By Ahmad Hathout
Three television service providers are alleging Rogers is giving itself an undue preference by moving Monday night NHL games to its paid Sportsnet+ premium streaming service.
The move away from the linear Sportsnet platform means the television subscribers of Cogeco, Eastlink, and SaskTel – unlike those of Rogers – must pay an addition $13 per month to get access to games via an add-on that the companies say, in a joint Part 1 application dated Tuesday, should be available at no additional charge through Sportsnet.
Rogers announced the move, which involves more than…
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Rogers Xfinity on Tuesday introduced the next generation of its Entertainment OS, featuring a more integrated and personalized interface designed to make it easier to navigate and discover live TV, streaming apps, sports and on-demand content.
The enhanced Entertainment OS also includes features to improve the experience for sports fans, such as Fan View, bringing the ability to see live scores and stats across the platform including Multiview, which allows viewers to watch up to four games at once on TV.
“Canadians have more entertainment choices than ever, and Rogers Xfinity makes finding what you want to watch easy,” Bret Leech,…
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WildBrain has ended its 2025 lawsuit against Bell in which the media company alleged Bell failed to properly terminate its agreement to carry WildBrain’s children’s channels.
WildBrain filed for a consent order in the Ontario Superior Court earlier this year — electronically filed in September — to withdraw its action against Bell, which agreed on a no-costs basis. When contacted by Cartt, WildBrain’s senior director of global corporate communications, Shaun Smith, said: “Since the channels are no longer operational, we took the decision to discontinue the suit.”
The channels in question — Family Channel, Family Jr.,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus has had early but “really positive” discussions to sell a minority stake in its fibre network, executives said Friday.
Proceedings from the sale will allow Telus to pay down debt and eventually lay down more fibre to serve over one million customers in Ontario and Quebec – provinces it has been fighting to serve — and does — on a mandated wholesale basis.
“We’re in the early stages but we’re encouraged,” Telus President and CEO Victor Dodig said about discussions to monetize the asset on a third-quarter earnings conference call. “We know that there’s value there to unlock,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The sale of Northwestel to a consortium of indigenous buyers may not include the entire asset, the head of Bell said Thursday.
“There’s still the distinct possibility of a transaction to be done, although at this stage, it’s looking like it might take a different form,” Bibic said on a third-quarter earnings conference call.
“It’s unlikely to be the sale of the entire asset, but there is a transaction to be done. If it proceeds, and I think it will, expect it to have the exact same deleveraging impact as the original transaction that we announced a couple of…
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Rogers announced last week its satellite-to-mobile service is now available to Rogers customers in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Rogers is expanding its international satellite-to-mobile roaming footprint through partnerships with NTT Docomo, au (KDDI) and Softbank Corp. in Japan, One NZ in New Zealand, and Telstra in Australia, according to a Rogers FAQ webpage.
This follows the expansion of Rogers satellite-to-mobile coverage to the United States in April via a partnership with T-Mobile’s T-Satellite.
“Canadians want to stay connected wherever their travels take them,” Mark Kennedy, chief…
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By Connie Thiessen
A group of private and public sector partners have announced the coordinated takedown of X.CPE, a global botnet hidden in more than 1.3 million set-top boxes across more than 200 countries, including Canada and the U.S.
Led by Google, Plume, TrendAI, Lumen, HUMAN Security and Synthient, alongside Japan’s National Police Agency, the group says X.CPE was hidden on devices before they were ever sold, using subscribers’ devices and home internet connections without their knowledge or consent.
Embedded in firmware and built to evade pre-release security checks, the botnet generated revenue from compromised devices by reselling bandwidth, delivering video content, ad…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Timeless and Rogers have agreed on rates for the cable giant to carry OneSoccer, but not yet on packaging.
The CRTC said Friday that, during final offer arbitration (FOA), Timeless agreed to Rogers’s rates to carry the discretionary sports channel. With that, the parties resolved the undue preference complaint Timeless filed against Rogers in 2023. Rogers offered rates similar to those given to comparable services – Sportsnet West, beIN Sports, and Goal TV – and to provide it to Rogers’s entire subscriber base to add on an à la carte basis or as part of a package, according…
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Reasons coming later; Rogers “considering next steps”
By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Tribunal ordered Rogers on Wednesday to pay a $15-million penalty for marketing wireless service plans with a finite amount of high-speed data as “unlimited” and “infinite.”
The tribunal said Rogers, which also must disseminate a “corrective notice,” contravened paragraph 74.01(1)(a) of the Competition Act, which covers false or misleading representations to the public. The tribunal said it will work with the parties to redact any confidential information before releasing its reasons, which is expected within 10 business days and will include said corrective notice.
“Canadians rely on accurate…
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Bell announced Tuesday it has signed an agreement to sell a 49.9-per-cent stake in a newly formed wireless tower infrastructure company to Quebec pension fund La Caisse (formerly CDPQ) for $2.45 billion.
The new tower company (TowerCo) will own and operate Bell’s portfolio of wireless infrastructure assets, which includes more than 5,000 sites across Canada.
Under the terms of the agreement, TowerCo will lease capacity on the transferred towers to Bell, which will retain a 50.1-per-cent controlling equity interest in TowerCo.
The transaction values the new tower company at approximately $4.91 billion and is expected to close…
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