TORONTO – As part of a media tour in Toronto last week, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Styles sat down with Cartt.ca to discuss the telecom company’s most recent financial year and its upcoming projects. However, he declined to comment on this spring’s upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction, of which SaskTel is one of the applicants planning to bid on licences in Saskatchewan.
“We’re prohibited by the federal government to discuss that, while the auction is getting ready to kick off,” Styles (pictured) explained. “I can’t really comment on AWS-3 at all, otherwise I’ll be getting a call.”
As…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has directed all incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) that have support structure services to revise the definition of subscriber drop wire in their respective tariffs.
The decision comes as a result of a show cause proceeding initiated by the Commission last November that urged ILECs to be consistent with the revised definition of subscriber drop wire established for Bell Aliant in a billing dispute between that company and Eastlink over payments for service poles.
As Cartt.ca reported, the Regulator clarified in the Bell Aliant/Eastlink matter that a “service pole” is to include all poles on…
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OTTAWA – Despite assertions from Bell Media and Telus to the contrary, there is nothing “frivolous or vexatious” about its complaint over the tied selling of Bell’s CraveTV streaming service to existing TV subscription services, says the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC).
In a response to the CRTC dated February 17, PIAC-CAC asked the CRTC to both reject requests by Bell and Telus to dismiss its application, and to deny Bell’s alternative request for an extension of time to file an answer. The seven page document goes on to refute Bell’s allegation that the…
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OTTAWA – Bell Media’s Mary Ann Turcke has been named Woman of the Year by Women in Communications and Technology (WCT).
Turcke, pictured, began her career at Bell as VP of customer experience and operations for Small & Medium Business in 2005 and was later promoted to EVP of field services in 2008. In 2014, she was appointed group president of media sales, local TV and radio at Bell Media where she oversees almost $2 billion in media sales across multiple platforms as well as local TV and radio in English Canada. Turcke also serves on the boards of Maple…
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GRIMSBY, ONT. — Early bird registration is now open for two Canadian CommTech shows happening this spring in the Toronto area and Calgary.
CommTech East will take place from April 14-15 at the Mississauga Convention Centre in Mississauga, Ont., with early bird rates available until February 27. CommTech West is scheduled from May 27-28 at the Coast Plaza Hotel & Convention Centre in Calgary, with early bird registration ending March 15.
“Due to the early support and endorsement of Rogers, Telus, the SCTE Ontario Chapter, and our long-standing platinum sponsor, Power & Tel, we are able to offer two shows again…
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OTTAWA — Bell Media has asked the CRTC to dismiss a complaint filed last week by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) that called into question the tied selling of Bell’s CraveTV streaming service to existing TV subscription services.
And in a separate procedural request submitted to the CRTC today, Telus (one of CraveTV’s distributors) asked the Commission “to either return the CraveTV application to PIAC-CAC in order for deficiencies to be remedied or to close the file.”
As reported last week, in one of two applications submitted to the CRTC on February 6,…
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TORONTO — Bell Media’s CraveTV subscription video on-demand streaming service will soon be available to more TV subscribers across Canada, as Bell announced it has signed up four more distributors for the service.
The four new CraveTV distributors are: Access Communications, a Saskatchewan-owned non-profit co-operative; Cable Cable, in the city of Kawartha Lakes, Ont.; Nexicom, in Peterborough, Ont.; and Northwestel, which serves customers in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, northern B.C., and High Level, Alta.
CraveTV is available now to Access Communications TV subscribers, with Cable Cable, Nexicom and Northwestel expected to launch the service in the coming weeks. CraveTV is…
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VANCOUVER — Telus today reported strong growth for its fourth quarter of 2014, with a 6.1% increase in consolidated operating revenue from a year earlier, driven by revenue and earnings growth in both its wireless and wireline businesses.
Telus’s operating revenues for Q4 2014 totalled $3.1 billion, and the company’s Q4 EBITDA increased by 5.3% to $1.0 billion. Net income of $312 million was higher by 7.6% as compared to the same quarter last year, while basic earnings per share (EPS) rose by 8.5% to $0.51.
In total, Telus’s consolidated operating revenues for the full 2014 fiscal year were $12 billion…
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TORONTO — Following on its exclusive deal last summer to distribute WWE’s flagship programming in Canada, Rogers announced today it has reached carriage agreements for WWE Network with multiple television providers.
Rogers became the exclusive Canadian distributor of WWE Network through 2024 in a 10-year broadcast and multimedia agreement reached with WWE in August.
In addition to Rogers and Eastlink, the premium WWE Network linear TV channel will soon be available to Cogeco Cable Canada, Shaw and Shaw Direct, Telus Optik TV and Telus Satellite TV, and Vidéotron subscribers. (In a Rogers press release issued today, no word was…
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VANCOUVER — Telus Optik TV customers will soon be able to access Netflix directly from any Optik TV set-top box in their home, Telus announced today.
Accessing Netflix directly through an Optik TV set-top box removes the need to switch hardware and source inputs or fumble with additional remotes, Telus said in a news release. Access to Netflix will be made available to Optik TV customers over the coming weeks, Telus said.
“The addition of Netflix is yet another demonstration of Telus’ commitment to making our customers’ entertainment experience better and simpler,” said Blair Miller, vice-president of content at Telus,…
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