By Connie Thiessen
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery have entered into an agreement that will see the streaming giant acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO.
The USD $82.7B cash and stock transaction is valued at $27.75 per WBD share and is expected to close following the previously-announced separation of WBD’s Global Networks division, Discovery Global – which will encompass CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., Discovery free-to-air channels in Europe, Discovery+ and Bleacher Report – into a new publicly-traded company, anticipated in the third quarter of 2026.
“Our mission has always been to entertain the world,” said Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix….
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking Rogers to provide an opinion about whether returning to service providers uncommitted money from the service provider-supported Broadband Fund at the end of year would alleviate some of its concerns.
Rogers filed a Part 1 application this summer asking the regulator to review the way the National Contribution Fund (NCF) manages the program, arguing that service providers must set aside large amounts of money for collection when the fund doesn’t always deliver the amounts it has already collected, which is currently set at $150 million per year. It is asking the…
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Regulator says OUTtv must-carry application won’t be reviewed
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled Friday that Rogers unjustly removed LGBTQ+ channel OUTtv from its premium pre-assembled television package while the two were negotiating a new carry rate.
Prior to the end of the previous agreement, OUTtv was in Rogers’s Premier television package, which the cable giant stopped marketing in favour of its best pre-assembled package called Ultimate TV. After the carry agreement ended, Rogers removed the channel from the Premier package and, instead of putting it in Ultimate TV, slotted it into two themed ones called Variety and Lifestyle and Entertainment.
OUTtv, whose…
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EnStream, a joint venture of Bell, Rogers and Telus that provides identity verification and authentication services for a range of mobile applications, announced last week it has partnered with Brussels-based Proximus Global to launch a new application programming interface (API) that helps Canadian businesses prevent recycled number fraud and improve customer experience.
“The solution enables companies to verify if a phone number has been reassigned to another person, preventing sensitive information reaching the wrong person, and reduces the number of steps required to verify if a phone number has been reassigned, accelerating the process,”…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said in a letter Wednesday that it will clarify rules surrounding the disclosure of information related to last-mile fibre locations for competitors.
The letter was prompted by a Telus Part 1 application, dated June 9 but made public Wednesday, that asked the CRTC to impose enforcement action against Rogers for cutting off its access to the cable company’s wholesale access portal on April 4. The service was eventually restored within a day, but the Vancouver-based telco said the incident “severely” disrupted its operations.
Telus said it received notice on that Friday afternoon from Rogers saying that it…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has rejected a Rogers application asking the regulator to reconsider mandating access by enterprise business and internet of things applications to the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime.
Rogers argued in its January application – backed by other big telecoms including Bell – that when the CRTC affirmed its preliminary view to open those segments to the mandated access regime to curb market concentration, it allegedly failed to consider that the market for these services “is likely one of the most competitive.” They argued there is sufficient…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is asking the CRTC to reduce what it calls outdated and unnecessary reporting requirements and hasten ownership transaction applications.
According to the letter, sent Thursday, Canadian broadcasters must submit dozens of reports to the regulator on a monthly and annual basis, “many of which are duplicative or overlap to a considerable extent” because their necessity have “never been reassessed.”
These reports, as outlined in the letter, include annual financial and monthly television programming log evaluation reports, local TV news audits, independent and regional production reports, women in production reports, emerging and indigenous artist…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell’s president and CEO said Thursday that the telco is targeting the new year for the full launch of fibre-based internet service for its mobile wireless customers in western Canada.
Mirko Bibic said during the company’s third-quarter earnings conference call that Bell already has a trial in Kelowna, British Columbia for fibre internet service using Telus’s network, and that the telco is targeting January for a full launch.
“We are going to do all this in a very disciplined way,” Bibic said.
During its investor day conference last month, Bell said it was launching the service this…
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Rogers announced Monday an average audience of 10.9 million viewers watched Saturday’s Game 7 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ and Citytv, making it the most-watched Rogers broadcast ever.
Rogers said in a press release 18.5 million Canadian viewers, or 45 per cent of Canada’s population, watched at least some of Game 7, which lasted 11 innings before it ended after midnight. Average audience peaked at 14 million around 11:38 p.m. ET when Ernie Clement came to bat with the score tied at 4-4,…
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As Canadians recover from their collective disappointment over the Toronto Blue Jays’ heart-wrenching, extra-innings loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday, Rogers announced Monday that fans fortunate enough to attend the game in person set a new record for mobile data usage at the Rogers Centre.
According to Rogers, fans at Game 7 used 7.5 terabytes (TB) of mobile data — the equivalent of sharing 3.74 million photos of superstar first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
This broke the previous record of 7.4 TB of mobile data used during Taylor…
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