IGLOOLIK, Nunavut — Canada’s first and only all-Inuktut TV channel, Uvagut TV, is celebrating its first anniversary this week.
The channel was launched on Monday, Jan. 18, 2021 by Nunavut Independent Television (NITV) and started out broadcasting 168 hours a week of Inuit-produced culture, arts, movies and information programming.
Uvagut TV is available nationally to more than 610,000 customers across the country via Shaw Direct satellite service and can also be streamed via uvagut.tv. The channel is also carried by Arctic Co-op Cable in Nunavut and Northwest Territories and by FCNQ in Nunavik, in northern Quebec.
“Thank you to everyone…
Continue Reading
BEHCHOKǪ̀, NT — Northwestel announced today the launch of full-fibre Internet service with unlimited data to homes and businesses in Behchokǫ̀, Northwest Territories.
With the launch, the home Internet speeds now available in Behchokǫ̀ have increased from 15 Mbps to 250 Mbps for downloads, which far surpasses the CRTC’s universal service objective of 50 Mbps, says a Northwestel press release.
“Alongside faster unlimited Internet, Behchokǫ̀ now has Internet rates that match those available in major Northern centres,” the release says.
Northwestel’s unlimited Internet plans range in price from $161 per month for its Internet 50 service with download speeds up to 50 Mbps to…
Continue Reading
CALGARY — Shaw Communications today announced its financial results for the first quarter of its 2022 fiscal year, which shows the company’s consolidated revenue increased year-over-year by 1.2% to $1.39 billion, adjusted EBITDA grew 4.3% to $633 million and net income increased 20.2% to $196 million.
For the quarter ended Nov. 30, 2021, Shaw added 55,582 new wireless customers, with postpaid net additions of 36,089 “driven by the continued momentum of Shaw Mobile,” says a press release announcing the company’s Q1 2022 results. The company had 19,493 prepaid net additions in the quarter.
Overall, Shaw’s wireless revenue in Q1 2022 increased…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Marketing and research association thinktv announced today its vice-president of media insights, Kathy Gardner (above), is retiring effective Feb. 4 after a 38-year career in the media industry.
“It has been a privilege to work alongside Kathy, and on behalf of the board, I would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for her numerous contributions,” said Alan Dark, chairperson of thinktv’s board of directors, in a press release announcing Gardner’s retirement.
Gardner “has been instrumental in thinktv’s success over the last six years. Kathy’s unique expertise and her compassionate leadership have benefited us all immensely,” reads the press release,…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Rogers Communications announced late this afternoon Tony Staffieri (above) has been appointed as the company’s president and CEO, effective immediately.
Staffieri’s appointment follows a months-long period of turmoil at the company last fall during which board chair Edward Rogers sought to remove previous CEO Joe Natale, who eventually left the company in mid-November. At the time, Staffieri was appointed interim president and CEO.
Previously, Staffieri was Rogers’s chief financial officer until his abrupt departure at the end of September, before the power struggle at the company became public knowledge.
A press release today from Rogers says…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Revenue from Canadian broadcasting services declined 6.6% to $15.8 billion in 2019-2020 compared to 2018-2019, the CRTC says.
This is highlighted in the broadcasting portion of the CRTC’s Communications Market Report (CMR; formally the Communications Monitoring Report), released last month, which covers the broadcast year spanning from Sept. 1, 2019, to Aug. 31, 2020, and as such includes around six months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The $15.8 billion in revenue does not include revenues from Internet-based services, known as over-the-top services (OTT), operating under the CRTC’s digital media exemption order.
Over half of the revenues were generated by broadcasting distribution…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Total revenue for Canada’s telecommunications sector was $53.4 billion in 2020, a decrease of 1.4% compared to 2019, the CRTC says.
This is according to the telecom portion of the CRTC’s Communications Market Report (CMR; formally the Communications Monitoring Report), released last month.
The report features data from 2020, during which the Covid-19 pandemic began, non-essential travel was curtailed and many Canadians ended up working from home. During this time, there were higher volumes of wireline voice calling, significantly increased Internet data usage and decreased mobile roaming, the report explains.
The 1.4% total revenue decrease for telecommunications in 2020 is…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Fraudulent calls continue to be an issue for Canadians despite the recent implementation of measures to try to combat them.
In April of this year, the CRTC directed telecommunications service providers (TSPs) to implement STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephony Identity Revisited/Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs), which is intended to combat caller ID spoofing, by Nov. 30 as a condition of providing telecommunication services.
As of Nov. 30, TSPs are expected to “certify whether a caller’s identity can be trusted by verifying the caller ID information for Internet Protocol-based voice calls,” a CRTC press release explains. The…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Numerous intervenors in their final submissions to the CRTC continue to argue the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications is not in the public interest and should be denied, despite the fact Rogers offered some concessions in its reply on day five of the recent hearing into the matter as well as in other documents since submitted by the company to the Commission.
(You can read Cartt.ca’s coverage of the CRTC hearing here, here, here, here and here.)
The final submissions, which were due Monday, point to several problems the intervenors argue remain…
Continue Reading
Rogers and Fido see largest increases
OTTAWA – The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) accepted 17,003 consumer complaints in the past year – a 9% increase compared to the previous year, according to its annual report released today.
The annual report covers the period from Aug. 1, 2020, to July 31, 2021. In this timeframe, CCTS concluded 17,506 complaints, a 10% increase from last year (this includes complaints received before Aug. 1, 2020, which were concluded during the year covered by today’s report.)
The concluded complaints raised over 42,000 issues. The top issues were billing (16,304), contract dispute (13,147), service…
Continue Reading
