BACK IN 2007-08 THERE were no shortage of people in the Canadian TV industry who’d whisper, “who’s the crazy guy buying up all the music brands?”
The prevailing wisdom then said music was a shrinking, sinking business, utterly upended by the digital revolution and one to be fled by serious businesspeople, not embraced. It was certainly not something upon which to build a brand new global enterprise. Oh, there were plenty of naysayers when Eric Boyko (pictured in his Montreal office), a speed talking ball of frenetic, entrepreneurial energy, entered the Canadian TV scene. (Pour la version française, s'il vous…
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OTTAWA – Telus Communications may not charge for service poles that it doesn’t own, says the CRTC.
In a decision issued Friday, the Commission found that Telus is prohibited by its Support Structure Service tariff from charging licensees for service poles it does not own, unless the company has an agreement through which it has the right to provide licensees with access to those poles and, hence, exercises control over those poles.
Responding to a complaint from Raftview Communications dated July 24, 2014, the CRTC directed Telus to withdraw all invoices and/or provide refunds to Raftview, as appropriate, in accordance…
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OTTAWA – There are rules which say pre-paid retail gift cards and pre-paid credit cards can not expire, but pre-paid phone cards are exempt from that legislation – and that’s a “scandalous” oversight, a consumer group has told the federal government.
Currently, prepaid wireless phone cards are exempt from both provincial and federal legislation which ban expiry dates on retailer gift cards and prepaid credit cards. However, one consumer advocacy group has been working to see that changed and is now demanding Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet intervene in the matter.
“Prepaid wireless, pay-per-use accounts should not be exempt from legislation…
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TORONTO – Telus wants to help Canadian businesses accelerate their adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technology with its new IoT Marketplace, billed as an online space offering IoT solutions from cutting-edge innovators and industry-leading technology companies.
The company said that the IoT Marketplace will simplify the complexity of IoT for businesses and allow them to quickly deploy a solution to help reduce costs and enhance their efficiency, productivity and profitability. For developers and IoT technology providers, the marketplace will provide an instant sales channel, with lead generation, the support of Telus' sales and marketing teams, and integrated billing.
"IoT technology has tremendous…
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VANCOUVER – TVO CEO and current TIFF chair Lisa de Wilde will join the Telus board of directors effective February 1, 2015.
Telus said Thursday that the appointment reflects its commitment to further strengthen its board by recruiting candidates who bring strategic expertise and significant operational experience across key markets.
De Wilde, pictured, served as Astral Television’s president and CEO prior to being named CEO of TVO in 2005. She also worked as legal counsel to the CRTC and later, as director general of its Cable Television, Specialty and Pay Television Service. Her board experience reflects her interest in film, media and…
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GATINEAU – “Contrary to the assertions of some parties, there is simply no problem to solve when it comes to Canadian broadband.” Those comments from Ted Woodhead, senior VP of federal government and regulatory affairs at Telus Communications, during the company’s reply on Wednesday pretty much sum up the views of all the major incumbent ISPs when it comes to wholesale broadband access regulations which the CRTC has under review.
The big players have argued throughout the hearing that competition is alive and well in retail Internet access markets between the cable and telephone companies, and any decision that grants…
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TORONTO – Launching next Thursday for customers of Bell, Telus, Bell Aliant and EastLink is the traditional TV industry’s latest salvo in the battle to retain customers by providing more content to television subscribers on more devices at any time.
This morning at the Bell TIFF Lightbox, the company officially revealed CraveTV, a $4-a-month service which will give subscribers to a traditional TV package access to more than 10,000 hours of content on their handsets, tablets, PCs and their regular set top boxes. It will also be available soon on other platforms such as AppleTV, Chromecast and Xbox.
Costing…
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GATINEAU – Wholesale access rates that are too low, as Rogers Communications contends they are now, will not lead to further competitor investment in networks, the company said on Tuesday to the CRTC. Rather, it will continue to encourage independent ISPs to lease capacity from the incumbents in perpetuity.
Rogers said its wholesale business – customers who pay 45% less than retail consumers – has grown from essentially zero to nearly 15% of customers in the last four years. If the current growth trajectory continues, it will top 30%. Company executives appeared before the Commission as part of its look…
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TORONTO – Wind Mobile has added a new, unnamed domestic partner network in a move that has allowed it to expand its coverage area by 14% nationwide.
The new wireless entrant said Tuesday that it has added 177,000 square kilometers of coverage outside of the Wind Unlimited zone, meaning it now covers 1.2 million square kilometers across Canada and reaches 97% of the population. According to sources, that new partner is Telus.
“Our data shows that Canadians living in our Unlimited coverage areas do tend to travel outside of their home zone for work or pleasure,” said chief marketing officer, Mirko Rugarli,…
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GATINEAU – With a cost profile four times higher, an unclear applications future and potentially new access technologies, fibre to the premise (FTTP) carries far too high a risk profile to allow competitors to ride on the networks at low mandated rates, Telus told the CRTC on Monday.
The communications giant kicked off the second week of a hearing into wholesale wireline services by arguing the question about mandating access to competitors isn’t about whether such a decision will cause Telus and others to stop investing, it’s about how and where that capital would be deployed.
“These networks require care and…
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