TORONTO – Popular Bollywood entertainment channel, ZEE Cinema, launched on Rogers Digital Cable and Telus Optik TV in Canada this month.
Zee Americas has entered into a long-term distribution agreement with Toronto’s Ethnic Channels Group for ZEE Cinema in Canada. The deal provides Ethnic Channels Group the rights to distribute the service on cable and satellite platforms here.
“This is exciting for us in that for the first time ever we are able to focus our marketing and unlock the strength of…
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WHILE LISTENING, PERPLEXED, to Tuesday’s “Say No To Bell” press conference led by Quebecor Inc. Cogeco Inc. and Bragg Communications, I tweeted “Horse is out of the barn, is lost in the woods and the barn is on fire.”
Many of us are fond of using the “horse is out of the barn” cliché when it comes to big media mergers, noting it’s far too late now to close the door on any of it. That is undeniable, and the proposed Bell Media purchase of Astral Media is just about the last of them. The Canadian barn…
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VANCOUVER – Telus has expanded its 4G LTE network across metro Vancouver.
The telco said Thursday that the service is now available in Burnaby, New Westminster, West Vancouver, North Vancouver, South Delta and Vancouver. Additional B.C. communities, including Southern Vancouver Island, Whistler, Prince George, the Okanagan and Peace River region, are expected to receive access later this year.
“With an LTE device our customers can enjoy the fastest wireless technology available in the world today – we are continuing to expand this new technology, community by community, so that by the end of the year, nearly 90% of B.C. residents are…
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WIND MOBILE PARENT COMPANY Globalive has said again the CRTC must hold a public hearing to find out for sure if the ownership of Telus is Canadian enough.
Back in June, Globalive sent a petition to the CRTC which said Telus’s recent aborted attempt to convert to a single share structure showed the Vancouver-based telco may not be complying with Canada’s telecom ownership rules and therefore it may well be in breach of the Telecom Act. So, a full public hearing must be held to determine whether or not Telus is Canadian enough.
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VANCOUVER – Strong wireless and wireline data growth drove Telus to a very good second quarter, the big telco announced this morning.
Second quarter (ended June 30, 2012) revenue increased 4% to $2.7 billion while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 5% to $1 billion, the company reported. Earnings per share rose 2% to $1.01, or 6% when excluding income tax adjustments and a gain on the Telus Garden real estate development.
Quarterly growth was primarily generated by a 7% increase in wireless revenue and 13% increase in wireless EBITDA, plus strong revenue growth of 8.5% in…
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TORONTO – Asian Television Network (ATN) has launched Movies OK, a 24 hour Bollywood movie channel from News Corp's STAR Network, boosting its Hindi cinema-entertainment offerings in Canada.
The family-friendly channel offers a range of titles including blockbusters, modern classics and contemporary cinema through its affiliation with STAR and through the movie library acquired from Viacom.
The channel is currently offered by Rogers, Bell and Telus.
www.asiantelevision.com
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TORONTO – It’s not just about choice, it’s about how that choice is defined.
According to the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG), which lost its final offer arbitration dispute against Bell Media just over a week ago, the CRTC appeared to agree with the communication giant’s definition of choice which, simply put, is the more television channels that Canadian viewers can buy, the better.
But is choice about volume, or is it the ability to pick only the channels that viewers actually want to watch?
According to the CIDG, made up of Cogeco, MTS and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), their consumers…
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HALIFAX – Telus will invest $8.4 million and hire 65 new employees over the next three years to expand its 4G LTE network in Atlantic Canada.
As part of this investment, Telus said Wednesday that it will invest $5 million in Nova Scotia alone, including $3.8 million in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
"Telus’ $8.4 million investment in Atlantic Canada over the next three years supports the enhancement and expansion of our wireless service, which is based on the most advanced, fastest wireless technology available in the world today," said Ken Power, director of Atlantic Canada, in the news release. "The demand…
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VANCOUVER – Telus says that it has always been compliant with Canada's foreign ownership restrictions for telecommunications companies, and called on the CRTC to dismiss the “misleading allegations” made by Globalive and Mason Capital.
In a formal response to the Commission on Monday, the telco reported that as of June 29, 32.59% of its voting shares were held by non-Canadians, an amount that falls just below the federal limit of 33.3%. This includes the holdings of its shareholder Mason, a New York-based hedge fund, which recently reported that it held a 19.98% ownership stake of Telus’ common shares.
"Globalive relies on…
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OTTAWA – While Friday’s CRTC rulings may indeed eventually pave the way towards more choice for consumers in the selection of TV channels, what remains unclear is whether that “choice” will truly be driven by Canadian viewers or continue to be shaped by the country’s biggest broadcasters and television service providers.
Friday’s CRTC decision, which chose Bell Media’s final offer over the one presented by the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG), noted that “both parties’ offers moved in the direction of providing more consumer choice”, plus contained “incentives to provide a wide choice of programming in the broadcasting system, and…
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