POWER DUCKS OUT OF SATELLITE SERVICE
By Adnews Staff
Expressvu Inc. of Mississauga, Ont. has a monopoly on direct-to-home television service at the moment. The only problem is it doesn't have a service yet. Competitor Power DirecTv has decided not to launch its service in Canada. DirecTv says it has pulled the plug because, as conditions stand now, it would not make money with the service. Power is owned 80% by Montreal's Power Corp. and 20% by U.S.-based GM Hughes Electronics. Expressvu is struggling to have its service in operation by March. The launch, which was originally planned for last September, has been delayed several times because of technical problems. The Communiqué Group of Toronto has been sitting on the sidelines since last October when it was hired as Expressvu's ad agency. Last week Expressvu changed presidents; Ted Boyle was fired and replaced by Michael Neuman, one of Expressvu's original board members. Neuman was previously president of WorldLinx Telecommunications, owned by BCE Inc., which also owns one-third of Expressvu.