Allard's Pay TV

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Allard's Pay TV

Postby OpenMike » Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:54 am

New pay-TV player plans October free trial
GRANT ROBERTSON

MEDIA REPORTER

July 28, 2007 at 9:59 AM EDT

The newest player in Canada's pay-TV market plans to launch its service in October with a free trial aimed at building an audience from scratch - and by tapping Hollywood films and imported television series not shown by its rivals.

Allarco Entertainment Inc., backed by Edmonton's wealthy Allard family, is targeting Oct. 15 as its launch date, according to sources in the industry. It plans to launch at least one standard definition and one high-definition channel, but is negotiating for several channels, including three in high-definition - provided it can secure additional carriage with cable and satellite providers.

Allarco was granted a licence to operate in the lucrative pay-TV market last year and will be the first new entrant since the 1980s, when the industry struggled and regulators allowed the sector to consolidate into a regional duopoly now made up of Astral Communications Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc.

Since then, however, pay-TV has become one of the most lucrative corners of the broadcasting industry, pulling in more than $40-million a month in subscriber revenue, fuelled by the rapid growth of set-top digital cable boxes.

Astral owns The Movie Channel in Eastern Canada, while Corus operates Movie Central in the West. Both charge at least $15 a month for a slate of Hollywood movies and series from U.S. broadcasters HBO and Showtime.

Industry sources say Allarco has lined up deals for content its rivals haven't locked up, including contracts with film suppliers, such as MGM, and cable networks like Channel 4 in Britain and USA Network in the United States.

Allarco also plans to focus on foreign programming, Canadian productions and movies that could come up for grabs after the other channels have shown them, sources said.

Allarco is run by former executives with the First Choice and Superchannel pay-TV operations in the 1980s. Allarco's service will likely be sold at a lower price than its rivals, but the rates have not yet been set, a source said.

Astral and Corus have spent the past year shoring up supply deals in the face of a new competitor. "We invested heavily to protect our position in pay-TV," Corus CEO John Cassaday has said.
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