IPTV gains are slowing as cable losses continue: Boon Dog

An Ottawa consulting company says IPTV services aren’t absorbing the exodus of cable customers at the same rate as they used to.

TV-industry consulting company Boon Dog Professional Services Inc. issued a press release Wednesday that showed Canada’s publicly traded companies lost a record of 64,649 TV customers last year, compared to a few hundred the year before.

PIAC calls for affordability standards in telecom

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) released a report on Monday that calls on Canada to legislate the requirement that all Canadians have access to "affordable" telecommunications services.

PIAC said in its report that affordability should be defined in such a way that people can afford telecommunications without having to give up other essentials, such as heat or food.

Telecoms will adjust to pick-and-pay regime, analysts say

Financial analysts reacting to the CRTC’s new pick-and-pay rules say they don’t expect the decision to have a major impact on the industry, though the broadcasting side of the business is more vulnerable than TV distribution.

Troy Crandall, a telecom analyst with 3Macs, said in a phone interview Friday that pure broadcast distributors, such as Telus Corp. and Cogeco Cable Inc., will be least affected, while companies focusing on content, such as Corus Entertainment Inc., will see the biggest impact.

New MTM report shows shrinking rate of TV subscriptions

New data shows an overall drop in the share of English Canadians subscribing to TV services over the last year.

MTM, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada, released a report Thursday that showed the proportion of Canadian anglophones subscribing to cable TV had fallen to 43 per cent last fall from 46 per cent a year earlier. It had been as high as 64 per cent in 2005, MTM said.

"The decrease can be attributed to the increase of competition in many markets across Canada," MTM said in the report.

No plans to seek must-offer status for Bloomberg TV

One of the executives behind the newly announced Bloomberg TV Canada news channel says that there are no plans to seek a broadcast licence that would compel broadcast distributors to offer the channel to customers.

Online video factors into cord-cutting: CIRA survey

Newly released results from a Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) survey show the availability of online video content is a factor for four in 10 Canadian Internet users who do not subscribe to cable TV.

CTV Go picked up by Rogers, other BDUs

BCE Inc.'s online TV-everywhere service, CTV Go, is now available to customers of Rogers Communications Inc. and four other TV service providers, CTV said Thursday.

The network said in a press release that other broadcast distributors added include Bell subsidiary Northwestel Inc., Access Communications Co-operative Ltd., Cable Cable Inc. and Nexicom Systems Inc.

CTV Go now works with Google Chromecast

BCE Inc.'s CTV network announced Thursday that its TV everywhere service, CTV Go, has become the first of its kind in Canada to work with Google Inc.'s Chromecast streaming device.

Chromecast is a thumb-sized device that plugs into a television's HDMI port and can access over-the-top streaming services as well as pick up video from a computer or mobile device.

CRTC says public proceeding on new powers to levy fines not ‘appropriate’

A public proceeding regarding new CRTC powers to impose monetary penalties on telecommunications companies would “not be appropriate,” given “the fact that further guidance will be provided in the coming weeks,” the commission said in a letter to Telus Corp.

TMN Go now available to Shaw customers

Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday that TMN Go is now available to its cable customers in northern Ontario and satellite-TV customers throughout Eastern Canada, allowing them to watch The Movie Network, HBO Canada, Showtime and TMN Encore content on-demand on televisions, computers, tablets and smartphones.

The availability is limited to Eastern Canada customers because BCE Inc.'s The Movie Network does not have broadcast rights in the West, Bell Media spokesman Scott Henderson confirmed.

TiVo OTA product gets full release in U.S.

TiVo Inc. said Wednesday it is widening availability in the United States of a PVR for capturing over-the-air programing, a product it released on a limited basis in the fall.

The TiVo Roamio OTA is meant for people who do not have a cable- or satellite-TV subscription but wish to have the same functionality as other TiVo devices for recording and finding their favourite shows, the company said in a press release.

