TORONTO — The Canadian Telecom Summit — which will be held as a hybrid event from Nov. 15 to 17 — will feature Robert Ghiz, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, as one of its keynote speakers, event organizers announced today.
Ghiz (above) will address attendees on Tuesday, Nov. 16 from 2:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. ET.
His keynote will be followed by the Canadian Telecom Summit’s “regulatory blockbuster” panel (from 3:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET), with confirmed participants including: Geoff White, executive director of Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC); Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory…
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Some bright spots remain
CANADIAN SPECIALTY CHANNEL revenues took a hard hit in 2020, thanks to Covid-19, with independents taking bigger shots than vertically integrated (VI) companies.
The recently published CRTC 2020 Individual Discretionary and On-Demand Statistical and Financial Summaries for the year ended August 31, 2020 shows Canada’s VI companies, taken together, reported a 6.9% year-over-year decrease in total revenues to $2.9 billion in 2020. The CRTC considers VI companies to include Bell Media, Rogers Media, Quebecor Media, and Corus Entertainment.
These companies spent 36.2% of their total revenues on Canadian programming, but total expenditures on Canadian programming was down 8.1%…
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TORONTO — Rogers Sports and Media today revealed the fall premiere schedules for its Citytv and FX channels.
Citytv’s fall schedule features the all-new series Bachelor in Paradise Canada, which will debut on Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. ET, followed by The Bachelor After Show: After Paradise at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Also joining the Citytv schedule this fall is new drama Ordinary Joe starring James Wolk (Mad Men, You Again), which will premiere Sept. 20 at 10 p.m. ET.
Citytv has also picked up season 23 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which will have a two-hour premiere on Sept. 23…
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MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Samsung Electronics Canada announced last week P. Raj Doshi (above) joined the company as its new head of mobile business in July.
“In his new role, Doshi will oversee the growth and profitability of the division as it continues its steady market expansion in smartphones, tablets, PCs, wearables and mobile audio,” reads a press release.
Before joining Samsung, Doshi was an independent consultant, and prior to that, he worked at Rogers Communications for 30 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. His most recent position there was as executive vice-president of Rogers’s 5G program, and he previously…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – In a letter sent to François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (IC), on August 13, Videotron CEO, Pierre-Karl Péladeau responded to claims made by Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE) CEO Mirko Bibic in an interview on BNN Bloomberg (owned by BCE) that Videotron should not have been eligible to bid on set-aside wireless spectrum in the 3500 MHz auction, the results of which were announced on July 29.
IC set aside portions of spectrum in the last few auctions that the larger wireless players (Bell, Telus and Rogers) could not bid on, to try…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC announced yesterday it will hold a public hearing starting November 22 at 9 a.m. MST (11 a.m. EST) into the broadcast side of the proposed Rogers/Shaw deal.
The Commission will specifically consider an application “for Rogers to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Shaw and the authority for Rogers to operate various licensed broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) currently owned by Shaw in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” as well as Shaw Direct, Shaw Broadcast Services, and Shaw Pay-Per-View, according to a CRTC notice of consultation.
The application also seeks approval for Rogers to…
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WATERLOO REGION – The Ontario government announced today construction has begun in Waterloo Region on three projects involving $11.1 million in broadband infrastructure.
The projects will connect over 1,200 homes and businesses in the communities of Maryhill, Haysville, Ayr, Orr’s Lake, Clyde, Dorking, Macton, North Woolwich, Josephburg and Erbsville to high-speed Internet.
Funding was awarded by Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) Inc. SWIFT is supported by the governments of Canada and Ontario, which each committed $3.7 million in funding for the three Waterloo Region projects, according to a press release.
Internet service providers awarded contracts for these three projects include North Frontenac…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – In a ruling issued this week, Federal Court Justice Fuhrer awarded $29.7 million to a group of Canadian media (Bell Media, Rogers Media and TVA) and distribution companies (Bell Canada and Bell ExpressVu, Rogers Cable and Vidéotron) as compensation for lost revenues, punitive damages and legal costs.
The defendants (INL3D, Morcor and Ottawa Tek) have advertised, offered for sale and sold preloaded set-top boxes (STB) and IPTV services, therefore distributing content illegally without authorization from rights holders, depriving them of significant revenues.
These companies did not offer a defence, but the Court ruled against them, satisfied with…
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MENLO PARK, Calif. — Future Today announced today the launch of three free streaming services on Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream.
The new streaming apps are FilmRise, iFood.tv and Fawesome, which combined “will bring over 10,000 hours of content with popular TV shows and movies to Rogers Ignite Entertainment customers,” says Future Today’s press release.
“FilmRise delivers unlimited free instant streaming of popular movies and hit TV shows,” reads the release, while “iFood.tv has a tantalizing collection of over 50,000 cooking shows and video recipes for everyday cooking that every foodie will devour.”
Fawesome “is a premier, free ad-supported linear channel…
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OTTAWA — Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne and Minister of Seniors Deb Schulte today announced the second phase of the Connecting Families program, which they say will help hundreds of thousands of low-income seniors and families access affordable high-speed home Internet in 2022.
The so-called Connecting Families 2.0 program marks the first time low-income seniors will be included in the program. It also introduces faster speeds and increases the data usage amount available in Internet plans being offered by participating Internet service providers, which include Access Communications, Bell Canada, Cogeco, CSUR, Hay Communications, Mornington, Novus, Rogers, SaskTel,…
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