By Greg O’Brien
GATINEAU – The federal government’s Competition Bureau was a rather prominent player during the now 16-months long CRTC process reviewing the regulations governing the wireless market in Canada.
UPDATE, Aug. 7: Please see the bottom of this story for an update from the Competition Bureau.
Last year the Bureau fought the carriers and the Commission for access to confidential data from Canadian wireless companies so it could do its own “objective economic analysis” of the market, telling the Commission in 2019 the “information that we are seeking is critical to our ability to make an evidence-based submission…
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OTTAWA — Rogers Communications’ Step Up to the Plate initiative with Food Banks Canada has now arrived in Ottawa, delivering food hampers that will provide more than 709,000 meals to local food banks and help fill the plates of 34,000 people across Ottawa, the company announced today.
“Ottawa is where we live, where we work, and where we raise our families. It’s our responsibility to step up locally and today that’s through food donations and volunteer time,” said Heidi Bonnell, Rogers’ president of National Capital Region and vice-president, federal government affairs, in the news release. (Pictured are some of…
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TORONTO — Demonstrating the pent-up demand for the return of live sports, a total of 10.7 million viewers tuned in last Saturday and Sunday to Sportsnet for the resumption of the NHL and NBA seasons, according to the Rogers-owned sports broadcaster.
Beginning on Saturday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT, Sportsnet aired more than 33 hours of live sports coverage across its TV channels, CBC, Citytv, the Sportsnet Radio Network and via stream on SN Now and NHL Live.
Scoring a 19% audience share, Sportsnet’s coverage garnered a combined average minute audience (AMA) of 821,000 viewers on Saturday and Sunday. Overall, in…
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GATINEAU — Iristel has filed a complaint with the CRTC alleging Rogers has been manipulating caller ID information for some of its retail mobile subscribers to make it appear as though calls are originating from the United States, which Iristel claims gives Rogers an undue preference.
According to Iristel’s Part 1 application, posted to the Commission’s website on Monday, Iristel believes the alleged scheme is “designed to circumvent routing arrangements between companies who are Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) and some of their international partners,” and would allow Rogers “to benefit from termination rates that are more advantageous than those they…
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MONTREAL — Bell Canada launched today its new Bell Streamer, an all-in-one 4K HDR streaming device included with all new Bell Alt TV Premium subscriptions. Alt TV is Bell’s app-based live TV streaming service.
Powered by Android TV, the compact Bell Streamer device (6.5 cm x 6.5 cm) offers TV customers in Ontario and Quebec one-stop access to Alt, Crave, CTV, Fibe TV, Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, DAZN, hayu, CBC Gem, ICI Tou.tv, Tubi and others.
Bell Streamer also offers access to thousands of apps via Google Play, and features a remote control with one-button access to Google Assistant (for voice…
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MONTREAL — TVA Group’s Incendo production company announced Monday principal photography has started on You May Kiss the Bridesmaid, a TV movie being shot on location in Montreal.
Written by Vancouver-based screenwriter Nastasha Baron, the movie stars Canadian actress Tori Anderson (Killjoys, No Tomorrow) along with actors Kristopher Turner (A Little Bit Zombie, Stuck) and Julia Borsellino (Une femme d’exception, Nothing Has Changed). Director of the film is Caroline Labrèche (Rule of 3, Thicker Than Water).
Food influencer Scarlett Bailey (played by Anderson) is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime to work as a pastry chef in one of New…
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By Greg O’Brien
WHEN TELUS RELEASES its second quarter results July 31st, company executives will surely have to answer a fair number of questions about their primary western Canadian competitor’s new brand, Shaw Mobile, when they host their quarterly conference call with financial analysts at noon ET.
Those analysts all published their takes on the launch of Shaw Mobile and agree the dramatic discounts offered by Shaw will surely draw customers away from Telus, Rogers and Bell – while shoring up Shaw’s wireline customer base at the same time. As we reported, Shaw has gone to market in Alberta and…
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EDMONTON – Rogers Communications’ Step Up to the Plate initiative with Food Banks Canada has arrived in Alberta, the company announced today.
Delivering food hampers that will provide more than one million meals to local food banks in the province, the move into Alberta will help fill the plates of more than 56,000 Albertans, said the company press release.
“Albertans are part of our extended family at Rogers, and when our family needs help, it’s our responsibility to step up and pitch in, through food donations, volunteering, and more,” said Larry Goerzen, president of Alberta and Prairies, in the release….
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Prediction: Shaw Internet customers will really like this
By Greg O’Brien
CALGARY — In a move the company says is meant to reward its wired broadband customers while building its wireless subscriber count out west, Shaw Communications is launching today its new Shaw Mobile branded service.
Exclusive to British Columbia and Alberta, Shaw Mobile is meant to leverage the company’s LTE network, its Fibre+ network and 450,000 Wi-Fi hotspots to offer Shaw Internet customers a way to add wireless that promises to dramatically reduce their monthly wireless data bill.
Beginning today, Shaw Fibre+ Internet subscribers can add up to six wireless lines of…
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TORONTO — Rogers Sports and Media shared Tuesday some of the latest trends it’s been tracking during the Covid-19 pandemic, showing Canadians are even more excited for the return of sports than they were in June, and retail sales are bouncing back.
Canadians are most excited about the return of the NHL (67%), followed by MLB (43%) and NBA (41%), according to an Angus Reid survey conducted on behalf of the broadcaster. When consumers were polled back in June, those numbers were 54% for the return of the NHL, 31% for MLB, and 32% for NBA.
Statistics Canada recently released updated…
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