GATINEAU – Allarco Entertainment Inc.’s pay-per-view Super Channel will finally be launching on Shaw Communications’ cable systems and on its direct-to-home satellite distributor Star Choice in late April and early May respectively, according to the broadcaster.
The news was revealed following Allarco’s appearance Wednesday at the CRTC’s three-week-long hearing into pay and specialty services and broadcast distribution undertakings – at which executives complained it was proving impossible to get carriage, even though Super Channel had been granted must-carry status by the regulator.
“It’s easy to get a licence, but very difficult to execute it,” said Allarco chair Chuck Allard….
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VANCOUVER – Telus announced Saturday it will be giving Canada’s snowboarding team members a total of $50,000 for reaching the podium at World Cup events or other key events during the 2007-2008 snowboard season.
The money will be divided among Maelle Ricker (North Vancouver), Jasey-Jay Anderson (Mont Tremblant, QC), Drew Neilson ( North Vancouver), Rob Fagan, (Cranbrook, B.C.), Tom Velisek (Squamish, B.C.), Dominique Maltais (Montreal, QC), Derek Wintermans (Vancouver, B.C.), Mike Robertson (Canmore, AB), Ryan Hickey (North Bay, ON), Matt Morison (Burketon, ON), Brad Martin (Ancaster, ON), Jeff Batchelor (Oakville, ON), Crispin Lipscomb (Whistler, B.C.), Sarah Conrad (Halifax, NS),…
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VANCOUVER – TELUS announced on Thursday a proposed offering in Canada of $500 million worth of seven-year senior unsecured Notes.
The Notes will be sold through a syndicate of agents led by Scotia Capital Inc. and that includes RBC Capital Markets Inc., BMO Capital Markets, CIBC World Markets Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc. and HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc.
The Notes will mature on April 15, 2015. The interest rate and other terms will be determined through negotiation with the agents.
Telus said the money raised through the offering will be used “for general corporate purposes, including repaying amounts under the…
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WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE highest profile issue CRTC commissioners will tackle beginning next week’s policy hearings on broadcast distribution undertakings and specialty services is fee-for-carriage. That is, paying a new subscription fee for over-the-air broadcast stations.
As the rules now stand the regulatory bargain is such that cable and satellite and telco TV must carry conventional local TV stations low in their channel lineups and must substitute Canadian signals over top of American ones when the programming is the same. We’ve come to know that part as simultaneous substitution. In return, distributors have not ever had to pay the…
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TORONTO – Telus Corp. has launched a new low-cost, no-frills mobile service, called Koodo Mobile, that offers talk and text options.
Koodo Mobile’s cheapest plan costs $15 a month for 50 minutes at any time of the day, and 50 text messages. Voicemail, call display, and an unlimited text messaging cost $5 a month or $10 a month for all three.
A media release refers to the service as “fat-free mobility” because it doesn’t feature more bandwidth intensive features such as television, video calling and satellite radio. There is no activation fee and no fixed-term contract. Billing is per…
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WE HAVE SOME questions for everyone. Feel free to answer, if you like, at editorial@cartt.ca. Answers will remain confidential – unless you’d like us to make them public… ************ 1. Quick, what’s a two-syllable word, ending in “o” that is a low-cost Canadian wireless brand? With the launch of a new name, Koodo, on the Telus network, we now have three answers to that question – counting Bell’s Solo and Rogers’ Fido. Can someone in marketing can explain to me the reasons why cheap Canadian wireless brand names apparently must end in o? Why is that such a…
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KELOWNA – The Canadian CommTech Trade Show is urging delegates to book soon to take advantage of registration savings. Delegates registering by March 14th can save $10 a day for the show and seminars in Kelowna on May 14-15th.
The show has increased its exhibitor forum by over 30% and will offer 25% more technical training sessions. The early bird rate of $80 per day includes a casual lunch, beverage breaks trade show and 26 training sessions to choose from.
Session topics range from GPON trial updates from Telus and Sasktel to outside plant line conditioning and deep fibre…
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VANCOUVER – With the completion of a final wireless installation on Mount Byang,
near Port Alice on northern Vancouver Island, most Telus cellphone customers in B.C.
and Alberta now have access to wireless high speed Internet service.
As a result of a three-year, $100 million investment program, Telus has installed
hardware at more than 1,100 cell sites in B.C. and Alberta, providing wireless service to
about 95 per cent of residents.
The company said they’ll now have access to the Internet at speeds approaching home
Internet service.
“Western Canadians can now enjoy access to wireless broadband Internet pretty much…
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TORONTO – Leave it to Ted Rogers to take a shot at his competition while complaining about regulation – in the same sentence.
During Friday’s conference call with financial analysts, the Rogers Communications founder bemoaned the new rules announced in November by Industry Minister Jim Prentice surrounding the wireless spectrum auction coming in May, but especially took shots at the conditions placed on him when it comes to mandated network roaming for newcomers.
While spectrum has been set aside for new wireless companies, the ministry also said that the incumbents must allow customers of these newbies to roam on…
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GATINEAU – Reply comments filed with the CRTC on Friday on its broadcasting distribution undertakings and specialty services policy review don’t show anyone has changed their minds. They’ve mostly dug right in, as expected.
(And, we’ll set aside the fee for carriage debate right away for this particular piece. Over-the-air broadcasters and producers who look to see more funds flow their way want consumers to pay a fee for conventional TV stations. Cable and satellite companies do not. We’ll dive deeper into the issue in a later story.)
This story, however, is a tale of two extremes. We looked…
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