Sportsnet can’t get digital rights, doesn’t renew
TORONTO – While we’ve yet to get official confirmation from Amazon, the road seems clear for Canadian Amazon Prime members to be able to watch the NFL’s 10-game Thursday Night Football package online.
As has been widely reported, Amazon has agreed to pay the NFL US$50 million for the rights to stream Thursday Night Football games (which are also available to watch on the NFL Network and CBS).
Last year, Twitter live-streamed the games (paying just US$10 million) but Rogers Media prevented the stream from happening legally in Canada because it…
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VANCOUVER – Rogers today announced it has expanded wireless service by erecting two new towers near Kelowna, B.C.
The towers, near Mount Boucherie and Upper Okanagan Mission, expands the Rogers LTE network to make it easier for Rogers and Fido customers to use maps to navigate the Lakeshore Wine Route, share a photo from the bleachers of Jim Lind Arena, or make a call from West Kelowna City Hall, says the press release.
"We're investing in our wireless network to make sure our customers have access to our world-class LTE service in more places," said Perm Jawanda, vice-president, partner retail…
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TORONTO – Frank Boulben, Rogers Communications’ chief strategy officer, is leaving the company at the end of April.
Boulben was one of the senior executives brought on board by former Rogers CEO Guy Laurence in 2014 when the new chief overhauled the structure and began changing the culture at the big red machine.
Before Rogers, Boulben had been chief marketing officer at Blackberry and prior to that worked with Laurence at Vodafone.
Rogers has now lost three top executives in the months since Laurence was let go with corporate affairs chief Jacob Glick and SVP policy Ken Whyte having already announced…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications senior vice-president, policy, Ken Whyte has resigned.
He announced the move in a tweet Monday morning saying “Many thanks to my friends at rogers for 12 happy, fruitful years. Resigned this morning! What's next??”
Whyte had been policy SVP for nearly three years, having moved into that position from the company’s publishing division. He had been president of Next Issue Canada, president of Rogers Publishing and prior to that, publisher and editor of Maclean’s magazine.
Whyte has been a journalist and author through his career, with noteworthy editor-in-chief roles at The National Post and…
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OTTAWA – Former Rogers exec Jacob Glick is joining the centre for law, technology and society at the University of Ottawa starting April 1st.
Glick (pictured) will be a distinguished executive fellow in residence, conducting research and undertaking collaborative work with Faculty members and researchers. He was Rogers’ chief corporate affairs officer from November 2014 until March 2017 where he was responsible for regulatory affairs, corporate communications, public policy, government relations, and corporate social responsibility.
Prior to Rogers, Glick ran the central public policy and government relations team for Google Inc. and was also general counsel, director of policy development, and corporate…
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TORONTO – Twenty public schools that risked being left out of the Toronto District School Board’s plans to upgrade broadband connectivity are about to get a leap into the gigabit world thanks to a donation from Rogers Communications.
The cableco said Thursday that it has started a three-year pilot project to bring its Ignite Gigabit Internet service to the schools, which are among 32 now serviced only by Bell Canada’s legacy copper-wire ADSL service. That means all they could hope for was around 18 Mbps – good enough for text research but not for some graphic-intensive projects – and when…
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TORONTO – ZoomerMedia's OneTV is getting fit for spring with a fresh tagline and a new original new fitness series.
Anjelica’s Dance Workout, which will debut April 3 and air daily at 8:00 AM ET and 7:00 PM ET, is a new 30-minute exercise show that incorporates Flamenco, Bellydance, Brazilian, Irish, and contemporary world dance into an easy-to-follow and fun cardio routine for all ages, shapes, and sizes. Executive produced by ZoomerMedia founder Moses Znaimer, the show stars Toronto-based dancer, actor and comedienne Anjelica Scannura (pictured below). Click here for a promo.
While OneTV’s genre remains the same, the new…
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TORONTO – Rogers EnRoute, the company’s customer service tool which allows subscribers to use their smartphone to track exactly when a technician will arrive for an installation or service call, is now available across the entire Rogers Cable footprint, the company announced Monday.
The tool, launched late last year in Hamilton, sends a unique URL to the customer by email or text once an appointment has been booked, and then on the day of the appointment, a reminder notification is sent, along with an updated ETA. Once the technician is on the way, customers may receive…
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TORONTO – As Canada’s boys of summer prepare to take the field, Rogers’ Sportsnet will once again offer extensive Toronto Blue Jays coverage on TV, radio and digitally.
All 162 Blue Jays games will be available on Sportsnet, Sportsnet Now and the Sportsnet Radio Network. Sportsnet will also produce and air all of the team’s 81 home games in 4K.
The 2017 Blue Jays campaign gets underway on Monday, April 3 with the season opener against the Baltimore Orioles at 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT.
Click here for the full release.
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OTTAWA – While some might say that a review of the Broadcasting Act and Telecom Act has more or less already begun with Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s “everything is on the table” consultations on Canadian Content in a Digital World, the federal government’s 2017 budget, released Wednesday, confirmed that a more formal review will begin this year.
While Minister Joly and the federal government have not given any formal indications on where her consultation will lead when it comes to new law or policies (so far, just a detailed summary of her cross-country consultations has been released), the budget…
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