post and what was the Southam newspaper group… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CRTC reviewing network interconnection device obligations

OTTAWA – The CRTC has launched a public proceeding to set out rules regarding the installation of a network interconnection device (NID) when the incumbent local exchange carrier’s (ILEC) network is disconnected from the inside wire at the home of a residential customer who has elected to take a cable telephone service and no longer wishes to use any services provided on the ILEC’s network (Telecom Public Notice 2007-3). The commission is asking for comment on whether a NID should be installed at the premises of a residential customer when no such device is present; should the cableco or… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

CAB opposes Shaw’s VOD proposal

OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is opposing a bid by Shaw Communications to get regulatory approval to both offer and charge customers for content and advertising from non-Canadian sources on its Shaw on Demand VOD service. The CAB says Shaw’s proposal could result in U.S. studios, especially those vertically integrated with a non-Canadian TV channel, withholding VOD rights from Canadian programmers even though the same program airs on both a Canadian and non-Canadian TV station. The organization of private broadcasters also charges the non-Canadian TV channels would expect to receive something of value, such as increased… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Digital basic hearings “a colossal waste of time and energy”

GATINEAU – Leave it to the mavericks at Shaw Communications to best articulate how carriers feel about granting analog channels preferred status once digital migration occurs. In its intervention, which opposes all of the applications, Shaw’s senior vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs Ken Stein writes: "Shaw considers that the Digital Migration proceeding and the subsequent gazetting of applications for mandatory digital carriage on basic has been a colossal waste of time and energy for Shaw. Shaw’s request for packaging flexibility to serve consumers and meet unprecedented competitive challenges, all of which will strengthen the system and protect it… Continue Reading