By Ken Kelley
TORONTO – Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic insists his company isn’t the least bit troubled about the potential tie-up between Rogers and Shaw. While the jury – namely the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and ISED – considers the ramifications of such a deal upon the Canadian competitive landscape, Bibic says Bell plans to continue pushing forward and won’t let the merger distract from its normal course of business.
“ doesn’t change our strategy at all. In fact, I think it reinforces that we’re on the right track,” Bibic said during his appearance at Scotiabank’s 24th annual…
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Trying to make 2+2=5
By Greg O’Brien
OTTAWA – There’s essentially nothing the politicians can do directly about the proposed purchase of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications because the arbiters are the CRTC, Competition Bureau and ISED. But that would never stop them from extracting their pound of flesh from powerful CEOs, if they so desire. And they desired.
So it was on Monday when Joe Natale, president and CEO of Rogers Communications, and Brad Shaw, CEO of Shaw Communications (along with other senior executives) faced the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology and attempted to explain to mostly dubious MPs…
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By Catherine Edwards
IN THE LEAD UP TO the Broadcasting Act review, Canada’s five associations representing the community element (two TV, three radio) were dismayed the Creative Canada Policy Framework, the Shattered Mirror, and the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review reports barely mention community broadcasting, despite it being one of the three pillars of the system.
This omission was significant. The community element is uniquely positioned to address the most pressing issues that face our broadcasting system:
the lack of local programming outside major population centres
the lack of programming made by and for minorities, especially Indigenous communities
…
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OTTAWA — The number of Canadian consumer complaints to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) increased by 6% during the six-month period from August 1, 2020 to January 31, 2021 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to the CCTS’s 2020-21 mid-year report, released this morning.
During the six months ended January 31, the CCTS accepted 9,121 complaints from Canadian telecom and TV customers and resolved 88% of all complaints. There were 28 confirmed Wireless Code breaches, five Television Service Provider Code breaches, four Internet Code breaches and one Deposit and Disconnection Code breach.
The CCTS…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Independent internet service provider TekSavvy said this week a lower court made an error when, for the first time, it ordered Canada’s ISPs to block the websites of an alleged copyright infringer.
That’s because the Federal Court, in ordering the blocking of websites associated with alleged IPTV infringer GoldTV, leaned too much toward the rights of the copyright holders at the possible expense of free expression and the impact it could have on legitimate content, it alleged in a two-day hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal this week.
TekSavvy is challenging the first site-blocking order…
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TORONTO – Rogers for Business announced Thursday the launch of a managed solution for wireless private networks (WPN) that provides large businesses with a dedicated on-site wireless network platform to securely connect devices to their network, prioritize network traffic, control sensitive data, and run business applications.
The scalable solution delivers high performance with low latency and is suited for businesses in industries including mining, oil and gas, utilities and manufacturing, says the press release. Manufacturers can now connect more sensors, machines, and devices through a single private network, resulting in end-to-end visibility from product order through shipment and delivery, for…
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VANCOUVER – Starting Monday, March 29, Rogers Sports and Media’s Sportsnet 650 Vancouver will go to air with new weekday programming, featuring familiar names and new voices.
“Since its inception, Sportsnet 650 has always strived to provide listeners with a front-row seat to the news, interviews and commentary from around the world of sports, but with a distinctly Vancouver flavour,” said Craig MacEwen, program director, in a press release. “By refreshing our lineup with a combination of familiar voices and long-time fan-favourites, we look forward to serving up the entertaining content listeners have come to expect of Sportsnet 650, while…
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By Steve Faguy
IT WAS SUPPOSED to be to FM radio what FM was to AM: Better audio quality, a way to expand to more channels, and a future replacement with some cool bells and whistles.
In the 1990s, Canada’s radio broadcasters spent millions of dollars on new transmitters and devoted a lot of airtime to marketing the new technology: DAB, or digital audio broadcasting.
“The radio industry is primed to reinvent itself for the digital age and 1997 will be the first year of the revolution,” read a 1996 article from the Vancouver Sun. “Within a generation, AM and FM radio…
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COMING ON BOARD during the year of Covid would have been challenging enough, but new Canadian Association of Broadcasters president Kevin Desjardins is also tasked with rebuilding the organization and its profile in Ottawa amid media and political environments where it seems the winds howl in every direction all the time.
Hired in November 2020 as the organization’s first president since Glenn O’Farrell stepped down in 2008, Desjardins knows much works lies ahead in order to ensure the association’s large and small members come together on certain big issues and ideas – even if they disagree on how to execute…
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TORONTO — In its third report, released today, the C.D. Howe Institute’s new telecommunications policy working group — which includes executives from Bell, Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and Shaw, among others — says cellular phone services have seen a 25% price drop over the past five years, which they say meets Ottawa’s mandated wireless rate cut.
That means, the group says, it’s time to shift the focus of telecom policy debates to other issues, such as the modernization of the CRTC and rate-setting challenges for mandated access.
Citing data from Statistics Canada’s consumer price index, the telecom group says cellular services…
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