ST. JOHN’S – Rogers launched its Ignite TV service in Newfoundland Monday, almost a year after the service first debuted in Ontario.
The cloud-based IPTV service allows customers to find their favourite show or movie through ‘All-in-one Search’ that brings together live TV, on demand, recordings and Netflix, and also displays where and how to watch it. Other features include a personalized sports hub called SportsApp that allows users to set favourite teams/leagues and watch live games while tracking scores from another game at the same time, plus a kid-friendly space with age-appropriate shows and parental controls known as KidsZone.
Ignite TV’s…
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OTTAWA – Listeners in Ontario's North Bay may soon have a new radio station after the CRTC determined that the region can support one.
The Commission said Thursday that it is not necessary to publish a call for applications for new stations given that Vista Radio was the sole party to express an interest in serving that market.
Located in northeastern Ontario, approximately 120 kilometres east of Sudbury, the North Bay radio market currently has four English-language commercial radio stations: CHUR-FM, CKFX-FM and CKAT, which are operated by Rogers Media, as well as CFXN-FM, operated by Vista. The market is also…
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MONTREAL – Videotron’s nascent wireless brand Fizz has tapped Sylvie Charette as its vice-president of marketing and customer experience.
Charette, who was most recently marketing VP at Nespresso Canada, led Videotron’s branding and digital media teams from 2013 to 2014. She has also held senior roles at Rogers, Telus and Bell Mobility.
With Fizz, Charette will head up the digital go-to-market strategy for Fizz mobile and Internet services plus be responsible for customer experience and the development and management of digital operations.
“Her recognized leadership skills and unique expertise make Sylvie the right person to spearhead our teams’ efforts to develop and differentiate…
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Tosses “incoherent” barb back at the industry
TORONTO – ISED Minister Navdeep Bains was the closer at the 2019 Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday and his comments made on stage – as well as after – should leave wireless industry leaders and observers more certain than ever that a major regulatory shift, especially when it comes to the long held policy bedrock known as “facilities-based competition,” is going to happen.
For three days, the major carriers did their level best to lay out a case against mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs, or wireless resellers) as well as the reasons why it’s…
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TORONTO – There may have been over a dozen topics on the hit list for this year's regulatory blockbuster session at this year’s Canadian Telecom Summit, but the six panelists kept coming back to one: MVNOs, yea or nay.
Moderator Greg O'Brien, editor and publisher of Cartt.ca, set the tone, commenting, "This panel is often fun, always a little prickly, which is part of the fun
“The industry is being transformed from all sides," he went on. "It's being changed from within, from without, and, crucially, from Ottawa."
Key among the events include the broadcast and telecom legislative review panel, a proposed…
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MVNOs won't work in Canada
TORONTO – Shaw Communications’ Paul McAleese co-founded and ran a successful MVNO in the United States for a dozen years before coming back to Canada to head up Freedom Mobile.
While he’s still a satisfied investor in i-wireless, which runs the mobile offering of the Kroger chain of grocery stores, he said comparing that company and the U.S. wireless market in general to Canada’s is a mug’s game. First, the American market is just so much bigger, where MVNOs can carve out a living with low margins there thanks to American market scale in a way…
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TORONTO – As it faces a shrinking cable TV landscape and still needing buzzy shows to entice advertisers and compete with Netflix, the biggest headline from Corus Entertainment's upfront presentation Monday was that rookie and returning American content will remain front and center, especially on Global TV, as the media company remakes itself for the streaming era.
"We're transforming too," Corus CEO and president Doug Murphy said against the backdrop of the Evergreen Brick Works, an abandoned brick factory along Toronto’s Don Valley turned into an urban innovation hub for sustainable city-building.
Given the focus on originals at Netflix and Amazon,…
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TORONTO – Canadian government and telecommunications carriers have nothing to fear from Huawei's 5G network products, the chief security officer of the company's Canadian division told telecom industry leaders, and it is free from interference from Beijing.
"Huawei operates in over 107 countries around the world, and in each they comply with local rules and regulations," Olivera Zatezalo (pictured) told the Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday during a panel session on cyber security. "All I can tell you is in Canada we are 100% compliant" with whatever the government asks.
Asked specifically about the company's independence, she said Huawei Canada is…
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TORONTO –Innovation, Science and Economic Development minister Navdeep Bains is expected to reveal the proposed structure of the 3500 MHz spectrum auction on Wednesday and, tapping into his inner Raptor, Scotiabank telecom analyst Jeff Fan said in a report this week he expects Bains to “deliver its version of ‘The Klaw’.”
Using Toronto Raptors’ star Kawhi Leonard’s nickname as a fun hook, Fan set out what he believes will happen to the 3500 MHz spectrum currently co-owned by Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Like Leonard stripping an opponent of the basketball, ISED will be stripping a lot of that spectrum…
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TORONTO – Citytv has scooped up the ‘Chicago’ franchise which it said will anchor its 2019/20 schedule that also includes 15 new shows and 17 returning favourites.
New series include scripted drama series Bluff City Law, comedies Perfect Harmony and Mixed-Ish, as well as new weekday talk show The Kelly Clarkson Show. Dick Wolf dramas Chicago Med, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD will air back-to-back on Wednesday nights.
Last season’s hit dramas, A Million Little Things and Manifest return to Citytv, along with The Bachelor / The Bachelorette franchise, Black-ish, Bob’s Burgers, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Dancing with the Stars, Family Guy, Hockey Night in…
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