YEARS BACK, IT WAS EASY to pick on VisionTV. Its programs were old, appearing only on the specialty channel in their second or third (or fourth!) window.
Much of its original “Mosaic” programming looked and sounded terrible – and violated the channel’s Canadian content requirements, it turns out, causing CRTC sanctions. Preachers and traditional religion dominated the channel. However, when current president and CEO Bill Roberts (left) came on board in 2000, he set out to drastically alter VisionTV. More original, interesting, programming – about faith and spirituality and not necessarily organized…
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CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – This morning, Shaw Communications restored the TV signals to Campbell River TV.
Due to a battle over digital cable set top boxes, outlined in several stories on www.cartt.ca throughout this week, Shaw (which owns both the microwave system feeding CRTV its distant U.S. broadcast signals and Cancom, which feeds the cable co-op its U.S. and Canadian specialty services) turned off most of the TV channels of CRTV customers on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia yesterday ordered Shaw Communications to restore the TV signals to Campbell River TV.
For a recap of our coverage,…
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TORONTO – Digital TV customers will be able to call on four different seasonal music channels from Max Trax and Galaxie while they roast chestnuts and stuff stockings.
Beginning December 1, four of the combined 40 audio digital music services from Max Trax and Galaxie will offer listeners uninterrupted, commercial-free music across a range of formats.
Max Trax’s Holiday Hits channel features timeless and contemporary songs ranging from Sting’s I Saw Three Ships and Madonna’s Santa Baby to Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas and The Barenaked Ladies’ Green Christmas.
Max Trax’s Instrumental Holiday channel features seasonal standards…
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DARTMOUTH – Charlie Keating, a giant in the Canadian cable television industry – in all senses of the word – died of cancer Tuesday morning. He was 72.
Now, the term “larger than life” may seem a cliché to some, but there wasn’t one person contacted by www.cartt.ca on the passing of the founder of Dartmouth Cable TV (which later became Nova Scotia’s Access Communications) who didn’t use the term.
“He was a great industry individual and a great man in his own right,” said John Thomas, president of Delta Cable. “He was a remarkable man and a wonderful…
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DID YOU HEAR THE ONE about the telephone company delivering TV over its wireline system that’s now one of the top 10 BDUs in Canada?
No? Well, in less than three years, Manitoba Telecom Services’ MTS TV has become a very meaningful presence in the city of Winnipeg. With 260,000 total households, MTS TV has captured nearly a quarter of the market.
While many on the cable side of the equation often dismiss the telcos’ ability to provide TV over their “limited” or “skinny” pipe, citing bandwidth constraints in comparison to the “fat cable pipe”, it seems consumers like…
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WINNIPEG – On Friday, MTS introduced a new long distance plan that offers long distance calling anywhere in Canada and the U.S., any time of day or night, for a flat rate of $15 a month.
The new plan, a swing back at Shaw Cable’s recent voice over Internet protocol service launch in the Manitoba captial, is available to anyone on an MTS Bundle. With MTS Bundles, MTS customers can create their own bundle of savings — $10 a month if they have any two, or $15 a month if they have all three of the following services: MTS TV,…
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WINNIPEG – The rapid growth of the digital television business at Manitoba Telecom Services is continuing.
Less than two years after launch, DSL-delivered MTS TV has really taken it to incumbent cable operator Shaw Cable and has surpassed the 50,000-customer mark and is now approaching 25% penetration in Winnipeg.
"This week we signed on our 50,000th TV customer, and MTS TV continues to grow by leaps and bounds, with over 87% of Winnipeg homes now eligible for the service," said MTS president Cheryl Barker. "The demand has been outstanding, and we hear from our customers all the time how…
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REDMOND, Wash., and LOUISVILLE, Colo. – An agreement announced Wednesday between Microsoft and CableLabs means Microsoft’s dream of easily delivering high-quality TV signals to PCs is right around the corner.
The world’s biggest software company and the North American cable industry’s research and development organization today announced they have reached an agreement that will allow Microsoft and PC manufacturers to bring to market digital-cable-ready Windows Media Center-based PCs in the holiday 2006 time frame.
These Media Center PCs, capable of supporting a CableCARD module, will allow consumers to enjoy one-way cable programming, including premium high-definition cable content, on their…
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OTTAWA – Both Rogers and Shaw Cable have applied to the CRTC again to alter the rules surrounding local ad avail time on U.S. cable channels.
Currently, American channels such as CNN, A&E, The Golf Channel and others make two minutes an hour available for cable companies to sell local availability time. In the U.S., it’s a multi-billion-dollar sales industry.
In Canada, MSOs are not allowed to sell the time by the CRTC. They must give 75% of the time to Canadian specialty channels (who have to also pay MSO costs) and to use the remaining 25% to promote…
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TORONTO – Think Broadband Solutions was officially launched this week by Tri-Vision Electronics.
The new, wholly-owned subsidiary “will focus on new telecom and wireless business opportunities and to complement Tri-Vision Electronics Inc.,” says the company.
Think will provide in-country equipment sales and supply, logistical support, niche product research, design and development, in-house and offshore manufacturing capabilities and equipment test, repair and refurbishment. Progress is well underway to represent major brand names in Canada, says the press release.
In fact, the company announced yesterday that it will offer Andrew Corporation subscriber access cable products including CATV coaxial cable and connectors for…
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