POWERTEL HOPES TO OFFER ALTERNATIVE TO CABLE
By Adnews Staff
Toronto-based PowerTel TV, a new wireless digital television service, announced yesterday its plans to file license applications with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and to introduce its product to the Canadian market within a year of approval. The service is delivered through a small, flat mechanism similar in look to a satellite dish, but about as wide as a person's hand. It uses multichannel multipoint distribution systems, a technology that has been adopted in the U.S. and other countries. PowerTel plans to offer 100 channels of programming, with more to come in the future. Dan Tisch, spokesperson for Environics Communications of Toronto, PowerTel's public relations company, told Adnews yesterday that considerable marketing will be done for the service in the future, but no plans have yet been worked out. Officials at PowerTel were unavailable to comment on whether the company will hold an agency review, if it already has an agency or if it will handle advertising in-house. PowerTel is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Simmonds Capital Limited of Toronto.