TORONTO — Rogers Communications is expanding its support for women and children with the announcement today of additional partnerships with women’s shelters in Quebec and Ontario to provide connectivity to support vulnerable Canadians during the ongoing Covid-19 health crisis.
“It’s unfathomable to imagine the dual crises of domestic violence and physical isolation brought on by Covid-19. Yet, tragically, rates of violence are up as much as 20-30% right now,” said Sevaun Palvetzian, Rogers’ chief communications officer. “For vulnerable women and children escaping abuse, phones and connectivity provide an essential digital lifeline. We’re proud that our Rogers team can help enable…
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Was on wireless policy review panel
GATINEAU – The five-year term of Christopher MacDonald, the CRTC commissioner for Atlantic Canada and Nunavut expired Tuesday June 16, leaving the Regulator down at least two commissioners.
Former Alberta and Northwest Territories commissioner Linda Vennard’s term expired in May.
The federal government called for applications earlier this year for their replacements but have not named anyone, which is not surprising given how the Covid-19 crisis has delayed everything else. We say “at least” two commissioners because the Regulator can have up to 13 and currently has seven active commissioners. Chairman Ian Scott’s is the…
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TORONTO — Production on the third season of Citytv’s Canadian original scripted series Hudson & Rex will begin this July in St. John’s, working within Newfoundland’s pandemic-related provincial guidelines, Rogers Sports and Media announced Tuesday.
Produced by Shaftesbury and Pope Productions Ltd., in association with Citytv and Beta Film GmbH, the new 16-episode season will see the return of Detective Charlie Hudson (played by John Reardon) and his canine partner, Rex (played by Diesel vom Burgimwald).
Sold to more than 100 territories including Italy, Germany and France, Hudson & Rex will continue to be filmed in St. John’s, where the series…
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TORONTO — CTAM Canada announced Monday a free, three-part webcast series which will explore how people and companies have adapted to a world changed by the Covid-19 crisis.
The first webcast in the “Fast Adapters” series takes place on June 23 at 2 p.m. ET. One of the speakers will be Liz Doyle Harmer, an entrepreneur, leadership coach, podcaster, blogger and mother of four. She will discuss tools for dealing with the complexities of change and how she has learned to embrace chaos during the pandemic.
The second speaker will be Hot Docs president Chris McDonald. In his 20-plus years as…
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THE BANFF WORLD MEDIA FESTIVAL announced the winners of the 2020 Rockie Awards International Program Competition in a virtual presentation streamed live Monday afternoon.
The virtual edition of the Rockie Awards was hosted by Aurora Browne, Carolyn Taylor and Jennifer Whalen of CBC’s Baroness von Sketch Show, which was this year’s winningest program. The show and its writers won the 2020 Rockie Award for best comedy and variety program, the Canadian Award of Distinction and the Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content.
In total, Rockie Awards were presented in 26 categories spanning documentary and factual, arts and entertainment, children and…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – In 2015, the CRTC decided to move from mandatory aggregated services to disaggregated services when it comes to wholesale high speed access services for the Internet, in Québec and Ontario.
That would allow competitors to interconnect closer to the client and lower the cost of service purchased from incumbents. In other words, instead of purchasing the local loop (or last mile) and the backhaul, they could buy just the local loop, including gaining access to fibre-to-the-premises portions of the incumbent networks.
The 2015 decision also determined the rules for the implementation of a transition from one regime…
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GATINEAU — U.S.-based cable TV shopping channel QVC will be added to the list of programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada, due to a stipulation in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) on trade, the CRTC announced Monday.
Four years ago, the Commission ruled against an application by VMedia to add QVC to the list. VMedia then appealed the decision, and in September 2017 the Federal Court of Appeal referred the matter back to the Commission for reconsideration. In February 2018, the Commission issued a notice of consultation and asked for comments on VMedia’s request….
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OTTAWA — The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) has provided updated data about the changes in traffic volumes and usage patterns that have occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its most recent report, released Friday, looks at wireless and wireline traffic volumes through the month of May, as some regions of Canada began to loosen restrictions on the mobility of citizens and the reopening of some businesses. (The CWTA’s previous report looked at traffic volumes in March and April.)
Among the data highlights of the new CWTA report, Managing Networks in Unprecedented Times – Part 2, are the following:
Wireline…
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GATINEAU — In a decision published today, the CRTC has denied an application by Blue Ant Media to reduce the amount it’s required to spend annually on programs of national interest (PNI) for the eight specialty channels it operates in Canada.
Blue Ant Media’s channels include A.Side, BBC Earth, Cottage Life, HIFI, Love Nature, Makeful, T+E and Smithsonian Channel. In April 2019, Blue Ant filed an application to amend the condition of licence for its channels’ group licence in order to reduce its PNI expenditure requirements from 13.5% to 5% of the previous broadcast year’s gross revenues, as of September…
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LONDON, U.K. — Blue Ant Media announced Monday its Love Nature wildlife and nature channel has launched on pay-TV platform Les Bouquets Canal+ in more than 25 African countries.
The deal further expands Love Nature’s reach in sub-Saharan Africa and gives Les Bouquets Canal+ subscribers access to the channel’s lineup of original, English-language programming, including hundreds of hours of wildlife and nature series and documentaries.
Some of the Love Nature programming available on Les Bouquets Canal+ in Africa include: Africa’s Hunters (pictured), a Camp Zambia series produced by Plimsoll Productions; The Big Dry, also from Plimsoll Productions; Malawi Wildlife Rescue, produced…
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