TORONTO — In a virtual presentation hosted by Canadian comedian and YouTube personality Jasmeet Raina, the Banff World Media Festival today announced the winners of the 2021 Rockie Awards International Program Competition.
Celebrating excellence in television and digital media content from around the world, the Rockie Awards program is juried by an esteemed panel of 150 international industry professionals and covers all major genres.
This year’s competition featured 142 nominations from 37 countries, including the UK, U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Australia and Netherlands.
Countries taking home top Rockies honours include:
* UK: 11 awards
* U.S.: 10 awards
* Canada: 5 awards
* Australia and France:…
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Auction starts today
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The strings attached to the federal government’s 3.5 GHz spectrum, whose auction beginning today will repurpose portions of it for mobile wireless use, include a speed-to-deployment component that complements federal policy to accelerate connectivity throughout the country by the end of the decade.
Winners of the auction, which Innovation Canada said will take “several weeks,” will have to deploy the spectrum largely within the 2030 timeframe for which the federal government hopes to provide access to all Canadians to high-speed internet.
While the focus is largely on what the 3.5 GHz spectrum will do for…
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By Etan Vlessing
TORONTO – In an annual upfront presentation short on traditional song and dance sales pitches, top executives at Rogers Sports & Media on Tuesday gave Canadian marketers and ad agencies a master class on big data and how advanced audience analytics will drive their multi-platform and device sales campaigns.
Division president Jordan Banks opened the broadcaster’s virtual show, which is an important pitch for ad dollars, by spotlighting a “massive transformation” in the organization after the pandemic accelerated consumption changes in the Canadian media landscape caused by cord-cutting and a shift in subscriber revenue to mostly foreign streaming…
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TORONTO — In celebration of Pride Month, Rogers’s flanker brand Fido announced today it has launched a new campaign that aims to connect Canadians through conversation and highlight a more diverse representation of Pride by showing Pride comes in every colour.
The June campaign features members of the LGBTQ2S+ community sharing their personal stories and revealing the flag they identify with the most. (Pictured are some of the flags featured in Fido’s campaign.)
“Fido will always be a brand that creates meaningful connections and advocates for true acceptance for everyone, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation,” said Nancy Thomas,…
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By Mel Cohen
THE CRTC REVERSED ITSELF last Thursday, declaring that it erred in 2019 when it set lower rates for wholesale customers of the major telephone and cable companies. Wholesale customers are the dozens of smaller companies that compete with the majors and each other to provide internet services used every day by Canadian homes and businesses.
They are companies you might know – Distributel, Primus, and other members of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada. The consequence of the CRTC decision is that Canadians will soon pay higher prices to use the internet.
What is particularly frustrating about this…
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TORONTO — Ahead of Rogers Sports and Media’s upfront presentation Tuesday, Sportsnet today revealed it is building a new immersive broadcast studio for its NHL production team which will be located at Rogers Campus at 333 Bloor St. E. in Toronto and will be ready for the 2021-22 NHL season.
Designed to be customizable, the brand-new space will “facilitate unique content creation, real-time data integration, and exclusive sponsorship opportunities,” reads Sportsnet’s press release.
The Sportsnet team has been operating out of a studio at Toronto’s CBC headquarters, which was built in 2014, coinciding with the first season of its Continue Reading
TORONTO – This fall Rogers Sports and Media will bring together all of its news radio stations under one brand: CityNews.
Grouping stations of a similar genre has been a growing trend, as we have reported here, as it is a way for multiple station owners to streamline operations and bring down costs.
The company assures this is a change in brand identity only and the move is not accompanied by layoffs.
“While the name and branding for each news radio station will be updated, loyal listeners will still get the same great reliable content from 680 News (Toronto, pictured), News…
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SAINT JOHN – Rogers Communications this week expanded its 5G service into Saint John, New Brunswick.
Rogers currently offers 5G access to nearly half of Canada, available in over 700 communities nationwide with the commitment to reach 1,000 by year end. It’s the only one so far with a 5G network in Atlantic Canada, says the company’s announcement.
Please click here for the full release.
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Report says putting Corus and Bell together would strengthen Canadian industry
By Greg O’Brien
WITH DIGITAL PLAYERS already claiming the bulk of the revenue and a huge swath of viewing time in Canada, Bell Media and Corus Entertainment must come together if they are to survive amid the growing presence of global streaming players, according to a new report from Scotiabank analyst Jeff Fan.
The report gets to the point in its title: “More Canadian Media Consolidation is Necessary and Inevitable.”
Noting American telcos have recently abandoned their content dreams of late because they need the cash and resources to feed 5G…
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EDMONTON — As Super Channel is set to offer a nationwide free preview this month, today it announced Teri Hart (above) is joining the pay-TV network as entertainment producer and host.
Super Channel’s freeview is running across all four of its channels (Fuse, Heart & Home, Vault and GINX Esports TV Canada), plus Super Channel On Demand, for 10 days from June 14 to 23 (start times may vary and some exceptions apply; check with local providers for details).
In her new role, Hart will host and produce regular weekly IGTV (Instagram TV) video content outlining her hand-picked programming highlights from…
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