TORONTO — Multicultural broadcaster Ethnic Channels Group (ECG) says it’s launching the PeopleTV channel in Canada on Rogers Ignite TV.
U.S. media company Meredith Corp.’s PeopleTV network features programming produced by the People and Entertainment Weekly newsrooms in New York and Los Angeles, including celebrity and entertainment news highlighting live red-carpet events, the royals, popular TV cast reunions, high-profile celebrity interviews and more.
Marquee shows on the network include People Now, Entertainment Weekly Cast Reunions, Couch Surfing, The Royal Report and Reality Check.
“People and Entertainment Weekly are iconic brands that exemplify the highest standards in the world of entertainment. As ECG…
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PHILADELPHIA – Comcast executives said Thursday that its subsidiary’s upcoming Peacock service, combined with the cable division’s Xfinity Flex streaming device, will make the most effective revenue-generating streaming ecosystem available anywhere.
Peacock is a streamer which will fill what the company calls a “white space” in the market: a hybrid between a subscription and ad-supported service. It will be a largely ad-supported service with three tiers: 7,500 hours of ad-supported content for free, 15,000 hours of ad-supported content for US$5 (but it, too will be free if you subscribe to a pay-TV company), and an ad-free version of the…
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BRAMPTON and DAVOS – There were a couple of important Canadian cybersecurity announcements today.
The first was from Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst, in partnership with Ryerson University’s DMZ, which announced the launch of the Catalyst Cyber Accelerator, “Canada’s first commercial accelerator specifically designed for scale-up companies in cybersecurity and related fields,” reads the press release.
Headquartered in Brampton’s Innovation District, the Catalyst Cyber Accelerator “will help Canada’s cybersecurity ecosystem by providing Canadian scale-up companies in cybersecurity and related fields the essential tools they need to grow and succeed nationally and internationally.”
The CCA is supported by the Government of Canada, through the Federal…
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TORONTO — In a climate where the prevailing feeling is wireless prices in Canada are still too high, a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) suggests Canadians spend less on wireless services than their counterparts in other countries.
In its new report, Understanding affordability of consumer mobile wireless services in Canada, PwC compares wireless spend in Canada to the U.S., Australia and the U.K. for what it calls a “high-level relative wireless affordability comparison against Canada.” When looking at the percentage of income spent on wireless in each of the countries, PwC found that, in 2016, an average Canadian household…
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TORONTO — Healthy uptake and migration to its Rogers Infinite unlimited data plans helped drive the fourth quarter of 2019, Rogers announced as part of its year-end fiscal report on Wednesday morning.
Among the highlights for its Rogers Infinite business, the company said approximately 60% of its existing customers who migrated to these unlimited wireless data plans have upgraded to higher-priced plans and only 40% had downgraded. In addition, these migrated customers, on average, are using more than 65% more data than they had previously used, Rogers says.
Data overage fees have historically represented approximately 5% of Rogers Wireless service revenue…
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TORONTO — To celebrate the Lunar New Year, OMNI Television is bringing audiences its annual variety special on Sunday, January 26.
Celebrating the Year of the Rat will be produced in Toronto in front of a live studio audience and will air Sunday at 6 p.m. (in Mandarin) and 7 p.m. (in Cantonese).
Hosted by Wei Lee and Jie Yang in Mandarin, and Kenneth Li and Karen So in Cantonese, this year’s variety special will include traditional dances, cooking, comedy and music, including performances by Northern Lights Southern Fists, Bamboo Kung Foo, Toronto Happy Laughing Association, the Toronto Chinese Youth Orchestra, Starlight…
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LONDON — Non-profit regional rural broadband project SWIFT (Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology) made a slew of announcements Monday that will see $19 million in provincial and federal funding invested to increase access to broadband services in several Southwestern Ontario communities.
SWIFT is making the investments through the New Building Canada Fund – Small Communities Fund (NBCF-SCF), a joint federal and provincial infrastructure funding program, and in partnership with its member municipalities.
Starting with its announcement for Wellington County, SWIFT has signed agreements with Cogeco Connexion, EH!tel Networks and North Frontenac Telephone Corporation (NFTC) to expand high-speed broadband infrastructure access to…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – When the Competition Bureau filed in November its intervention to the CRTC’s wireless policy review, it was expected that the reactions would be spirited, and they are.
First, some objected because the Bureau (and its specially commissioned Matrix Report) reached conclusions based on confidential information and asked that some information be shared. In that regard, Bell and Rogers got what they wanted while CNOC and Telus are still waiting for word from the Commission when it comes to that data. Telus has warned the Bureau’s intervention should be deleted from the record for…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — Quebecor is demanding the CRTC order CBC/Radio-Canada’s Tou.tv Extra paid streaming service to “cease its activities” because it goes outside the mandate of the public broadcaster and is an unfair competitor against Videotron and other regulated television service providers.
The CRTC isn’t about to go that far, but it has decided to look into whether there is an undue preference case to be made, in particular with a deal Radio-Canada has with Telus that provides Telus’s Quebec customers “exclusive” free access to the service.
Tou.tv Extra is the $7/month paid version of Tou.tv, which offers premium video…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — Cogeco is closer than ever to launching a wireless service, but it still requires regulatory change before it can do so properly, company CEO Philippe Jetté told journalists on Wednesday as the company held its annual shareholders meeting in Montreal.
It’s one of several dossiers where Cogeco is seeking to either change the rules or fight to maintain them depending on their business interests.
Jetté (pictured, standing), who took over from controlling shareholder Louis Audet (seated) as CEO in 2018, said he is looking forward to presenting his company’s proposal for a “hybrid mobile…
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