AN INTERESTING DECEMBER 2012 paper from the Australian Government's Department of Finance and Deregulation, Offices of Best Practices Regulation entitled "Influencing Consumer Behaviour: Improving Regulatory Design" is an instructive piece of research when viewed through the lens of our own TV business.
The paper explores two broad frameworks that influence consumer behaviour – Rational Choice theory and Behavioural Economics. Rational Choice theory holds that consumers maximize utility subject to their budgetary limitations. Behavioural Economics assumes choice is affected by social, economic, emotional and other factors. Examples from the health, finance and other sectors are used to…
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THE RECENT SPORTS CONTENT AND SPECTRUM acquisitions made by Rogers Communications falls squarely into the category of “they had better be right”.
Adding up the $3.3 billion it paid for 700 MHz spectrum in the just-finished auction, last fall’s $5.2 billion NHL rights deal and the $650 million for its portion of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment in 2012, that’s nearly $9.2 billion spent or committed in less than 24 months – largely due to the belief that delivering live sports (especially hockey and baseball) to any and every electronic device, any and everywhere in Canada, is the key to…
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DENVER, CO – Anglers take note: World Fishing Network will be available on a free preview to cable, satellite and telco subscribers in North America for the month of April.
Dedicated to the angling lifestyle, the network’s programming includes instruction, tips, travel, tournaments, cooking, boating and outdoor recreation with exclusive series and original productions like Bill Boyce’s Baja, FORCE on FORCE, Guided with Mark Melnyk, Hookin’ Up with Nick & Mariko, JP DeRose Breaking Boundaries and World Fishing Journal.
Participating TV providers in Canada include Access, Bell, Cablevision du Nord du Quebec, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct,…
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TORONTO – Allstream announced the continued evolution of its SIP portfolio with its new SIP Gateway service that promises to help Canadian businesses save as much as 40% compared to traditional voice services.
By using its cloud-based IP voice environment, SIP Gateway offers the features and functionality of a Primary Rate Interface (PRI) for significantly less cost. Previously, Canadian businesses with non-IP Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems were prevented from achieving the savings of a PRI without updating their PBX. Allstream's SIP Gateway allows Canadian businesses to take advantage of the benefits of IP telephony services without the cost and…
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TORONTO – This week marks both the arrival of spring, and a jump in the price of most voice and data plans offered by the country’s wireless incumbents and their respective flanker brands.
Bell matched Rogers Wireless and Telus Mobility this week by increasing the price of the majority of its plans by $5 per month. Virgin, Fido and Koodo, owned by Bell, Rogers and Telus, respectively, all increased prices by about $5 per month earlier this month.
The price hike will help to offset the introduction of unlimited voice and text plans by all three incumbents last year, plans that include…
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DALLAS, TX – Approximately one-fifth or 20% of Canadian television service subscribers downgraded their service over the last 12 months, with many opting for an Internet video option instead, according to a new research report from Parks Associates.
The report, Video in Canadian Households, analysed the market for subscription home video services via an online survey of 1,500 Canadian broadband households in the last quarter of 2013.
Among Canada’s nine largest TV service providers, nearly one-third (29%) of Telus Optik TV subscribers said that they had downgraded to a less expensive TV package with fewer channels or features in the last year. …
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TORONTO – Unable to come to a new wholesale carriage agreement, Rogers Cable dropped Speed from its channel lineup March 1st.
The channel originally came to Canada in 1997 as Speedvision as a part of the third tier of analog specialty channels launched that fall and has been a cars-and-motorsports channel ever since – a place where gearheads and race junkies could watch shows on how to fix cars and race cars – as well as to see a huge number of live car, truck and motorbike races. It was acquired by Fox in 2001 and renamed Speed Channel, and…
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TORONTO – Calling 2013 “a pretty good year”, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Styles said this week that the provincial Crown corporation will come close to its financial targets ($1.2 billion in revenue, $93 million in net income) when it announces its annual results in April.
Styles was in Toronto on Monday and sat down with Cartt.ca to discuss the year past, the year ahead and some of the challenges posed by current regulatory uncertainty in Canada’s telecom industry.
The past year saw SaskTel continually add capacity to its wired and wireless network, continue to grow its fibre to the premises…
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to Kathleen Ham, vice-president of federal regulatory affairs for number four U.S. wireless provider T-Mobile, the Federal Communications Commission should look to the results of Canada’s 700 MHz wireless auction for instruction.
In a blog-post on February 28, Ham noted that “adopting reasonable spectrum aggregation limits is the best possible approach to maintaining a healthy, competitive wireless industry.” As readers and other industry watchers here will recall, Industry Canada placed limits on the amount of spectrum our established big three, Rogers, Telus and Bell could acquire in the auction which just wrapped…
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TORONTO – CBC/Radio-Canada is readying more than 90 hours of fully accessible TV broadcasts and more than 250 hours of online coverage of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games.
Coverage begins Friday, March 7 at 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT with the opening ceremony, and continues with daily coverage through to the closing ceremony on Sunday, March 16. Other members of the Canadian Paralympic Committee’s (CPC) broadcast and digital media consortium include Sportsnet, Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), Yahoo Sports Canada and SendtoNews.
CBC/Radio-Canada will lead the creation of broadcast content for the consortium which will air on Sportsnet and AMI, while Yahoo…
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