TORONTO – Ken Stein, former senior vice-president of corporate and regulatory affairs at Shaw Communications, died last week of cancer. He was 76.
After a career as a senior public servant, where he worked closely with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as deputy secretary to the federal cabinet for a stretch, Stein was hired in 1991 as president of the former Canadian Cable Television Association. He then joined Shaw in 1995 and remained a key builder of the company until his retirement in 2011.
He also served on the board of the Shaw Rocket Fund and was the long-time chairman of…
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CALGARY – Freedom Mobile continued its network expansion today with the official announcement it has launched in Kelowna, B.C.
Kelowna residents can sign up today as a Freedom customer at the Orchard Park Mall (2271 Harvey Avenue), Mission Park Shopping Centre (3155 Lakeshore Road), as well as Walmart (1555 Banks Road) and Loblaws’ The Mobile Shop (2280 Baron Road). Freedom Mobile will extend wireless services to residents in communities throughout the Okanagan in the coming months. Click here to see where launches are coming next.
Kelowna residents can also get a special introductory offer on Freedom…
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GATINEAU – All large internet service providers will have to abide by the CRTC’s new Internet Code of conduct as of January 31, 2020.
The new code, which will apply to Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, Northwestel, Rogers, Shaw, Sasktel, Telus, Vidéotron, and Xplornet has been created to try to ensure consumers receive easier-to-understand contracts, documentation and policies surrounding service calls, outages, security deposits and disconnections, reads the release. It’s worth noting here this new code does not apply to mobile wireless internet providers. (Correction: An earlier version of this story mentioned the code will apply to small…
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GATINEAU – Last summer Cloudwifi, a Kitchener-based ISP that operates mostly in the apartment and condo space, filed an application with the CRTC requesting an order stating Bell Canada can’t interfere with a customer’s use of the inside wire.
The CRTC agreed with the independent ISP but Bell appealed saying because Cloudwifi was not a local exchange carrier (LEC) or a BDU, it had no legal, regulatory, or other rights of use or access to the facilities at issue. On July 17, 2019, the Commission asked interested parties for applications on the review of CRTC decision…
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CALGARY – Freedom Mobile announced Friday it has launched its network in Nanaimo, B.C.
“We look forward to providing Nanaimo residents with a real alternative to the Big Three wireless carriers,” said Paul McAleese, president, wireless, Shaw Communications, in the press release. “Nanaimo residents will benefit greatly from the increased competition we are bringing to their community.”
The 90,000 residents of the community about 110 kms north of Victoria can sign up for Freedom Mobile service today by visiting one of three retail locations: Woodgrove Centre (6631 N Island Hwy), Loblaws’ The Mobile Shop (6435 Metral Drive), as well as…
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Back-to-school promo offers the latest phones, Big Gig Unlimited, starting at $50/month
CALGARY – Shaw Communications’ Freedom Mobile has dropped wireless pricing again by reducing the cost of wireless for Canadians with its Big Gig Unlimited plans and Absolute Zero promotions.
Both are featured in a new national advertising campaign marking the return of the notorious “Monolithic Wireless” and highlighting “unfair treatment of Canadian wireless customers,” reads the Freedom press release.
Top-end handsets such as the latest iPhones can be had for a $75/month Big Gig plan for 10GB of unlimited data (slowed after the monthly benchmark is reached), with no extra…
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TORONTO – Ad agency m/SIX, a division backed jointly by GroupM and The&Partnership, announced today it has named media veteran Tricia Allen as president, Canada.
Allen brings 23 years of experience building agency businesses in both Canada and the U.S. to the role, says the press release. She joins the company from IPG’s Orion Worldwide where she served in a variety of roles including as managing director, Canada and managing director, North America. Prior to Orion, Allen was director of media strategy at Shaw Media where she oversaw all media strategy development and execution of consumer campaigns for Shaw’s…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications announced today it is launching Freedom Mobile in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Residents in Medicine Hat (pop. 63,000) can now get Freedom by visiting one of two launch locations: Walmart (2051 Strachan Rd S.E.) and Loblaws’ The Mobile Shop (1792 Trans Canada Way S.E.). The company will be opening its first branded retail location at the Medicine Hat Mall in late August.
“Our Big Gig plans are disrupting the wireless marketplace and have reset Canadians’ expectations of what their wireless provider should do for them. We’re excited to offer Medicine Hat residents the choice and as of…
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Some numbers truly unexpected as we break down the report on individual specialty services
INDEPENDENT CANADIAN SPECIALTY services are punching well above their weight when it comes to making and delivering Canadian content, despite the fact they live in a far lower margin world than those owned by vertically integrated companies.
Collectively, independent, or non-vertically-integrated specialty channels spent a whopping 59% of their revenue on Canadian content in 2018, far outpacing VI channels, which collectively spent 38% of revenues on Cancon in the 2018 broadcast year, which ended August 31st. These numbers are according to the CRTC’s 2018 Individual Discretionary and…
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Slowed speeds after 10 GB might be against the rules
GATINEAU – Who would have thought a routine process of monitoring Internet pricing to make sure Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs) don’t violate consumer rights would bump up against the much ballyhooed new $75 wireless data pricing plans?
The CRTC has long been concerned about some differential pricing practices that could be viewed as unfair, so it decided two years ago to “closely monitor the retail prices and data caps for both wireless and fixed-line Internet services, which will enable it to assess the degree to which…
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