Wearables, OTT, IoT to rise in 2015: IDC

Greater consumer interest in wearable technology, growth in over-the-top (OTT) television subscriptions and greater prominence of the Internet of Things (IoT) are among the top trends in technology expected for next year in Canada, International Data Corp. said Monday.

Industry Canada poised to lower satellite spectrum fees

Industry Canada is seeking comment on a proposal to lower fees for the use of spectrum used for satellite communications by nearly two thirds.

Under the new rules, posted to Industry Canada’s website Friday, annual licence fees for spectrum that currently costs $333 per MHz per year would fall to $120 per MHz per year.

Bell wireless data revenue jumps 24%

BCE Inc. on Thursday reported higher revenue and profit numbers for the third quarter as it added subscribers to its its wireless, Internet and TV businesses and saw a jump in mobile-data revenue.

The company said in a press release that overall revenue was up 1.9 per cent from a year earlier to $5.2 billion in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30. Net earnings were $600 million, up from $343 million in the third quarter of 2013.

Wireless data, faster Internet driving consumer spending: CRTC

Canadian telecom service providers got more money from their customers last year largely as a result of increased wireless data usage and demand for faster Internet, the CRTC said Thursday.

Overall spending on communications services in Canada rose 3.2 per cent in 2013, increasing to $191 per household each month from $185 in 2012, the CRTC said in its annual Communications Monitoring Report, the full version of which it released Thursday.

VOD figures pad overall TV viewership numbers: TVB

The Television Bureau of Canada has released what it says are the first statistics on viewership of broadcast distributors’ video-on-demand (VOD) platforms, which show an additional four to nine per cent of viewers use VOD to watch TV series.

Shaw offers TSN, Sportsnet TV-everywhere apps

Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday its customers can now access TV-everywhere products for BCE Inc.’s TSN and Rogers Communication Inc.’s Sportsnet specialty channels.

OTN sponsors Greek sports channel for distribution

Odyssey Television Network Inc., which operates channels in Canada with Greek-oriented programming, is sponsoring a sports channel from Greece to be authorized for distribution in Canada.

OTN's application was posted to the CRTC's website on Thursday. It said Sport Plus, the channel it is sponsoring, is a 24-hour sports channel based in Greece that conducts all of its programming in the Greek language.

Its letter of application said initial talks with various broadcast distributors have indicated an interest in carrying such a service in Canada.

Shaw CFO Steve Willson to retire

Shaw Communications Inc. said Wednesday that Steve Wilson, its executive vice-president of corporate development and chief financial officer, will retire next year.

It said in a press release that Wilson, who has been the company’s CFO for a decade, would stay on for the rest of the year in a “transitional phase.”

Local TV needs another revenue stream: Bell

GATINEAU, Que. — BCE Inc. executives asked the CRTC Wednesday to put in place a “local specialty” model for local television stations, which it said are no longer financially sustainable.

“The economics of an advertising-only revenue stream can no longer pay for the costs,” Bell Media president Kevin Crull told the CRTC during the third day of its two-week Let’s Talk TV hearings into the future of television.

Emergency-alert system cooperation to become mandatory

The CRTC said in a Friday release it is making participation in a national emergency-warning system mandatory for broadcasters.

Cable and satellite providers, radio stations, over-the-air television broadcasters and video-on-demand services must all begin to issue public alerts such as warnings about tornadoes, floods and industrial disasters, as well as Amber Alerts, by March 31, 2015.

Campus, Native and community-based broadcasters will have another year to comply, and must broadcast the warnings by March 31, 2016.

CRTC gives public another chance for TV comment

The CRTC is giving the public another chance to make its views known in the review of the national television industry through an online forum, and it has also narrowed down its priorities for discussion to four general areas.

TSN channel expansion starts Aug. 25

BCE Inc.'s TSN said Monday that it will debut its expanded format of five national broadcast feeds on Aug. 25.

TV providers divided on set-top ratings system

Canada’s biggest television providers are divided over the future of audience measurement via the next generation of set-top boxes.

