TORONTO – Viceland is readying its first scripted comedy, Nirvanna the Band the Show, which will debut February 2 at 10:00 PM ET/PT on Rogers’ Viceland and City.
The eight-part, half-hour comedy, adapted from the web series by the same name, features Canadians Matt Johnson (The Dirties, Operation Avalanche) and Jay McCarrol as a hapless, two-piece Toronto “band” who will do anything to play a show at The Rivioli. Each episode follows Matt and Jay as they cook up yet another hair-brained scheme to get on stage – that inevitably goes wildly awry. (Catch the series’ trailer here).
Nirvanna the…
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TORONTO – Rogers’ decision to pull the plug on its own IPTV product pushed it in to the red with a $9 million loss for its fourth quarter.
On Thursday, Rogers posted a $484-million charge related to discontinuing its IPTV product when it opted to go with Comcast’s X1 platform instead. Adjusted net income increased 15% to $382 million this quarter from $331 million in the same period last year, as a result of higher adjusted operating profit, lower depreciation and amortization, and lower finance costs, partially offset by higher income tax expense.
Consolidated revenue for the period ended December 31,…
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TORONTO – Former Rogers exec Ken Engelhart has joined consulting firm StrategyCorp as a senior advisor.
Engelhart (pictured) spent 25 years at Rogers Communications, most recently as SVP of Rogers’ regulatory affairs team. Prior to that, he was general counsel and director of regulatory affairs to the Canadian Business Telecommunications Alliance, and is also a past board member and chair of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.
In addition to maintaining a private practice, Engelhart is also an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School where he teaches Communications Law.
“There are few in Ken’s field that can match his deep experience within…
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GATINEAU – Canada’s cable companies say now is the time to wrest control of the 911 emergency system away from the incumbent telcos and hand it over to a new consortium charged with implementing next-generation emergency services.
Just as the telecom market has evolved from a monopoly environment to one based on competitive dynamics, so too should NG911.
While the cable operators believe the telcos have done a good job of running the existing 911 system over the last four decades, the CRTC shouldn’t simply renew their mandate to oversee a new NG911 system. As Shaw Communications noted in its…
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OTTAWA – Five of Canada’s biggest TV service providers and two set-top box manufacturers have signed a voluntary agreement to improve the energy efficiency of set-top boxes.
According to a Canadian GreenTech report, the agreement was signed by Bell Canada, Cogeco Communications, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, Videotron, ARRIS and EchoStar Technologies.
The Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement for Set-Top Boxes (CEEVA), along with complementary measures such as the Energy Star program, is expected to reduce the total annual energy consumption of Canadian set-top boxes from 3.4 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2016 to 2.7 TWh in 2021. The energy expected to be saved…
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TORONTO – Principal photography of original limited event series Bad Blood has wrapped and the series will make its world-wide debut on City and FX this fall, followed by a Radio-Canada broadcast in French, Rogers Media said.
Inspired by true events, the six-part, 60-minute scripted series follows the life and death of notorious underworld figure Vito Rizzuto. Based on the best-selling book ‘Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto's Last War’, Bad Blood is a story of family, loyalty, deceit, power, greed and ultimately revenge.
The series stars Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace) as Montreal crime boss Vito Rizzuto, Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy)…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. is actively looking at more acquisitions in cable companies in the United States, but has ruled out acquisitions in the data services sector over the next year after a 2016 in which “our results have been disappointing” at subsidiary Peer 1, president Louis Audet said on Thursday at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Montreal.
The company’s year-end financial results were mostly positive, with earnings increasing and a higher dividend to shareholders, both from Cogeco Inc. and subsidiary Cogeco Communications Inc. But a $450-million writedown at Peer 1 technically put the company in the red…
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CALGARY – The demise of streaming service shomi weighed heavily on first quarter profits at Shaw Communications, which saw net income plunge by almost 60%.
For the three month period ended November 30, 2016, Shaw posted net income of $89 million, well below the $218 million reported in Q1 2016, due to a $107 million charge from the wind down of shomi, its joint venture with Rogers Communications. Net income this quarter also reflects a decrease in income from discontinued operations, net of tax, in the amount of $80 million due to the sale of its Corus Media division last…
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X1-powered, voice-controlled
CALGARY – Shaw Communications upped the ante in Canada’s television and broadband market Wednesday, launching a new voice-controlled platform it has dubbed BlueSky TV.
Using Comcast’s X1 platform, Shaw BlueSky TV includes a remote that follows viewers’ voice prompts to access content, whether live, recorded on their DVR, available on-demand or offered through an over-the-top service. Customers may also use the voice remote to search for content by actor, genre, or a famous movie quote, or may ask "what's trending?" to activate its database of popular selections and what's trending on social media.
Comcast's intuitive, user-friendly platform is quickly Continue Reading
TORONTO – An uptick in Sportsnet’s television, radio and digital audiences make 2016 as the best year in the brand's history, Rogers said Friday.
Sportsnet reached 30 million Canadians, with an average weekly reach of 12 million, the company said citing data from Numeris.
Highlights from the year include:
– For the period January 1 to December 31, 2016, Sportsnet networks delivered a 5.7 audience share and an average minute audience of 232,000, marking 10% and 7% increases, respectively, over last year;
– A total of 127 Sportsnet broadcasts surpassed the 1 million viewer mark in 2016, with two surpassing 4 million viewers, and five…
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