There’s pain now, but “simplicity dividend” will pay off for Rogers, CEO promises
TORONTO – This summer, Rogers Communications was the first to take the leap into lower wireless prices and modern device financing plans, each with the goal of making things easier and cheaper for both the company and its customers.
The new plans, starting at $75/month for unlimited data (albeit slowed after 10GB) sent the wireless market (and the Regulator) into a bit of a tizzy in the summer as all of the…
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TORONTO – ENCQOR 5G announced today Canada's first publicly accessible mmWave service is now live at Invest Ottawa and will be rolled out to the other ENCQOR 5G sites in Quebec and Ontario (Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Montreal and Quebec City) in the coming weeks.
“Enabled by 5G Non-Standalone NR radio access network and mobile core services provided by Ericsson and a wide-area network enabled by Ciena's coherent optic solutions, the ENCQOR 5G wireless network is capable of mobile throughputs of up to 1.9 Gbps – enough bandwidth to support 90 4K video streams,” says the press release. The new speed and…
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TORONTO – Podcasts are a growth industry right now.
Media companies and brands of all sorts – and certainly now all broadcasters – are pushing podcasts as hard as they can. Broadscasters’ TV stars and radio talent are expanding their reach further into consumers’ lives and new research shows this sort of content is attracting savvy advertisers looking for a place to push their wares in a media world which can be hostile to traditional ad campaigns.
Paid music streaming services, for example, seem to be doing to music what Netflix did to movies and TV (look ma, no ads), and…
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TORONTO – Duncan Stewart, co-author of Deloitte's popular and oft-cited annual Tech, Media and Telecom Predictions report, will present selected topics relevant to the broadcast industry from the current 2019 report – and even a sneak peek at some 2020 Predictions during his opening keynote at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters Connection 2019.
Stewart will talk about radio reach and resilience, but also a look at podcasting, private 5G networks by broadcasters, antenna TV, low earth orbit satellites (especially important for Canada's Far North), podcasting, ad supported video on demand (AVOD), smart speakers, eSports, and there will time at…
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MONTREAL – After a 31-year career at The Weather Network/MétéoMédia, vice-president of distribution and government relations Luc Perreault retired at the end of September.
“From the launch of the specialty television network in September 1988 to today's multiplatform weather service, Luc Perreault was part of the creation and evolution of the Canadian iconic brand that delivers a content niche all Canadians rely on to plan their daily activities” said the company announcement to staff.
Perreault (pictured) was part of the original team of 66 employees who launched the TV channel on September 1st, 1988 and was also part of the management…
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But it may have support to change that CoL from other Canadian BDUs
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal this week refused to hear Vidéotron’s appeal of its condition of license which requires it to take part in a new ratings system using set top box data from all large pay TV providers.
Earlier this year, the Quebecor-owned BDU pulled out of the industry working group which is tasked with making the set top viewer data part of the ratings of the television industry in Canada and in May, as we reported, the company asked the…
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Competition Bureau has its worries, too
GATINEAU – In the summer Rogers Wireless introduced 36-month device financing plans into the Canadian wireless marketplace.
The service providers which introduced these new plans (Telus quickly followed suit, and then Bell and Ice Wireless had begun or where about to launch three-year device plans) were hailed by some as increasing smartphone affordability and generally being pro-consumer. Others hailed in the opposite direction.
On August 2nd, as we reported, the CRTC sent a letter to providers to cease that practice and then on August 30th, Continue Reading
Navigation, real-time route mapping, streaming media coming for Canadian drivers
DUBLIN and TORONTO – Cubic Telecom, a connectivity management software provider for the automotive and IoT industries, and Rogers Communications today announced a collaboration geared towards delivering a connected car solution to Canadians.
The new partnership integrates Cubic Telecom’s PACE platform (Platform for Application and Connectivity Enablement) and connected car solution with the Rogers mobile network, which the companies believe will enable a high-quality connected car experience throughout Canada and the U.S.
Rogers will support connectivity for any auto manufacturer hosted on Cubic Telecom’s PACE platform, “which integrates with multiple original equipment…
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Politicizing Canadian telecommunications regulation is a bad idea
THE AFFORDABILITY OF WIRELESS services is front and centre in the 2019 federal election campaign, with politicians of all stripes promising to take a big stick to mobile operators. One international comparator is cited frequently to justify these interventionist policies: Australia.
Australia appears to be a simple counter example to Canada, with similar population density and geographic challenges. However, the political interventionism in Australia’s mobile and internet markets should serve more as a cautionary tale then a gold standard.
When politicians usurp the role of regulators and start making matters of regulatory purview the…
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TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund and Telefilm have announced what they are calling the Analog conference series.
Analog will unfold in three phases and in three Canadian cities: Montreal (November 28), Vancouver (December 3) and Toronto (December 6). Featuring leaders of Canada’s cultural, creative and technological scenes, the three free events will focus on the theme of creativity and artificial intelligence.
Analog will feature David Usher, creator of the interactive work We Could Be Human: A Learning Machine which the audience will have the opportunity to…
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