TORONTO – Buyers by the dozens gathered at the Carlu in Toronto this morning for CanWest MediaWorks official unveiling of its new 2005-2006 programming slate for the Global Television Network and CH.
"We are very excited about our exceptional slate of new programming this year," said Kathleen Dore, president, radio and television, CanWest MediaWorks. "With a diverse mix of new comedies and highly touted dramas, combined with a strong roster of returning hits and new Canadian programs, Global and CH are well positioned to be the destination in television entertainment this fall."
The roster of new one-hour dramas includes…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has asked the CRTC to free its pay-per-view service from its geographic shackles.
In its license renewal application for Shaw Pay-Per-View, the company has asked the Commission for an amendment to permit national distribution, but only via satellite companies.
As the Shaw PPV license now stands, it may only distribute its service in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Viewer’s Choice PPV gets the rest of the country in its license.
Since Bell ExpressVu has its own branded PPV service called Vu! –and the only other licensed DTH company in Canada…
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TORONTO – Last week’s Canadian Telecom Summit saw the leaders of Canada’s largest ILECs stay relentlessly on the attack, hitting at the CRTC as well as Canadian cable companies.
While Bell Canada Enterprises CEO Michael Sabia’s keynote on Tuesday said the telecom regs were just plain wrong, Telus Communications CEO Darren Entwistle backed him up the next day.
Both executives are peeved at the May 12th voice over Internet protocol regulatory decision which said, mainly, that for the incumbent local exchange carriers VOIP will be regulated as their traditional circuit-switched systems in that they must file tariffs each…
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TORONTO – The show that led the buzz-meter during the recent fall launches south of the border, Chris Rock’s “Everybody Hates Chris”, will premiere on Citytv this fall, CHUM Television announced today.
Other new shows include dramatic series "Just Legal" from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer; "Hot Properties," a new comedy about four women in the Manhattan real estate market; the drama "Supernatural" from executive producer McG ("The O.C.") starring Jared Padalecki; and "Wanted," a gritty crime drama from executive producers Aaron Spelling and E. Duke Vincent.
Mid-season programming highlights include: "Bedford Diaries" from executive producer Barry Levinson; "South Beach,"…
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TORONTO – Don’t expect Bell Canada Enterprises to let up on the CRTC any time soon.
Still stinging from the Commission’s May 12th VOIP decision, which maintains traditional regs on telcos’ voice over IP offerings while cablecos and others get a head start, BCE CEO Michael Sabia made plain today in his keynote address at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto that the company will keep pressuring government for wholesale change.
The situation is dire, he said, as Canada loses ground in the information communications technology (ICT) space to forward-thinking countries like Ireland and Korea. “By making a conscious…
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TORONTO – While he didn’t name names, one of the newest players in the telecom space in Canada appear to be having problems dealing with a certain western MSO.
At a Monday session during the Canadian Telecom Summit entitled VOIP Pioneers – Early Results, Matt Stein, vice-president of new technology and services with VOIP provider Primus Canada, expressed his frustration with customer issues that are peculiar to the west.
“The vast majority of our quality issues are from Alberta and British Columbia,” he said. “An overwhelming amount comes from those provinces and while I won’t name the company, it…
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MISSISSAUGA – Voice over Internet Protocol provider Vonage Canada today announced an aggressive expansion of its service by providing local phone number exchanges to consumers and small businesses in more than 50 additional cities and communities.
Customers from anywhere in Canada have already been able to choose an area code and local number from 14 major centres in six provinces, including Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.
Vonage’s expansion will allow people outside those major urban cities to switch to Vonage and choose a new local phone number from their city or simply transfer their existing…
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WINNIPEG – While his announcement that Shaw Communications’ VOIP launch in Winnipeg is imminent got some headlines after a speech last week, company CEO Jim Shaw used the forum to pound away at one of his favorite topics: transforming government policy.
After saying in the prepared text of his speech to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce that he expected Shaw to launch voice over Internet protocol telephony in Winnipeg, “in the next few weeks,” he went on to outline his vision of a lighter regulatory regime for the telecom and TV industry.
Broadcast, telecom, it doesn’t matter, all areas…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications announced today that its Shaw Digital Phone customers can now call Alaska and Hawaii as part of their unlimited, anytime long distance calling plan.
This is in addition to the current offering of anytime, unlimited long distance calling anywhere in Canada and the Continental U.S. at no extra charge.
"The addition of Alaska and Hawaii to our unlimited long distance calling plan means customers of Shaw Digital Phone can now call anywhere in Canada and the U.S. anytime they want to at no additional charge," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications Inc., in a…
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WE ALL HAVE A WISH-list, don’t we? Things we think and sometimes say about what we’d change if a genie popped from a bottle.
While a genie grants but three wishes, I have many, many more than that. Greedy, I guess, but here goes. I wish:
* I had telephone call display on my TV screen. That’s a nifty option Sasktel and MTS offer on their DSL TV service. It’s something I’d certainly pay for.
* Telcos and cablecos would quit going after each other at the Commission so often and concentrate on their marketing and engineering. Each side…
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