RANDY LENNOX IS beloved in the music business. Leading Universal Music Canada for close to 20 years, he was instrumental in finding and developing Canadian talent and growing the Canadian music industry into an acknowledged international force.
The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes, Justin Beiber, Shania Twain, Drake, Hedley, The Tragically Hip are all artists Lennox signed or helped build up. He probably could have remained at Universal until he was old and grey, if he wanted. Earlier this year the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) awarded Lennox (pictured*) the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for his longstanding…
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WINNIPEG – Rogers rolled out its LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service Monday in select Manitoba communities, including in Winnipeg, Brandon, Portage La Prairie, Selkirk, Steinbach, Gimli, Morden, Winkler, Churchill, Thompson and Flin Flon.
Billed as the next generation of world-class network technology, LTE-A combines two or more bands of spectrum to create a larger pipe or superhighway for data to travel on, providing a more consistent and worry-free mobile experience for customers.
Rogers added that it has also turned on additional spectrum in Manitoba to provide better coverage in hard-to-reach places like basements, elevators and buildings with thick concrete walls. The LTE coverage…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications CEO Joe Natale is excited to get the company’s next generation TV product into the market so that it can fight its competition “with both hands,” he said.
The company released strong third quarter results Thursday morning, led by wireless gains (despite noting “anemic” demand for the iPhone 8 as the industry waits for the iPhoneX), but the company hopes to return the cool factor to its TV platform when it rolls out Comcast’s vaunted X1 solution, complete with voice activated remote control.
Employee trials begin next month with about 1,000 Rogers people…
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TORONTO – An influx of new wireless customers, the highest in the last eight years, helped to drive up third quarter profits at Rogers Communications by 112%, the company said Thursday.
For the period ended September 30, 2017, net income of $467 million was more than double the $220 million posted in the same period last year. Adjusted net income increased 22% from $427 million to $523 million, primarily due to higher adjusted operating profit and lower depreciation and amortization.
Revenue of $3.58 billion increased 3% this quarter from $3.49 billion year-over-year, largely driven by Wireless service growth of 7%. Wireless service…
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U.S. cable comes to the defence
WASHINGTON – Every now and then the spectre of Canadian TV distributors having to pay retransmission fees for their carriage of American off-air TV channels rears its head. Now, thanks to the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it’s rising to the fore once again.
Heading into the negotiations, the National Association of Broadcasters (the American broadcasters’ very effective lobby group) made it clear to U.S. trade representatives that they want this new line of revenue from carriers to the north and the south, along with two other key demands.
“While technologies and the…
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GATINEAU – It looks as though a portion of a CRTC decision that flew under the radar for many people has wrecked what was an excellent promotional outlet for Canadian specialty services and charities.
In decision CRTC 2015-86, part of the Let’s Talk TV process, the Commission surprised the industry by tightening the rules surrounding how the two minutes of local advertising time made available each hour by U.S. channels such as CNN, A&E, Golf Channel and TLC could be used.
Dubbed “local avail” time, American cablecos and other pay TV carriers have turned the sales of…
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TORONTO – Freedom Mobile today announced the launch of what it’s calling “Big Gig”, a brand new plan giving customers 10GB of data for $50/month.
The new plan gives both new and existing Freedom Mobile customers access to more data for less with no penalties for data overages, “and is unlike anything currently being offered to Canadians,” says the company’s release. The Big Gig plans are available beginning Thursday, October 19. As Rogers Communications, Bell Canada and Telus are all about to report their third quarter results over the next two weeks, we bet there will be questions on how…
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GATINEAU – CRTC commisioner Christopher MacDonald’s persistent questioning on day one of the hearing into license renewals for several BDUs roughly translated to: “What’s taking so long with the set top box viewership data?”
Quebecor, Rogers, Shaw and Eastlink, all members of the Set Top box working group (check), each had very similar answers to MacDonald’s line of questions. Essentially the answers boiled down to: “What we’re doing is hard, pioneering, and with an uncertain business model, so yes, it’s a slow process.”
The group first met more than two years ago.
During the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV process,…
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VANCOUVER – Rogers’ Kiss Radio is shaking up the airwaves in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and Vancouver by allowing listeners to take control of the station’s playlist.
Using a new voting system available on KissRadio.ca and the Kiss mobile app for iOS and Android, listeners choose from the station’s range of tracks what songs they most want to hear. Available every hour and every day of the week, songs on the Kiss playlist are pushed up and down in real time through user votes, with the most popular songs going to air.
Audiences can also sign-up to receive alerts indicating…
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HALIFAX – Rogers Media delivered a new source of local news to Haligonians Monday with the launch of HalifaxToday.ca
Journalists from Rogers-owned NEWS 95.7 are providing the local news content on the website, while digital news network Village Media provides the platform to offer HalifaxToday.ca on smartphone, desktop, and tablet. Village Media is also the sole representative for Canadian advertising inventory on the site.
"We're always exploring new ways to reach our local audience, and with Village Media's proven track record in building successful locally-focused digital news sites, this agreement is a…
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