CALGARY – Shaw Communications made its first significant restructuring move under new CEO Brad Shaw on Wednesday, letting more than 500 people go.
“About 150 were VP, director, supervisor, that sort of level,” company president Peter Bissonnette told Cartt.ca. “It was just over 500.” The payroll reduction will result in $30-$40 million in annual savings, he added.
The hardest hit areas were Calgary, where approximately 150 were let go; the Vancouver area, with about 100 cuts (including the closure of the company’s Langley warehouse); and Saskatoon, where a 58-person call centre is being shuttered (traffic to that call centre will…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment has hired Maria Hale as its vice-president, television, head of programming and production.
Starting April 4, Hale will be responsible for overseeing the strategic direction for Corus’ television programming decisions, including content production, acquisitions and distribution strategies across the company’s specialty and pay channels. She will report to Doug Murphy, EVP and president, television.
“We’re excited to have Maria lead our talented programming team at Corus,” said Murphy in a statement on Monday. “Maria’s breadth of experience in the industry coupled with her significant managerial talents and strategic insights into the ever evolving entertainment landscape make her the…
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OTTAWA – Telus will invest $4.5 million in Ottawa this year to offer faster wireless and wireline services to consumers, businesses and healthcare providers.
“This year Telus will continue to bring Ottawa faster wireless broadband services as we introduce HSPA+ Dual Cell, one of the most advanced wireless technologies in the world”, said Terry Nemeth, vice-president of sales, public sector for Ontario and Atlantic, in the announcement. “Telus is also committed to working with all levels of government in Ontario to advance the provision of life-changing healthcare and education services over our networks.”
Telus said that it supports the rollout of…
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TORONTO – Canada’s broadcasters and telcos are rumoured to top the list of suitors interested in acquiring the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.
The OTTP confirmed Saturday that it will “explore the possibility of selling” its 66% majority share of the sports and entertainment giant which reportedly includes more than a billion dollars worth of assets ranging from Air Canada Centre to the Toronto Maple Leafs to sports channels Leafs TV, NBA TV Canada and Gol TV.
The Toronto Star published a report last December claiming that Rogers Communications was in talks to buy the…
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TORONTO and VANCOUVER – Rogers and Telus were quick to respond to Friday’s devastating earthquake in Japan.
Rogers launched a text-to-donate campaign on Friday afternoon whereby Rogers and Fido wireless customers can text ASIA to 30333 to donate $5 to earthquake relief efforts. There are no additional charges for these texts, and 100% of all donations will go to the Canadian Red Cross Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami fund.
To help customers stay up-to-date on news and information from Japan, Rogers is making TV Japan available in free preview on Channel 829 to all of its digital cable customers in Ontario.
Telus pledged to…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is giving customers in Alberta and B.C. something new to "Like" about Optik TV.
The telco introduced a new Facebook application on its Optik TV platform on Thursday, designed to provide customers with access to Facebook’s features and content without missing a second of their favorite TV show. Through ‘Share my View’, users are able to post what they’re watching on their Facebook wall, creating a social TV viewing experience that brings their friends list into the picture.
Optik TV customers need a current Facebook account and subscription to Optik Internet to take advantage of the Facebook application…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is building itself a new home in downtown Vancouver named Telus Garden.
The telco said Wednesday that the new $750-million, one-million square foot project facility will include new office space available for multiple tenants in a 22-storey office tower, plus 500 new residential units in a 44-storey residential tower. The environmentally sustainable facility will also feature 10,000 square feet of green roofs providing organic produce for local restaurants, two elevated roof forests, local artwork, LED lighting on the western façade projecting programmable coloured images on to fritted glass, and media walls where cultural events such as symphony concerts can…
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VANCOUVER – Telus will invest $670 million in its wireless and wireline networks across British Columbia in 2011.
The telco said that it will continue to invest in its Optik TV and high-speed Internet services by laying thousands of kilometers of fibre optic lines to support growing demand in the province, install 76 new cell sites to further support its wireless broadband services, and, will introduce the Dual Cell upgrade to its HSPA+ network, doubling the manufacturer-rated peak wireless Internet speeds to up to 42 megabits per second.
Telus also pledged to contribute $10 million to charitable organizations and community initiatives…
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DENVER – Looking towards the future, two cable industry standards groups have adopted two different sets of technical specifications aimed at spurring the industry’s deployment of all-fibre networks.
In late December, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) finally approved its Radio Frequency over Glass (RFoG) standard after more than two years of discussion and sometimes testy technical debates. The new RFoG specs enable cable operators to extend fibre lines all the way to homes and businesses without needing to switch out their existing headends, back-office systems, set-top boxes, cable modems, or other equipment. As a result, MSOs now have…
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TORONTO – Mobilicity dismissed the notion that Canada’s incumbent wireless carriers require more spectrum while announcing its intention to participate in the upcoming 700 MHz auction.
“For years, Canada’s Big Three ‘tri-opoly’ have been acting like squirrels preparing for a 50-year winter”, said chairman John Bitove, in a statement. “They hoard spectrum to keep others from giving consumers an affordable choice and Canadians have been paying the price for their self-serving interests for far too long.”
In its submission, Mobilicity asked that:
-set-aside for bidders who qualify as Canadian-owned and controlled entities with less than 10% of total wireless telecommunications market revenue…
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