WHILE THE CANADIAN SUBSCRIPTION television market is at the beginning of a decade-long decay, growth is still in the cards for cable and telecom companies in Canada thanks to the world’s shift to broadband, says a new report from Scotiabank.
The report, entitled “Embrace the Evolution” (whose cover photo is pictured) says thanks to broadband internet “the growth outlook is bright” for telcos and cablecos (1%-1.5% revenue growth and 2.5%-3.5% in EBITDA growth), due partially to more predictability on the capital expenditure front – and the concentration on more profitable broadband products and services.
However, it won’t be pretty on the…
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TORONTO – A coalition of Canadian academics and consumer groups are asking the country’s biggest telecommunications service providers to divulge the extent to which they pass on their customers’ private information to government agencies when asked.
Spearheaded by Toronto-based researcher Dr. Christopher Parsons, the organization sent letters to 16 different companies this week, including Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw, Telus and Videotron, asking them to respond to questions on their data retention and sharing policies. The telcos were asked to respond or commit to responding by March 3, 2014.
“Specifically, we are asking how, when, and why your company discloses information to…
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TORONTO – Verizon Wireless' strong wireless growth in fiscal year 2013 may bode well for Canadian incumbent wireless carriers, says an industry analyst.
In a note to clients on Tuesday, Dvai Ghose, Managing Director/Head of Research for Canaccord Genuity, said that incumbent wireless subscriber growth in North America still looks to be “robust despite maturation”, and predicted postpaid subscriber base increases at all three Canadian incumbents when they post their financial results for 2013 within the next few weeks. He estimates a 5.7% year-over-year increase at Bell Mobility, a 4.7% uptick at Telus Mobility and a 3.2% rise at Rogers Wireless.
Despite maturation, slowing…
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TORONTO – HBO Canada is offering another free sampling opportunity for three of its “buzzworthy series” following their broadcast premieres.
The channel said that the first episodes from HBO’s new dramedy Looking, the second season of Cinemax’s Banshee, and Season 3 of HBO’s Golden Globe Award-winning series Girls are available now on HBOCanada.com, TMN GO, Movie Central On Demand, and via on-demand platforms of participating television providers.
All new HBO programming airs day-and-date with HBO in the U.S. In Eastern Canada, episodes are available on TMN GO, HBOCanada.com, and HBO Canada OnDemand. In Western Canada, episodes will be available…
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CALGARY – While Shaw Communications reported a 4.3% increase in first quarter profits, it also lost close to 30,000 cable customers for the period ended November 30, 2013.
In a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon, CEO Brad Shaw blamed the customer loss on promotional activities staged by an “aggressive competitor”.
“We have a 98% overlap of IPTV within our market with Telus. I think when you look (at) North America, we have the biggest overlap from a competitive point of view”, he said. “If we wanted to go out this quarter and get 80,000 revenue generating units, we could certainly do…
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TORONTO – For those hoping Wind Mobile would continue to build from struggling start-up into a strong, fourth national wireless competitor, those hopes were dealt a major blow Monday when Globalive Wireless, Wind’s parent in Canada, officially pulled out of the 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction beginning Tuesday.
In a statement released Monday afternoon, the Canadian wireless upstart said "Wind Mobile’s shareholder VimpelCom decided not to fund Wind Mobile’s participation in this auction, but confirmed that it remains in discussions with the federal government and Wind Mobile’s other shareholder AAL Holding to craft a path forward that will continue to…
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THE 10 COMPANIES vying for beachfront spectrum in Industry Canada’s 700 MHz auction set to begin Tuesday will have to navigate a complicated format that moves through various stages from interest in spectrum blocks to packages of licences and ultimately to specific frequencies.
During an Industry Canada technical briefing on the auction on Monday, a senior official with the department noted that this format, called a combinatorial clock auction (CCA), is now commonly used around the world. It’s used “because it features package bidding and eliminates what is known as exposure risk, which in layman’s terms is getting some but…
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SEVERAL SOURCES have told Cartt.ca over the past number of weeks that Rogers Communications has grabbed the over-the-top bull by the horns and has been signing a massive number of content deals and at least one significant partnership agreement (if not more) in an effort to battle back against Netflix in Canada by launching a new, national, OTT video portal.
Our multiple sources (all of whom requested anonymity for business reasons) have told Cartt.ca that Rogers is spending over $100 million buying all the video content windows available from as many rights holders (such as Disney/ABC, Warner Bros., 20th Century…
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By Greg O’Brien
AS A YOUNG CANADIAN growing up in Timmins (hometown of NHL legends Frank and Peter Mahovlich, among several others) Saturday night hockey on TV was as regular, or normal, or expected, as church on Sunday. As reliable and loved as our family’s dog.
Hockey Night in Canada wasn’t just a staple. It was as much a part of life as eggs and cereal for breakfast or snow on the ground in the winter. We had a single-dial television in the mid-1970s that caught the few stations we had off-air. I was my dad’s remote control, standing by the…
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TORONTO – Wednesday’s announcement by the federal government to curb domestic wholesale roaming rates was welcomed by at least one new wireless entrant, but panned by an industry analyst who described the move as “too little, too late”.
Wind Mobile chief regulatory officer Simon Lockie said that the decision makes it clear that the government “is taking the realistic and committed actions necessary to create a level playing field for competition in the wireless space”.
“Today's announcement shows that Prime Minister Harper's Government is serious about competition and serious about consumers”, he said in an emailed statement. “Minister Moore has said this…
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