Rogers last week launched Rogers Xfinity, bringing a suite of Comcast technologies to its customers as part of a 10-year partnership with the American cable giant.
Comcast’s next-generation EntertainmentOS simplifies the viewing experience by bringing live sports, entertainment and news, on-demand and streaming apps into one platform, “so customers spend more time watching and less time searching with the award-winning voice remote and integrated interface,” a Rogers press release from April said.
The Xfinity ecosystem includes other technologies, such as next-generation internet gateway technology that allows for higher speeds, better reliability with “Storm-Ready WiFi” technology meant to allow…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers filed a confidential application in May requesting the CRTC lift a standstill and allow it to remove several undisclosed Corus specialty channels primarily related to children’s programming from its television rotation due to underperformance, according to court documents on which Cartt can now report.
The documents in the Ontario Superior Court show that the CRTC had previously ordered a standstill in September 2023, indicating a carriage dispute between the two, and then reaffirmed it on May 30 and August 5, 2024. That means Rogers must continue carrying the channels until either the issue is resolved by the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telecom services retailer Glentel hired external counsel who advised it that Rogers’s Mastercard offering in its over 200 stores and kiosks may be offside of its distribution agreement because the card is not a “service,” according to new Ontario Superior Court documents.
The advice was then used to notify Rogers on Thanksgiving Day that the retailer — owned equally by Rogers and Bell — would cease carrying the credit card, which is offered only with the cable giant’s telecom services. Glentel said it hired its own counsel after Bell alleged the bundle would be offside…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has taken telecom services retailer Glentel to court over its decision to stop carrying the cable giant’s credit card bundle, according to an October 15 complaint in the Ontario Superior Court.
Since the filing of the complaint, the court has ordered Glentel to continue selling Rogers’s Mastercard — offered in a bundle with its wireless or wireline services — until it can make a determination on the merits of the case.
Rogers says in the complaint that it learned over Thanksgiving that Glentel, which is owned equally by Rogers and Bell, would stop carrying the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers said Thursday it has entered into an agreement to sell to a “leading global financial investor” a minority equity stake in a newly formed subsidiary that will include parts of its wireless traffic transport network from one region of the country.
The minority stakeholder will get paid periodic distributions based on the net income made by that subsidiary. Wholesale fees to use the network will maintain it, while consumer use of the network, which Rogers CFO Glenn Brandt said is in the range of 40 to 50 per cent growth per year, will ensure distribution stability.
The investment,…
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The Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) and Rogers announced Wednesday that the cable giant’s 32 new 5G towers are now operational to deliver service to parts of eastern Ontario.
5G services, as a result, are available in the Frontenac, Haliburton, Hastings, Lanark, Lennox and Addington, Peterborough, Renfrew, Leeds and Grenville, Quinte West, Prescott and Russell, Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry, Muskoka, South Algonquin, Algonquins of Pikwakanagan, Curve Lake First Nation, Hiawatha First Nation, and Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.
Rogers said since May 1, it has installed the 32 new cell towers and has made an additional upgrade to an existing…
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Rogers said Thursday that it has completed an $8-million upgrade to its 5G network at Rogers Centre in Toronto ahead of a six-night tour stop by singer Taylor Swift next month.
The construction involved 10,000 hours of installing new equipment and infrastructure, including antennas on the roof of the stadium, Rogers said in a press release, which means “faster speeds, lower latency” and three times more capacity, Rogers said in a release.
The increased capacity means the thousands of expected fans should be able to share live moments from the concert without significant delay.
“As the proud presenting sponsor of Taylor Swift…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Internet service provider Fibernetics is accusing Rogers of undue preference by allegedly refusing to allow the independent telecom to use a third party transport service at the same building it already uses Rogers facilities to haul leased internet traffic back to its own office.
For years, the Cambridge, Ont.-based telecom said it has been leasing, via the third party internet access (TPIA) regime, capacity from Shaw, which was gobbled up by Rogers last year. In that configuration, the telecom hauls the internet traffic using Rogers’s ethernet transport mile to its own Calgary office.
But in a Part 1 application…
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The chief technology and information officer (CTIO) for Rogers has retired from the company late this summer, Rogers confirmed.
Ron McKenzie was brought on in July 2022 as the cable giant’s CTO to replace Jorge Fernandes in the wake of the Rogers network outage that knocked out services for millions of Canadians, which prompted a regulatory study and the company announcing billions of dollars in network resiliency initiatives.
“Being the CTIO of Rogers has been an incredible honour with such a long history of innovation,” McKenzie said in a LinkedIn post. “Leading the best Technology team in the…
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Bell secures access to Raptors and regional Leafs games
By Connie Thiessen and Ahmad Hathout
Rogers Communications has signed an agreement to buy Bell’s 37.5 per cent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) for $4.7 billion, making it a majority owner in the Toronto sports empire.
MLSE owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, Toronto Argonauts, Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, the NBA G League Raptors 905, MLS Next Pro team TFC II, and the Raptors Uprising Gaming Club, which is the Toronto Raptors esports franchise in the NBA 2K League. MLSE also owns and…
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