GATINEAU – The demise of Shomi has raised a number of questions regarding the future of domestic streaming services in the face of competition from global competitors such as Netflix, including some from CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais today. But for Rogers Media, it means that partnering with global giants might be the best approach going forward.
Rick Brace, president at Rogers Media, noted during the company’s appearance before the CRTC’s major English language broadcasters licence renewal hearing, that while shomi was a response to Netflix, it quickly became apparent that the cost to acquire programming was escalating quickly and the…
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OTTAWA – The Wireless Code plus customer service improvements by the country’s wireless and Internet providers helped to cut telecom service complaints for a third straight year, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) said Thursday in its annual report.
The report, Guidance In A Sea Of Change, showed that the CCTS received 8,197 customer complaints in 2015-16, down 18% from 9,988 in 2014-15, and that it increased its resolution rate two points to 89%. Wireless services complaints once again topped the list with 50.3% of all complaints, followed by 26.5% for Internet, 19.6% for local telephone service and 3.6%…
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Also offers up new best practices: PIAC says not far enough
GATINEAU – While noting Canadian subscription TV carriers are operating within the rules, the CRTC made the unprecedented decision to renew the large carriers' broadcast distribution undertaking licenses for just a single year, as opposed to the usual seven-year term.
To the CRTC, this continues its efforts to put consumers at the centre of the Canadian broadcasting system. In the November 21 decision, the Regulator offered what it sees as the best practices that broadcast distributors should undertake to ensure that Canadians are aware of small basic packages, their limits and offers related to them.
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TORONTO – The Shopping Channel personality Richard Nester will retire from his hosting duties on December 16 after 21 years at the Rogers-owned station.
A Niagara, ON native, Nester (pictured) joined the company in 1995, and is known for his charismatic quick-wit and infectious energy while introducing customers to the latest and greatest TSC products.
While host Sean Keane will take over Nester’s hours on TSC, Nester said that he will remain with the company on a yet unnamed new project.
“Having only joined TSC in August, my time with Richard has unfortunately been brief, but the impact he has made on the company,…
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TORONTO – Bryan Segal has been named managing director for Videology’s Canadian business, succeeding Ryan Ladisa who is leaving the company after a transitional period to pursue outside interests.
Segal (pictured) brings over 20 years of business development, operational acumen, and client relationship expertise to the role. He was most recently CEO of Engagement Labs, but spent the majority of his digital media career at comScore where as vice-president, he helped clients such as Bell Media, Rogers, Corus, Yellow Pages Group, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, GroupM, Publicis Groupe, Interpublic Group and Omnicom Media to develop data-based solutions to solve their business challenges…
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Minister Bains wouldn’t say, except perhaps between the lines
OTTAWA – It’s been nearly seven months since Bell Canada announced an agreement to buy Manitoba Telecom Services for $3.9 billion and still there has been no official word from the federal government on what it thinks of the deal.
The Competition Bureau is the primary regulator Bell has to satisfy with this purchase, but since the Bureau doesn’t do public hearings the way the CRTC does, we really don’t know what it is telling BCE officials about the deal, or the questions it has, but the six-plus…
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AFTER HIS SPEECH TO IIC Canada Wednesday afternoon in Ottawa, we sat down with CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais for a quick chat about his talk – and a few other things.
What follows is an edited transcript, lightly edited for clarity
Greg O’Brien: That was an aggressive speech, from my point of view. Was that a goodbye?
Jean-Pierre Blais: No, I don’t think it’s a goodbye. I said what we would be doing and I was taking stock of where we were at, four years later.
GOB: Are you looking to be renewed (as CRTC chairman)?
JPB: That’s not my…
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CRTC chair looks back, and ahead, and finds industry is lagging
OTTAWA – “We as a nation have to stop spinning our wheels on legacy issues and embrace where we’re heading,” CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said Wednesday in a strongly worded speech to delegates at the International Institute of Communications Canadian chapter conference.
“We have to get ahead of the curve. I repeat, we have to get ahead of the curve,” he said in a 30-minute address that was, more or less, a self-assessment on his nearly four-and-a-half years at the helm of the Commission. Blais said at this same conference four…
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PHOENIX – Legendary Canadian cable pioneer Israel “Sruki” Switzer died at his home in Phoenix late Wednesday afternoon of a heart attack. He was 87.
Switzer, while perhaps not as well known as some other pioneers, had his fingerprints all over the development of cable and telecom networks built across this country and around the world. Respected as a visionary among those whom he helped build these networks, as well as something of a maverick (and a speech he made in 2010 certainly confirms that), Switzer also earned some fame as the…
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TORONTO – Rogers and Ericsson are partnering on a “Connected Water” initiative that will use Internet of Things technology to support the City of Ottawa’s water quality testing program.
The first of its kind in Canada, the pilot will use a combination of IoT, cloud and LTE mobile broadband technologies to gather real-time data that City staff can use to better predict, prevent and respond to potential issues related to water quality.
Sensors, capable of collecting data over a widespread area of the City's watershed system, will perform automated tests every 30 minutes. City employees will use this data to validate the…
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