As part of their submissions in the CRTC’s ongoing Let’s Talk TV consultation, BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Quebecor Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. all weighed in on the creation of a new audience measurement system based on set-top box (STB) data.

Netflix-Disney deal expected to hit movie channels, BDUs

A deal between Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. that will see Walt Disney Studios’ movies appear on Netflix’s Canadian streaming service as soon as eight months after they hit the theatres will affect premium movie channels most directly, though it will also have a “trickle-down” effect on the whole TV system, said broadcasting analyst Mario Mota.

Penetration-based pricing biggest barrier to pick-and-pay: analyst

The biggest challenge standing in the way of a pick-and-pay TV system is the current penetration-based rate card regime, Scotia Capital telecom analyst Jeff Fan said in a research note.

TV advertising revenues fell last year: StatsCan

Canadian television broadcasters' revenues fell 1.3 per cent to $7.5 billion last  year, with the decline affecting “every segment of the industry, except specialty television,” Statistics Canada said Monday.

Advertising revenues, in particular, declined 2.3 per cent from 2012 to 2013, to $3.4 billion, the federal agency said on its website.

Conventional-TV stations saw their operating revenue decline six per cent to $3.4 billion last year, Statistics Canada's data showed.

TV industry at odds on future of over-the-air

BCE Inc. wants to see over-the-air (OTA) transmitters shut down and local stations move to a model it called “local specialty,” under which they would negotiate wholesale fees with cable, IPTV and satellite-TV providers.

Bell asks CRTC to push Cogeco on customer-transfer system

BCE Inc. has asked the CRTC to force Cogeco Cable Inc. to implement an automated system for facilitating the transfer of customers between different telecommunications companies by the start of next year.

Service providers support TV choice, but not to extent suggested

In interventions submitted as part of the CRTC’s review of the future of the television, both BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. said they supported a pick-and-pay television system, though details of their submissions showed they did not favour going as far as the CRTC has suggested.

Shaw sees earnings decline in Q3

Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings took a hit as its television subscriber base continued to decline and its media division took in less money.

The company said in a press release that net income for the three months ending May 31 was $228 million, down from $250 million a year earlier. Revenue was up 1.2 per cent to $1.34 billion, the company said.

Ottawa company brings PVR capability to over-the-air TV

Amid the many challenges television service providers were already facing, along came an Ottawa company making devices with digital recording capabilities and electronic-guide functionality for those who rely on over-the-air signals for their TV.

Public backs heavy CRTC hand in TV service: survey

The CRTC has the backing of the general public if it decides to get into regulating the prices people pay for television service, according to a new survey.

A poll done by Forum Research, released in advance to The Wire Report, shows that 79 per cent of respondents agree with the idea of the CRTC getting back into the practice of regulating cable and satellite fees, while 60 per cent "strongly" agree.

Canadian TV packages more flexible than in U.S.: study

A report appearing on the CRTC's website Friday indicated that Canadian television service providers are offering more choice and flexibility than ones in the United States in selected markets.

The study, done by Ottawa-based business consultant David Keeble, studied TV offerings in three markets in Canada, which he contrasted with three comparable markets in the U.S.

"On the evidence gathered in this report, Canadian BDUs offer the consumer more flexibility than their American counterparts," the report said.

AT&T reaches deal to buy DirecTV

AT&T announced on Sunday it has reached a deal to buy cable- and satellite-TV provider DirecTV for a total consideration of $67.1 billion US.

The direct purchase price of about $48.5 billion US is about a third in cash and two-thirds in stock, AT&T said in a press release. AT&T is also assuming around $20 billion US in debt from DirecTV, AT&T said.

BCE earnings up as wireless, media divisions boost revenue

BCE Inc. improved its bottom line in this year’s first quarter as wireless data revenue surged and last year’s purchase of Astral Media contributed to its overall revenue.

Revenue was up 3.7 per cent from a year earlier to $5.1 billion, the company said in a press release. Net earnings rose to $615 million from $566 million in last year’s first quarter.

