JUST BECAUSE BELL Canada, Quebecor Media, Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications are all broadcasters, specialty service operators, TV distributors, phone companies and broadband providers doesn’t mean they think alike. They do, however, agree on this generation’s “Death Star”. We’re looking at you, Netflix.
In their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, the four big vertically integrated behemoths are on board together with certain things, such as maintaining simultaneous substitution (which is actually something virtually every industry submission we’ve read demands be kept), decreasing the amount of Canadian content which must be shown, while spending more money on fewer big…
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TORONTO – TSN will flip the switch on its three new national feeds on August 25, opening day of the U.S. Open, and take the opportunity to deliver expanded live coverage of the final tennis Grand Slam of the season.
TSN said Monday that its feeds, branded TSN1, TSN2, TSN3, TSN4, and TSN5, will initially be available to customers of Bell Fibe TV and Bell Satellite, Cogeco Cable, Eastlink, FibreOp TV (Bell Aliant), MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct, Source Cable, and Telus Optik TV.
The additional feeds will allow the sports network to show more live game coverage,…
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VANCOUVER – For a guy who has supposedly moved to the boardroom from the CEO’s chair, Darren Entwistle still did a lot of talking during the Telus Q2 conference call with financial analysts.
The Telus executive chairman primarily spoke to a pair of important regulatory files which have the potential to dent the big wireless and wireline carrier’s performance (along with Rogers and Bell, for that matter): wholesale wireless roaming rates, and wholesale wireline broadband access.
Entwistle hammered home his point that facilities-based competition (where operators are required or incented to build…
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VANCOUVER – Thanks largely to being the growth leader in Canadian wireless, Telus saw operating revenue growth of 4.4% in the second quarter of 2014 to $2.95 billion, while EBITDA increased 7.5% to $1.07 billion, compared to the same time frame in 2013. Net income increased by 33% to $381 million.
Consolidated revenue growth was generated by both wireless and wireline operations, with wireless revenue up 6.2% and wireline revenue up 2.4% from a year ago, reads the company’s press release. In wireless, revenue was primarily driven by continued subscriber growth and higher data usage as a result of continued…
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GATINEAU – Despite the fact cable and other TV carriers in many countries are compiling and using data gleaned from customer set top boxes to modify their programming and advertising, Canadian companies seem loathe to do the same or are apathetic about moving quickly to gather that real-time information, according to their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, slated to get under way a month from tomorrow.
The Commission asked nine different questions about establishing a set-top box (STB) audience measurement system in Canada, covering issues from consumer privacy to costs and governance. With a few exceptions (especially from…
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HALIFAX – Eastlink Wireless customers can talk, surf and text in more places down east than ever before, thanks to a “unique network partner approach to supplement its own network coverage,” the company announced Thursday afternoon.
The Bragg family-owned cable and wireless company says that its customers now have the most coverage of any carrier in Atlantic Canada (see map, pictured).
“We’re unable to name the partner we have added and we have excellent coverage here in Atlantic Canada but there were places – whether it was a cottage or a golf course or so on where customers might have been…
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GATINEAU – There is broad consensus among parties to the CRTC’s TV policy review that a mandated small basic package is not likely to come with a lower price tag.
A skinny basic to go along with a pure pick-and-pay channel regime could also cause some sticker shock, not only for consumers but also for broadcast distributors looking to acquire programming, according to the big content owners and the VI companies.
Bell Canada argues that broadcasters will bear the brunt of unbundling. First, because channels will have less penetration, fewer customers will share the costs of that service, driving prices skywards….
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GATINEAU – Local TV is struggling mightily. Ad revenue is down and showing no signs of growth, while the ever growing lineup of new specialty channels and the rapid rise of Internet-based alternatives are blasting away at what has always been the bedrock of the television system in Canada.
Some are telling the CRTC that it’s time to adopt a radically different approach for local TV, one that would bolster the revenue side of the ledger while also helping to encourage the development of compelling Canadian content.
For example, Bell Canada and CBC/Radio-Canada suggest shutting down over the air infrastructure completely…
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OTTAWA – With a healthy set-aside for operating newcomers (read: wireless companies which are serving Canadians and who aren’t Rogers, Bell or Telus), the federal government opened its public consultation on the AWS-3 auction it plans to hold in March of 2015 – one month prior to the long-planned 2500 MHz auction.
AWS-3 spectrum is in the 1755-1780 and 2155-2180 MHz bands and 30 of the 50 MHz on offer will be solely for the likes of Videotron, Wind, EastLink, and Mobilicity (or whomever is left standing in eight months…). In order to be eligible to bid on the set-aside,…
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MONTREAL – Quebec customers of Telus’ Optik TV can now access the CBC’s French language video portal Tou.tv directly on their televisions.
"What our customers want is more flexibility. They want to watch their favorite shows at the time and with the device of their choice, said Clément Audet, vice president, consumer market Telus Québec, in a French-language press release.
The Tou.tv application is integrated directly within the Optik TV service via the customers’ set top boxes. Subscribers can then get quick access to nearly 1,200 titles in French, of which 300 are renewed each month, and they don’t need a…
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