However, it's likely just temporary
OTTAWA – While Canada’s publicly traded television service providers lost almost 20% fewer TV subscribers in 2017 versus 2016, this is likely a temporary positive turn in a long road of permanent TV subscriber declines in the future, according to new research released Wednesday.
Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services found that BCE, Rogers, Shaw, Vidéotron, Cogeco, and Telus combined lost approximately 166,000 in their respective 2017 fiscal years, down from an estimated 205,000 lost in the previous year.
Boon Dog partner Mario Mota credited the improved cord-cutting numbers for 2017 to the…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) chair Sylvie Courtemanche has been named Woman of the Year by Women in Communications and Technology (WCT).
Prior to joining CBSC in January, Courtemanche (pictured) was a senior executive at Corus for both regulatory matters and government relations. She has also held roles as EVP policy and regulatory affairs for the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, legal counsel at the CRTC, and had her own consulting practice related to broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada.
Cogeco Connexion was named company of the year, and WCT also named 9 other recipients of its annual awards, which recognize…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has denied requests from both Bell and Telus seeking forbearance from the regulation of billing and collection service (BCS).
BCS is a mandated wholesale service that requires all local exchange carriers to bill and collect on behalf of alternate service providers (ASPs), such as long distance service providers, with respect to certain eligible services. These eligible services include casual long distance services (also known as 10-10 services), 900 services, collect call services, and bill-to-third call services. BCS enables an ASP to provide services to a local exchange customer without having a pre-existing billing relationship, or establishing…
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TORONTO – EnStream is offering more services that use real-time mobile network and account information to protect and confirm a consumer's online identity.
The mobile commerce joint venture company owned by Bell, Rogers and Telus said that the new services include enhanced analytics for name and address matching, mobile device authentication and mobile location services covering over 90% of the Canadian market, all without requiring any pre-loaded software on mobile devices.
"Validating identity is perhaps one of the biggest challenges on the Internet today, especially with the move to mobile," said EnStream’s chief identity officer Robert Blumenthal, in the news release….
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OTTAWA – After being deluged with over 1,600 complaints from Public Mobile customers last week after the company decided to increase a popular promotional pricing plan by $10 a month (which it subsequently backed down on), the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS) is reminding consumers that they must first contact their telecom or TV service provider to try and resolve any grievances.
In a letter published Tuesday entitled Lessons from the Public Mobile price increase, CCTS took issue with an iphoneincanada.ca article that repeated advice from a social media user about how to file a…
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And why CPE should be reduced for traditional media companies
GATINEAU – Saying online content platforms have radically altered the Canadian broadcasting system is as undeniable as it is now cliché. Netflix itself, has an estimated six million subscribers in Canada, an amount greater than half of all cable TV subscriptions here.
With Amazon Prime growing and the arrival of other online services in the future (BritBox arrived this week and CBS All Access is coming), the Canadian system needs to evolve with this new reality in mind, several have told the CRTC…
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The big four have not become the content exporters they were supposed to
LAST WEEK, I RESPONDED to a Scotiabank report which said the success of Netflix in gaining subscribers, along with Google and Facebook’s dominance of the Canadian advertising market, meant a merger of Bell and Corus was a logical market response to ensure we remain competitive.
I question the strategy of further vertical integration in light of its obvious failure. My core argument is VI has failed because it did not properly take into account the competitive advantages of the vertically integrated companies. As their…
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STOCKHOLM – Tech maker Ericsson said Wednesday it has decided to sell 51% of its Media Solutions business to private equity firm One Equity Partners
Last March the company announced it was undertaking a strategic review of Media Solutions and its Red Bee Media division and would consider partnerships, divestments, and a continued in-house development. It has decided to hang on to Red Bee.
“Media Solutions and Red Bee Media are leading providers of media products and services, and with the performance improvements that are currently being implemented, we see future upsides to both businesses. We are confident that the…
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TORONTO – Discovery Velocity has opened up for a month-long national free preview, on now through February 8.
Billed as Canada’s only home for factual turbo programming, Discovery Velocity will serve up live coverage of the most spectacular classic car auction event of the year, Barrett-Jackson Live (pictured, from January 16 – 21), alongside new series Texas Metal (January 12), and the return of Wheeler Dealers on January 22.
The freeview is available through television service providers including Bell, Bell Aliant, Cogeco Connexion, Eastlink, BellMTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Shaw Direct, Telus, Videotron, and several CCSA partners including Access…
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MONTREAL — Five years after it finally added the American cable channel to its television service, Vidéotron is dropping AMC, refusing to renew its carriage contract. The channel will disappear on February 12.
"Because we operate in a regional and not national market, it's difficult for Vidéotron to meet the many demands and financial requirements of AMC," reads a statement from Vidéotron. "In addition, according to our observations, viewing of AMC dropped over the last year."
(Ed note: If there was ever a time to pull AMC from the lineup, it’s now, as there is no original first-run programming scheduled until…
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