WE DRILL DOWN into the analytics of our content quite a lot at Cartt.ca, studying what resonates with our valued readers and what doesn’t. We learn a lot and try adjust our coverage accordingly. So, to give you a peek at what the folks in the cable, radio, television and telecom business have been paying the most attention to for the past year, we publish the top 25 stories of the past 12 months on the day after Labour Day.
As those in the TV business will tell you, September is really the beginning of the year – and September…
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CALGARY – Intriga Mobility has finalized a new partnership with Rogers dealer Imagine Wireless that will allow it to offer Rogers products to its customers across Canada.
With offices in Calgary and Edmonton, Intriga Mobility is a corporate mobility provider that boasts 100 customers and 20,000 end users. It also has partnerships with authorized SaskTel, Telus and Bell dealers.
"This partnership ultimately allows us to improve hardware delivery to end users”, said president Jeff Hayter, in the announcement. “We are excited to be partnered with this impressive organization. Together we will be able to improve customer service and build a…
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TORONTO – There is a growing awareness among Canadians that they can use their smartphones to pay for products and services at the point of purchase, says a new report from Solutions Research Group.
In fact, among those who are already reaching for their phones to do their banking – current users of mobile banking apps, who represent 36% of all Canadian smartphone users, accounting for nearly 4 million people – awareness has reached critical mass.
Of those users, 56% of them are aware of an upcoming service that would allow them to swipe their phone to pay for goods and…
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DESPITE THE OPPOSITION to its planned purchase of Astral Media, Bell Canada remains steadfast that this deal is good for Canada and Quebec – and will foster innovation and competition to the benefit of Canadian media consumers.
In its reply comments submitted to the CRTC last week (the final paper stage before the public hearing in Montreal starting September 10th, Bell takes a hard line especially against those standing utterly opposed to its $3.4 billion purchase of the company which owns such brands as The Movie Network, Super Écran, HBO Canada, Family Channel, Virgin Radio, NRJ Radio, Rouge FM and…
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QUISPAMSIS – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) has added its voice to those speaking out against the proposed merger of Bell and Astral.
Describing the matter as “profoundly a consumer issue”, CCSA president Alyson Townsend said that should the deal be approved, Canadian TV viewers will continue to be denied the ability to buy and pay for only the channels they really want. In addition, small cable and telephone TV distributors presently serving rural and remote communities in Canada would most likely be put out of business or gobbled up by Bell.
Citing her organization’s experience as a member of the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has green-lit the sale of sports channels owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) to a company co-owned by Rogers and BCE, effectively closing the $1.32 billion transaction that will see the two communication companies take a majority stake in the sports and entertainment giant.
While the transaction involved several sports-related properties including the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, the CRTC's review was limited to the five television services owned by MLSE – Leafs TV, Gol TV and NBA TV Canada, as well as un-launched services Mainstream Sports and Live Music Channel.
"When deciding…
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SO IT?S NOT JUST Quebecor, Cogeco and EastLink demanding the CRTC say no to Bell Canada'?s $3.38 billion purchase of Astral Media after all. Telus, Rogers, MTS Allstream, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and others want this latest edition of the ongoing vertical integration story erased.
(An earlier version of this story said Friends of Canadian Broadcasting were also opposed to the merger. That us not the case and Cartt.ca regrets the error.)
Still, other groups such as ACTRA, the Writers Guild, the CMPA and Directors Guild, while not ultimately opposing the…
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WHILE LISTENING, PERPLEXED, to Tuesday’s “Say No To Bell” press conference led by Quebecor Inc. Cogeco Inc. and Bragg Communications, I tweeted “Horse is out of the barn, is lost in the woods and the barn is on fire.”
Many of us are fond of using the “horse is out of the barn” cliché when it comes to big media mergers, noting it’s far too late now to close the door on any of it. That is undeniable, and the proposed Bell Media purchase of Astral Media is just about the last of them. The Canadian barn…
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TORONTO – Asian Television Network (ATN) has launched Movies OK, a 24 hour Bollywood movie channel from News Corp's STAR Network, boosting its Hindi cinema-entertainment offerings in Canada.
The family-friendly channel offers a range of titles including blockbusters, modern classics and contemporary cinema through its affiliation with STAR and through the movie library acquired from Viacom.
The channel is currently offered by Rogers, Bell and Telus.
www.asiantelevision.com
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TORONTO – It’s not just about choice, it’s about how that choice is defined.
According to the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG), which lost its final offer arbitration dispute against Bell Media just over a week ago, the CRTC appeared to agree with the communication giant’s definition of choice which, simply put, is the more television channels that Canadian viewers can buy, the better.
But is choice about volume, or is it the ability to pick only the channels that viewers actually want to watch?
According to the CIDG, made up of Cogeco, MTS and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), their consumers…
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