Telesat raises revenue, lowers loss in Q1

Canadian satellite operator Telesat Holdings Inc. reported Thursday that it saw higher revenue and lower losses in the first quarter compared to a year earlier.

The company said in a press release that revenue was up 11 per cent to $242 million in the three months ended March 31. It attributed much of the gain in revenue from services sold on the Anik G satellite, which went into commercial operation in May last year. That, it said, was offset by lower broadcast revenue from its Nimiq 2 satellite and lower equipment sales.

Sun News gets on Bell, Bell Aliant TV services

Quebecor Inc.’s Sun News Network said Tuesday it has reached agreements for carriage on BCE Inc.’s Bell Fibe and satellite TV service, along with Bell Aliant Inc.’s FibreOP TV.

The terms of the agreements are consistent with the new CRTC framework for Canadian specialty news services that grants the must-offer status to Canada’s national all-news specialty services, Sun News said in a press release.

Canadian TV subs to start rising again in 2015: study

The number of Canadian TV subscribers will fall 0.31 per cent this year, and then begin increasing in 2015 at an average rate of 0.25 per cent annually until 2019, according to a new study by research company Strategy Analytics.

Eric Smith, an analyst in the digital consumer practice of the company, said in a phone interview that this rise will be driven by Internet-protocol TV.  Canadian IPTV services include BCE Inc.’s Bell Fibe TV service and Telus Corp.’s OptikTV.

Shaw reorganizes with units for consumers, businesses

Shaw Communications Inc. said Monday it is reorganizing the company’s telecommunications businesses into two units that will focus on either consumer or business services.

It said in a press release it would consolidate its residential cable, satellite, Internet and home-phone services into a single consumer unit. Meanwhile, its enterprise cable, phone, satellite and tracking services will be merged into a unit for business services. Its media division will remain as a stand-alone unit, Shaw added.

Shaw earnings rise, TV subs decline

Shaw Communications Inc.’s second quarter earnings released Thursday showed gains in both overall revenue and profit, though a decline in TV subscribers was noted, as was a dip in revenue from its media business.

The company said in a press release that net income for the three months ended Feb. 28 was $222 million, up from $182 million one year earlier. Revenue for the quarter was up two per cent to $1.27 million.

U.S. TV subs fall for first time: SNL Kagan

Pay-TV subscriptions in the U.S. fell for the first time last year, according to a report by SNL Kagan.

“While seasonally driven quarterly declines have become routine for industry watchers, the annual dip illustrates longer-term downward pressure even as economic conditions gradually improve,” the research firm said in a press release Wednesday.

According to the report, cable, satellite and fibre-TV providers lost a net 251,000 subscribers in 2013.

Telco-based TV penetration closing in on satellite: MTM

The market share for television services provided by telephone companies in English Canada has nearly caught up with that of satellite, said a report from CBC/Radio-Canada’s Media Technology Monitor.

MTM said in a report released Tuesday that the proportion of respondents in a fall survey of anglophone Canadians who said they subscribe to a TV service provided by an incumbent, wireline phone company, such as BCE Inc.’s Bell or Telus Corp., is 18 per cent.

Disney signs first major OTT deal with Dish Network

Dish Network Corp. announced a deal with Walt Disney Co. that will bring content from some of the most popular channels in United States, including worldwide sports leader ESPN, to over-the-top streaming services for the first time.

CRTC approves Viewers Choice request to revoke satellite licence

The CRTC said in an notice on its website Tuesday that it has consented to a request from Viewers Choice, a pay-per-view service owned by BCE Inc., to revoke its broadcast licence for carriage on satellite TV services in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

An application from Viewers Choice, provided by the CRTC, states as a rationale for the request: “Bell Satellite TV and Shaw Direct satellite TV both offer their own direct to home pay-per-view services.”

Does the emergence of Fibe signal the end of satellite TV?

Millions of Canadians still receive their television service from signals beamed to space and back, even as the country’s dominant provider of satellite TV has given many of them a reason to switch to something else.