DID THAT HEADLINE get your attention? I can already hear irritated e-mails disputing that claim being tapped out in response, but bear with us for a few paragraphs.
“What!?” some of those running popular specialty video brands might be asking, “Isn’t Galaxie just that group of sleepy music channels which are a throw-in with everyone’s digital cable box?” Well, they may be a value-add which come automatically with most digital TV subscriptions, but some comprehensive recent measurement shows the suite of music channels (anywhere from 40 to 100, depending on the BDU) is anything but sleepy. This is…
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OTTAWA – Industry analysts and a journalist duked it out over wireless pricing and government policy in Canada during a session at the annual International Institute of Canada conference on Monday.
Jeff Fan, research analyst at Scotia Capital, presented some figures that countered many of the arguments which have been made by the federal government and others who say that competition in Canada’s wireless market is lacking. Fan noted that the elimination of three-year contracts as mandated by the CRTC earlier this year in its Wireless Code of Conduct has actually made things worse for consumers by leading…
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TORONTO – Under creditor protection since September, wireless carrier Mobilicity has won Ontario Superior Court of Justice approval to pursue the formal sale of the company.
On Wednesday, the company’s debtors received a sale procedure order from the court approving the sale of “substantially all of the business and assets or shares” of the company (known legally as Data & Audio Visual Enterprises, or DAVE).
Click here for all the documents related to the Mobilicity creditor protection and sale process.
Any parties interested must formally declare their intentions to the sellers by December 2,…
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OTTAWA – Use it or lose it. That was the gist of Industry Minister James Moore’s message to Canadian spectrum holders on Thursday.
Following up on a Throne Speech promise that Canadians living in rural areas have greater access to high-speed Internet services, Minister Moore said that Industry Canada will begin renewing 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz spectrum licences next March, but will deny extension requests from holders whose licence conditions – especially deployment – have not been met.
"Our government will only renew spectrum licences for those holders that have met all conditions of licence. Those that have not used the…
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OTTAWA – In the third quarter of 2013, Canada’s publicly traded television service providers combined to add subscription TV customers, thanks to the record growth of IPTV, reversing a trend of cumulative losses in each of the previous three quarters.
New research from Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services shows that the publicly traded TV service providers (cable satellite and telcoTV) added an estimated 14,145 TV subscribers combined in Q3 in what is traditionally a strong quarter for TV subscriber growth – and all of it was a result of record IPTV subscriber…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada made public the list of fully qualified bidders on Friday and little has changed.
Three applicants who entered the auction process, Birch Hill Equity, Vecima Networks and a numbered Alberta company headed by CCI Wireless CEO Amir Bigloo have withdrawn, leaving a dozen others, all well-known telecom industry players still in the game.
They are: Bell Mobility, Bragg Communications (Eastlink), Feenix Wireless (Mobilicity founder John Bitove is leading this one), Globalive Wireless (whose CEO, Tony Lacavera, runs Wind), MTS, Novus Wireless, Rogers Communications, SaskTel, TBayTel, Telus, The Catalyst Capital Group (one of the original Mobilicity financiers), and…
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OTTAWA – Wireless services once again topped the list of complaints made to Canada's Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) for the fifth straight year, according to its 2012-2013 Annual Report ‘When You Need Help’ released Wednesday.
The CCTS handled 14,036 customer complaints in 2012-2013, well up from 10,678 in the previous year, which is not surprising as more and more Canadians ditch feature phones for rich smartphones. Wireless services complaints comprised 60.4% of all complaints, followed by 19.5% for Internet access, 16.4% for local telephone service and 3.7% for long distance.
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BELLEVUE, WA – Canada’s ‘Big Three’ wireless providers all offer strong performance, fast data speeds, and outstanding coverage in the country’s three biggest markets, according to tests done by an independent mobile analytics firm.
U.S.-based RootMetrics released its first set of reports on Canada's mobile experience on Tuesday, which share results from testing done last August in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto on the performance of Bell, Rogers and Telus.
According to 47,495 data, call and text tests designed to replicate real-world consumer behavior, Bell, Rogers and Telus showed strong and similar performances in each market.
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GATINEAU – Corus Entertainment was on the hot seat today, defending its proposed $400 million purchase of specialty services Teletoon, Historia and Series+ in front of the CRTC. The company is buying the assets from Bell Media as part of the latter’s requirement to divest assets resulting from its purchase of Astral.
“We are here today to convince you that we are not only the best possible home for these assets but that our acquisition of these services is in the public interest. Allowing Corus to continue to grow will translate into more spending on Canadian programming and healthy competition…
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TORONTO – Al Jazeera English launched on SaskTel this week, making it available to over 97,000 SaskTel maxTV subscribers through channel 58.
The international news channel, which launched in Canada in 2010, is now available through Telus, Bell TV, Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw Cable, Videotron, MTS Allstream and CCSA member cable systems. Al Jazeera already reaches more than 250 million homes in over 130 countries around the world.
“Subscribers to SaskTel maxTV service now have access to Al Jazeera English’s comprehensive offering of news, documentaries and programmes from over seventy bureaus worldwide,” said Kimeran Daley, head…
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