ENTITLED "BDU CONTENT Strategies: Can Cable and Phone Companies Do Their Own Thing?", the session on what TV distributors think of content and its changing place in their business plans was a popular session at the Canadian Film and TV Producers Association annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa two weeks ago.
The elephant not in the room, however? A cable company. But one former cable guy spoke for the industry anyway. Moderated by Peter Lyman, senior partner, Nordicity Group, the panelists included Chris Frank, vice-president, programming and pay-per-view, Bell ExpressVu, Michael Hennessy, vice-president, broadband and video policy, Telus; Tom…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Women in Communications held its annual awards gala evening on Tuesday in Ottawa.
The CWC Annual Awards recognizes the accomplishments of four outstanding women in the communications industry and one communications organization that has nurtured the aspirations of its female employees.
The event is attended by over 600 VIPs to publicly recognize the achievements of communications industry role models. The following CWC Annual Award Winners were honoured at this year’s event (pictures are below):
* Karen Radford, executive vice-president and president, Telus Quebec and partner solutions, Telus – CWC Woman of the Year Award Recipient
* CanWest MediaWorks Inc….
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CANADA’S ILEC’s SURE hope so. They need it to be.
Every quarter, when telco CEOs face industry analysts, one or more of them invariably ask whether the telcos’ rebuild strategy of only bringing fibre to a neighbourhood node, within a kilometre or so of a group of homes, will provide enough bandwidth to make them competitive in the broadband video world.
They also invariably point to U.S. telco Verizon, which is building fibre to the home (or curb or the premises, whatever you’d like to call it) so that it can deliver on its aggressive rollout plans for its…
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VANCOUVER – After a storm of negative publicity largely concentrated out west, Telus has decided to shelve its pay-per-view mobile adult content service.
Since its January 8th launch (which was first reported by Cartt.ca) the company signed on thousands of customers who downloaded adult photos and videos for $3 to $4 each. The service was an age-verified one so that no children could access the content, which was limited to nudity. No sex acts were shown.
But, the company also fielded several hundred complaints and faced the wrath of the Vancouver Catholic Diocese which threatened to cut off…
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VANCOUVER – Fourth quarter revenue jumped 8% to $2.25 billion at Telus compared to Q4 2005, the company said today.
Thanks to strong wireless and data growth, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased 20%, too, aided by the absence of expenses from the labour disruption in the fourth quarter of 2005.
Telus achieved or exceeded four of five consolidated financial 2006 targets set more than a year ago, reports the western telco. "This result was largely driven by the national wireless business and wireline data growth, which included our non-incumbent operations in central Canada. The 2006…
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OTTAWA – That’s the question the legal eagles at Telus are wrestling with this week.
Last week’s mobile TV exemption order made it clear that wireless carriers are not to offer any TV channels – including conventional broadcasters – on its mobile television lineups, without the broadcasters’ prior permission.
This worries Telus vice-president, wireless, broadband and content policy, Michael Hennessy.
"They’ve essentially given a retransmission consent right to over-the-air broadcasters, which lies at the heart of the over-the-air hearing" held last November, he told Cartt.ca this week.
Retransmission consent has been consistently fought by distributors such as cable, satellite…
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GATINEAU – As long as it’s a point-to-point transmission and the wireless carriers first have permission from TV companies to carry their signal(s), mobile TV will not be regulated like cable television.
A new exemption order issued Wednesday by the CRTC, which was kicked off by a public notice in April of 2006, allows services like MobiTV continue (even if those types of services, carried by Bell Mobility, Telus and Rogers Wireless, haven’t seen much traction yet).
Click here for the full Commission order.
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TORONTO – Canadian Women in Communications have announced the winners of its CWC Annual Awards for 2006.
Four Canadian women and one communications-industry employer are recognized annually for their contributions to the Canadian communications industry.
“Celebrating the achievements of women is one of CWC’s most important and rewarding tasks,” said Stephanie MacKendrick, CWC president, in the press release. CWC holds an Annual Awards Gala in Ottawa that celebrates the achievements of women, and those who support their advancement in the Canadian communications industry.
Participants in the awards presentation program will include: Minister of Industry, the Hon. Maxime Bernier, Minister…
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OTTAWA – In a letter to the editor of the Ottawa Citizen newspaper, Telus vice-president, wireless, broadband and content policy, Michael Hennessy, called out Quebecor for what he sees as a double standard.
As a member of the Canadian wireless industry, past president of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association and an ex-director of the Canadian Television Fund, Hennessy said he was "both shocked and troubled," about decisions made by Shaw and Videotron to withhold their CRTC-mandated contributions to the Canadian Television Fund.
"While it is disturbing that such unilateral action could jeopardize thousands of jobs and scores of projects…
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TORONTO – Telus has signed a five-year, multi-million dollar contract with Best Buy Canada Ltd., one of the country’s fastest growing entertainment and technology retailers, to connect all of its stores across Canada with a private IP network, winning the business away from incumbent Allstream.
Specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Our guiding principle is to develop and provide the best shopping experience,” said Brian Martin, CTO for Best Buy Canada (the company also owns Future Shop). “To maximize the opportunities the digital age affords us, we need a foundation that supports our guiding principle and…
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