IT AIN’T EASY BEING an independent broadcaster in the unlimited channel universe.
There are so many channels (traditional and otherwise) which serve the same niches of Stornoway’s three channels – news and current affairs service ichannel; dance station bpm:tv; and The Pet Network – that injecting them into the collective conscious psyche of viewers is difficult.
It means a lot of grassroots marketing work. A lot of pavement-pounding, because the budget to be able to afford a mass-marketing campaign just isn’t there.
Then there are the rumors of the company’s imminent sale, or demise, to deal with. By the…
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TORONTO – 102.1 the Edge’s annual listeners’ choice awards will be hosted this year by actor/comedian/rap artist(?) Tom Green.
“Returning to his musical roots (his rap group Organized Rhyme had a Canadian hit with Check the O.R. in 1992), Green is not only the host of the 2005 CASBYs, he’s also one of the performers at the show,” says the press release.
Now a solo rap artist, Green and his Keepin’ It Real Crew (DJ E.Z. Mike, pro skateboard legend "Playboy" Jeremy Klein and MC Shawn Anthony) join previously announced CASBY (Canadian Artists Selected By You) performers Sloan, Theory of…
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OTTAWA – The cable industry saw solid signs of an end to the erosion of its traditional customer base in 2004.
The number of cable television subscribers 7.6 million at the end of August 2004, up 0.4% from a year earlier. “This modest increase followed four consecutive years of decline during which the industry lost a total of 442,000 multi-channel video services customers," says a report on the industry issued today by Statistics Canada.
Despite the turnaround, the overall market share of cable operators continued to decline last year as the two DTH companies continued to sign up new customers,…
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MONTREAL – Toronto will host the first-ever Children, Youth & Media Conference on November 10th.
Organized by the Alliance for Children and Television (ACT), the conference is the only one of its kind to bring together Canada’s creators, producers and broadcasters of youth programming. Modeled after Média-Jeunes, a highly coveted gathering the ACT has held in Montreal on four occasions, this new event is devoted to exchange, training and professional development.
Over 200 attendees, including a number of well-known specialists, will explore programming trends and share their views on the needs and interests of young people through workshops, discussions…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC Wednesday extended the commentary process on the cable industry’s request to kill the mandatory carriage requirement of local FM radio stations.
As first reported by www.cartt.ca, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association has asked the CRTC to repeal section 22 of the Broadcast Distribution Regulations which say that Class 1 and 2 cable systems must carry all local FM stations in their market on their cable plant.
The CCTA told the Commission that about 4% of cable subscribers listen to the radio over cable and that its members could better use the plant capacity to…
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GRAVENHURST, Ont. – The Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association drew a crowd while handing out its annual Galaxi Awards this afternoon at the Taboo Resort in Gravenhurst, Ont.
The presentation kicks off Cable Week at the golf resort which continues for the next two days.
The awards sponsors were law firm Fasken Martineau, the CBC’s Newsworld, Country Canada, RDI, Galaxie and RDI, Telefilm Canada and Deutsche Welle.
The winners are:
Outstanding Achievement Frederick T. Metcalf Award for Marketing Habillage 2004: ARTV
William Stanley Thomas Community Involvement Award * Comsep a rebatir: TV COGECO * We All Can: Shaw Cablesystems Continue Reading
QUEBEC CITY – Manitoba Telecom Services’ digital television division will see its 2005 revenue increase by a factor of two, says company CEO Bill Fraser.
The outgoing chief executive told the CIBC World Markets investors conference on Friday that MTS TV will bring in $22 million in revenue in 2005, twice what the service earned in 2004.
“We’re extremely pleased with the results,” he said. Looking back at its launch in 2003, Fraser pointed out – when asked if MTS can make a profit on its TV service – that the company took its fair share of lumps from…
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CALGARY and OTTAWA – Shaw Communications’ DTH company Star Choice announced today it will offer a Star Choice Mastercard through MBNA Canada Bank.
MBNA Canada is a leading provider of co-branded and affinity credit card programs in Canada.
Star Choice customers can now choose between the Star Choice Platinum MasterCard and the Star Choice Preferred MasterCard. As an exclusive promotional offer, for those customers who choose to use their Star Choice MasterCard on a pre-authorized basis to pay for their Star Choice service, they will receive $50 in programming credits.
The Star Choice MasterCard provides existing customers with another…
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THE CABLE INDUSTRY MIGHT not like reading this, heading into the local forbearance hearings next week, but residential phone choice seems pretty real to me.
If there was any doubt about it, my local newspaper, The Hamilton Spectator, delivered ample evidence last Wednesday. In the mess of inserts I curse about that usually flutter out of the thing, three glossy direct marketing pieces caught my eye: One from Primus; another from Rogers; and the third from Direct Energy.
Primus was a pure low-cost sell. “Get TalkBroadband and save big on your home phone service,” it said, beside a garish…
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TORONTO – Manitoba Telecom Services president Cheryl Barker said Tuesday that the company recently added its 45,000th digital television customer, meaning the Manitoba telco now serves over 20% of all TV customers in Winnipeg.
During a panel session at the BMO Nesbitt Burns Media and Telecom conference Tuesday in Toronto Barker said that the company hit the mark on September 5th (leaving unsaid the sizable dent the figure put in Shaw Cable’s customer rolls in the city).
MTS TV is a digital subscriber line delivered digital TV service which offers three streams of digital TV and high speed Internet to…
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