Search Results for: telus

Cable / Telecom News

Mobilicity granted creditor protection through September

TORONTO – Struggling Mobilicity has received another extension to its creditor protection. After filing materials earlier this week with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the wireless carrier confirmed Wednesday that it has received a further extension under its current CCAA proceedings from June 30 to September 26, 2014.  It was initially granted creditor protection last September. Mobilicity added that it’s previously announced mediation is ongoing and it "continues to be business as usual” for customers. All things considered, the company is hanging on, with 157,000 customers as of June 16th, according to the Monitor's Report, and "that management expects this number… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CANADIAN TELECOM SUMMIT 2014: Tony Lacavera needs money, spectrum, plans unlimited Canadian roaming soon

TORONTO – Wind Mobile Canada has never been so candid, or detailed, about its numbers. During his luncheon keynote Tuesday, Wind CEO Tony Lacavera released subscriber, ARPU and various other metrics that make Wind, now with about 740,000 Canadian customers, look like a growing, viable, business – despite the hundreds of millions in debt owed from 2008 spectrum purchases and its network build since then. But there’s a method to that data dump. Wind needs investors. With its foreign backer Vimpelcom having written Wind Canada’s value down to zero, that gave license to pundits, analysts and competitors… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CANADIAN TELECOM SUMMIT 2014: Incumbents, independents, do battle during regulatory panel – and try to answer the privacy question

TORONTO – Wholesale wireless service continues to be a prickly topic between wireless incumbents and new entrants, and quickly became a dominant theme Tuesday morning during the Canadian Telecom Summit’s annual regulatory blockbuster panel, moderated again this year by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien. Bell, Rogers and Telus remained steadfast in their collective belief that increased regulation on wholesale wireless services will result in decreased network investments.  Ken Engelhart, SVP regulatory for Rogers Communications, got that ball rolling early in the 90 minute panel, raising the matter in his opening “trite observations”. “Wholesale regulation inevitably leads to a reduction in investment,… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CANADIAN TELECOM SUMMIT 2014: Lacavera hammers away at conditions hurting Wind – as he searches for investors. Is an IPO in the works?

TORONTO – Wind Mobile chairman and CEO Tony Lacavera was on the attack again today during a luncheon keynote at CTS in Toronto, going after what he says are continuing anti-competitive behaviours of the big three wireless companies and suggesting further policy changes to the federal government. However, Lacavera lifted the veil off of a range of Wind Canada financial metrics, too, today. So many in fact, it made us believe he is casting as wide a net as possible for more investors, or even preparing the company for a public offering. Wind, as Lacavera’s speech also pointed out, is trapped…. Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Levinsky promoted to VP at MGM Television Canada

LOS ANGELES – Keri Levinsky has been promoted to the role of vice president, Canada Television Distribution for MGM Television, where she will oversee MGM Television’s Canada office. Levinsky (pictured) will continue reporting to John Bryan, president of domestic television distribution for MGM.  She previously served as director, Canada Television Distribution for MGM Television where she was responsible for feature film and television distribution to pay TV, free TV, cable TV, PPV/VOD, EST, SVOD and FVOD providers, for English and French Canada.  Prior to joining MGM Television in 2011, Levinsky was senior manager, business development and content for Telus. Additionally, Greg… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

BlackBerry teams up with telecoms on mobile payments

WATERLOO, ON – BlackBerry has signed a new three-year agreement with EnStream, a mobile payments joint venture between Bell, Rogers and Telus, to provide a secure platform that supports transaction services between banks and consumers. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Under the agreement, EnStream will use infrastructure to enable financial institutions, like Royal Bank, TD Bank, CIBC and Desjardins, and mobile operators to securely provision sensitive payment card credentials into any smartphone capable of near field communication. BlackBerry said that given its requirements for security, the mobile payments space continues to be an area of focus.  The company… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

WFN hooks “record” viewers, site visits during April free preview

DENVER and TORONTO – World Fishing Network posted the highest single-month viewership in the history of the network during the month of April as part of its North American free preview. Overall, WFN said that it experienced a 265% increase in average audience viewership in the U.S. during the preview period.  Participating providers included Antietam Cable, Bright House Networks, Cablevision (Optimum), CenturyLink, Cox Communications, DISH, MetroNet and Verizon FiOS. In Canada, Access, Bell, Cablevision du Nord du Quebec, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct, Source Cable, TBayTel, Telus, Videotron and Westman participated in the preview.  While Canadian television… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Rogers, TekSavvy first to divulge customer data requests

TORONTO – Rogers received close to 175,000 requests for customer data from federal agencies in 2013, the company disclosed Thursday in its first ever Transparency Report. As Cartt.ca reported, a coalition of Canadian academics and consumer groups asked the country’s biggest telecommunications service providers in January to reveal the extent to which they pass on their customers’ private information to government agencies when asked.  Sixteen different telcos were asked to respond or commit to responding by March 3, 2014. Rogers said in the report that it fully complies with Canadian privacy law and actively safeguards its customers’ information.  At the… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Sports Rights: New NHL contract sets stage for wholesale sports channel fees to soar again

TORONTO – Given the pile of money Rogers Communications paid for the rights to the National Hockey League games for the next 12 years, look for the wholesale fees paid for sports by BDUs – and their customers – to shoot up. A research report recently published by Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan says that if you think sports makes up a big portion of BDUs’ programming costs now, just wait. When the sports genre was deregulated by the CRTC back in 2010, CTV/Bell Media served notice that rates for TSN (which had been the same for more than a… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

It took a while to sprout, but The Rural Channel, a unique spot on the dial, is growing

EMERALD PARK, Sask. – It may have taken a little longer than expected for Ag-Com Productions to bring The Rural Channel (TRC) to life, but it recently celebrated its one year anniversary. On May 29, 2013 the rural lifestyle and agri-food business channel hit Canadian airwaves through an exclusive distribution arrangement with Shaw Direct. Originally licensed in August 2008, TRC took five years to come to fruition. It had planned to go to air in 2011, but it had to wait on the launch of Shaw Direct’s new satellite. Even so, Bill Wilson (pictured), founder, president… Continue Reading