By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — Quebecor has cut funding for MAtv, Videotron’s community channel in Montreal, by 45%, prompting an anglophone member of its advisory committee to resign in protest.
Fortner Anderson, a local artist, said he can “no longer in good conscience” remain on the committee because the latest cuts “will substantially alter and reduce the benefits MAtv provides to the English language community of Montreal, and because they will diminish the vitality of that community.”
The 45% cut is the result of Quebecor’s decision to take advantage of an allowance the CRTC gave large vertically-integrated companies in 2016. As part…
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CALGARY – On Friday, Shaw Communications launched a public art experience where LGBTQ2SIA+ and BIPOC artists have created murals at the four corner entrances to Central Memorial Park in recognition of Calgary Pride.
“Thirty years ago, in a very different environment, 100 brave members of Calgary’s LGBTQ2SIA+ community gathered in the park to protest discrimination and fight for equality in what would later become acknowledged as the city’s first Pride rally,” reminds the Shaw press release.
“In this extraordinary year, we weren’t able to join Calgarians en masse to celebrate Calgary Pride as we normally would. But we can still partner…
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EXTON, Pa. — SCTE-ISBE today unveiled the lineup of participants for its CEO panel scheduled during the general session of the virtual Cable-Tec Expo 2020 trade show taking place in October.
Moderated by Phil McKinney, president and CEO of CableLabs, the hour-long roundtable discussion will include the following CEOs:
Dave Watson, president and CEO, Comcast Cable
Tom Rutledge, chairman and CEO, Charter Communications
Mike Fries, CEO and vice-chairman, Liberty Global
The CEO panel will feature discussions on the industry’s response to Covid-19 and the evolution to a next-generation 10G platform, as well as the potential for life-changing applications which 10G will…
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Bell and cablecos argue Cabinet proves them right
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Independent and incumbent internet service providers have filed letters to the Federal Court of Appeal explaining the impact of the Federal Cabinet’s decision last weekend on the CRTC’s decision to slash wholesale internet rates and whether it should factor into the court’s ultimate decision.
On August 15, one year following the decision by the CRTC to slash wholesale internet rates, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) said the Regulator’s decision “do not, in all instances, appropriately balance the policy objectives of the wholesale services framework” and that in…
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CALGARY — As the company looks to grow and promote its recently launched Shaw Mobile brand, Shaw Communications announced Tuesday it has opened 11 new retail locations across B.C. and Alberta, with plans for more in the coming months.
Shaw’s retail expansion includes new concept stores in the regional hubs of Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Kelowna and Kamloops, as well as Calgary and Edmonton. A 12th new concept store is expected to open soon in Red Deer. By the end of 2020, new retail locations will be added in Langley, Victoria, West Vancouver, Prince George and Nanaimo, says the Shaw…
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OTTAWA — In the third installment of its series of reports looking at network traffic volumes during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) says Canadians continued to use telecom services in June and July at higher rates than before Covid-19.
“The gradual relaxation of mobility restrictions across the country are reflected in the increase in mobile network traffic, with median wireless traffic exceeding pre-Covid-19 levels. Meanwhile, despite some businesses and public spaces reopening, wireline traffic volumes continue to show that many Canadians are still relying heavily on home internet services to stay connected to their workplaces, families,…
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CALGARY and TORONTO — Shaw Communications’ senior vice-president of digital, product and service delivery, Sarah Miller Wright, is leaving the company to join Manulife Canada as its head of operations.
Miller Wright’s previous leadership roles at Shaw included being senior vice-president of customer care. At Shaw, she led several transformation initiatives, driving greater digital adoption to ultimately enhance the overall customer experience, says the Manulife news release announcing her arrival. Miller Wright also spearheaded Shaw’s shift to an agile way of working, building more effective systems and processes and finding new ways to collaborate across teams, says the release.
She was…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Football League officially called off its 2020 season today after being turned down by the federal government for a special bailout. The league and its players were hoping to play a shortened season using Winnipeg as a bubble city for all games.
“Our league governors decided today it is in the best long-term interests of the CFL to concentrate on the future,” said league commissioner Randy Ambrosie in a press release. “We are absolutely committed to 2021, to the future of our league and the pursuit of our vision of a bigger, stronger, more global CFL.”
Losing…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – At 9 a.m. Saturday, the federal government released its ruling on the cabinet appeal of the CRTC’s August 15, 2019 decision on new wholesale rates third party internet access ISPs must pay incumbent network operators.
It required a few readings to understand.
A year ago today, the CRTC issued an order setting the final rates for wholesale internet access (including over $300 million in retroactive payments) and the large ISPs did not like it one bit. They appealed it to cabinet, consistent with section 12 of the Telecommunications Act. The Act also says that Cabinet…
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Telus supports Bell’s plan to strike Matrix from the record
By Greg O’Brien
GATINEAU – Of the 11 organizations to respond to the CRTC’s request for comment on Bell Canada’s demand to strike a key economic report from the public record of the wireless policy review proceeding, only one supports the idea.
Bell has asked the Commission to remove a report from the official record of the policy review which underpins the Competition Bureau’s submission to the CRTC that a modified, but mandated, mobile virtual network operator regime must be established. The Bureau’s final comments and the report done by Matrix Economics…
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