GRAVENHURST, Ont. – As the only cable gathering in the country now, the 13th annual Canadian Cable Systems Alliance annual general meeting has this year attracted over 250 delegates, up from 180 last year.
Kicking off Sunday at the Taboo Resort with a relaxed, well-attended president’s reception, the AGM continued Monday morning with a four-hour table top trade show. Some of the vendors used the trade show to reveal a few new products aimed at the small cable system market (even though a couple of folks from Rogers and Cogeco also made the trip north).
TVC Canada unveiled its…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications has announced faster upload and download speeds for its High-Speed Lite service, making it up to 10 times faster than traditional dial-up.
Its download speed has doubled from 128 Kbps to 256 Kbps. The upgrade will be automatic and free to all High-Speed Lite customers. Shaw is also offering the service for $19.95 a month for the first six months, for a limited time.
"Our customers continue to choose Shaw because of our commitment to service and delivery quality," said Peter Bissonnette, President of Shaw Communications. "The Internet landscape is constantly evolving and Shaw is committed…
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SASKATOON – Shaw Cable’s community channel in Saskatoon is boosting its morning presence, perhaps to better compete with other BDUs like SaskTel’s Max TV.
Shaw TV Channel 10 will air local weather information updated every 10 minutes from Environment Canada. It will also simulcast live broadcasts of 650 CHOM on weekday mornings, airing the Rawlco station’s popular morning drive shows The Brent Loucks Show and John Gormley Live. There will also be live traffic and weather cameras providing up-to-the-minute information. Shaw will also produce daily magazine segments featuring local events, personalities, and issues.
“Shaw has a history of providing…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications launched its voice over IP-delivered Shaw Digital Phone service in New Westminster, B.C. this week.
"Shaw has recently made available its digital phone service to a variety of communities in the Greater Vancouver Area, and we are thrilled to extend our residential phone service to New Westminster," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, in a release.
www.shaw.ca
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WINNIPEG IS ONE OF THE HOTTER bundling battlegrounds in Canada.
While Shaw is the incumbent video provider and a nascent voice company in the Manitoba capital, MTS Allstream, the provincial telco (which is also a national wholesale and enterprise player) has claimed about 55,000 video customers with MTS TV in Winnipeg – the only city in the province in which it has a cable license.
Customers like the simple bill, the fact they can re-jig their channel lineups on screen or even see e-mails and caller ID on their TVs. Finally, last month, MTS TV added a key piece…
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CALGARY – Shaw Cable will offer regular games from the 2006-2007 NHL season of the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and Edmonton Oilers on pay per view in Western Canada.
The games will be aired in digital quality with no commercial breaks, featuring pre-game and post-game shows.
Shaw digital subscribers can pay per game at $11.95, or subscribe to all the games aired in the entire season for $109.95 for the Oilers (with 11 games broadcast), $119.95 for the Flames (13 games), and $159.95 for the Canucks (17 games).
“Shaw has always offered top quality sporting events and with the…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications signed a deal with Sunshine Communications to acquire its cable and Internet systems located in and around the boundary area of Grand Forks, B.C., the company announced today.
"We are truly delighted with the acquisition of the Grand Forks, Midway, Greenwood, Rock Creek and Christina Lake cable systems," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, in the release. "This southern belle of a cable system complements our existing properties in the interior of BC. Grand Forks and the environs offers great synergies with our neighbouring cable operations and further enhances our cable clusters moving southwest…
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OTTAWA – The VOIP decision will stand, with a "but".
Today the CRTC re-affirmed its May 2005 decision on voice over Internet protocol. Federal cabinet told the Commission in May of this year to reconsider that decision after all but one of Canada’s ILEC’s filed an appeal.
However, because of the sheer speed in which Canada’s incumbent local exchange carriers are losing customers, the Commission did signal it’s prepared to alter course when it deems necessary and will already re-examine its March 2006 decision on local forbearance.
Specifically, it "declared that competition in local telephone service is…
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CALGARY – Saying it’s just being consumer-friendly, Shaw Communications today added Rainbow Media’s American Movie Classics to its analog channel lineup.
Shaw is believed to be the first Canadian carrier to offer the 24-hour classic-movie-based network (which also offers some original content, too), even though the channel has been on the CRTC’s eligible satellite list for years.
What’s always held AMC back were the Canadian copyrights it didn’t have, an issue "that’s been dealt with," Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonnette told Cartt.ca this afternoon.
AMC has the Canadian rights to most of its programming and for the titles that…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has added adult channel Red Light District TV to both its Star Choice and Shaw Cable channel lineups.
"Red Light District TV joins Hustler TV as Canada’s most widely distributed adult programming channel," said channel owner Ten Broadcasting, in a press release.
Until now, Red Light was previously only available on Rogers Cable and, thanks an affiliate agreement with the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, on some CCSA member systems.
Ottawa-based Ten Broadcasting offers both of these digital channels in high definition, making it "the world’s first adult broadcaster to offer adult HD programming on a…
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