TORONTO – Rogers’ Citytv has nailed the exclusive streaming rights to the darkly comedic series Catch-22 from director, executive producer, and Oscar winning actor George Clooney.
Based on Joseph Heller’s novel of the same name, Catch-22 is the story of the incomparable, artful dodger, Yossarian (Christopher Abbott, Girls), a U.S. Air Force bombardier in World War II who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem isn’t the enemy, it’s his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly in order to complete their…
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MONTREAL – The company's Big Three wireless companies are offering a helping hand to Canadians impacted by the spring floods in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick.
Telus said that it is providing $50,000 in funding and in-kind support, including cash donations for local flood relief as well as food and items such as chargers and comfort kits for those in the hardest hit areas. Its employees are also pitching in by helping to fill and deliver sandbags to homes in vulnerable zones in Ottawa and Pierrefonds-Roxboro in the Greater Montreal Area, and by participating in local clean-up activities in the region of La Beauce.
In addition:
– the Telus…
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GATINEAU – After hearing from a range of Canadians via Facebook in February and March (some who had cogent complaints and arguments, some who, um, did not…), the CRTC this week gathered up final written submissions on its new proposed Internet code of conduct for providers of retail fixed internet services.
Canadian carriers generally support such a code, or at least the idea of one, which would “enhance the transparency of Internet contracts, help consumers, regardless of who their Internet provider is, to better understand their rights and responsibilities under these contracts and enable them to…
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TORONTO – In a ruling issued Tuesday, April 23,2019, the Ontario Superior Court decided to stay a case brought by Iristel/Ice Wireless against Telus which relates to a dispute between the two companies over failed calls to the North.
This is the latest development between the two telcos who have each blamed the other for hundreds of phone calls to northern Canada failing to get through.
While the CRTC issued its interim ruling in November, making sure calls went through properly, it still must determine whether the traffic at issue is wrongly stimulated by Iristel as Telus claims…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications has priced a Canadian offering of $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 3.25% senior notes due in 2029.
The net proceeds of this Canadian offering will be approximately $991 million, and, together with other debt funding, will help to fund the $1.725 billion cash investment required to acquire 52 of 64 of the twenty year 600 MHz spectrum licenses available to the company, Rogers said late Tuesday.
The sale of the Canadian notes is expected to close on April 30, 2019.
www.rogers.com
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MISSISSAUGA – New technologies and access to vast quantities of data promise to create smart cities, which improve sustainability, create economic development, and enhance quality of life for people living and working in them. At Commtech East last week, a panel of industry experts (pictured) offered insight on what has to happen if our cities are to get smarter.
John Jung, executive director of Intelligence Community Forum (ICF) Canada, explained there are now about 200 cities all over the world the ICF has recognized as intelligent communities. He added there are likely thousands of additional cities which could be added…
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MISSISSAUGA – “Years ago we would have thought, as smaller operators, there's no way in hell we can keep up with them . But times have changed. We can actually surpass them,” according to Stephen Sacks, president, MDL Communications.
“Delivering broadband is now the main killer app” and advances in streaming technologies has levelled the playing field so that even operators with no traditional video experience now sell video. Sacks presented his findings at Commtech East in Mississauga on how streaming is helping operators of all sizes compete.
Comcast now has 38 million Xfinity subscribers (broadband plus video and…
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Canadians still want loads of video, and are getting it from many sources
WHILE CANADIANS CONTINUE to pull back on their traditional subscription TV services, their interest in video overall shows no signs of shrinkage as they add tens of thousands of subscriptions to various over-the-top providers (but yah, mainly Netflix).
According to new research from Victoria, B.C.’s Convergence Research, cord-cutting in Canada is proceeding at about a 2% rate per year right now. “We estimate 2018 saw a decline of 204,000 Canadian TV subscribers, 2017 a decline of 210,000 TV subscribers, and we forecast a decline of 253,000 for 2019,”…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has decided what the Competition Bureau wants is too much to ask of Canada’s wireless service providers.
On March 8, 2019, the Competition Bureau wrote to the CRTC as part of the Regulator’s review of mobile wireless service proceeding, requesting the Commission demand a series of data from the wireless service providers (WSPs) which would allow the Bureau to conduct an analysis of the competitive landscape.
As Cartt.ca reported, the WSPs responded strongly, arguing the new burden imposed on them by the request for years of data was too onerous and accused the…
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Telecom policy must encourage investment, says Natale
TORONTO – Rogers Communications CEO Joe Natale invoked the founder Friday morning while delivering a speech simultaneously to shareholders at its annual general meeting – and to policy makers in Ottawa.
The presentation at company headquarters in Toronto featured a long ago video of the first cellular phone call in Canada – made on what was called the Cantel network (Ted Rogers was famously rebuffed by his board of directors in 1983 when he wanted $500,000 to invest in mobile wireless technology, so he went it alone with his own money in launching Cantel)…
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