TORONTO – The incoming CEO of Rogers Communications, a former Rogers CEO, and the founder of Wind Mobile in Canada are all now investors in a wireless company looking for growth in Bolivia and New Zealand.
In a press release today, Alignvest Acquisition Corporation (AQX) and Trilogy International Partners LLC have announced a proposed acquisition where the two combine.
Trilogy, based in Bellevue, Washington, was formed in 2005 as a privately held wireless telecommunications operator and provides communications services through its operating subsidiaries, 2degrees and NuevaTel (which operates under the brand Viva), in New Zealand and Bolivia, respectively.
2degrees and NuevaTel provide…
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GATINEAU – Social media giant Facebook took the stand in the CRTC’s differential pricing practices (DPP) hearing on Tuesday and argued that zero-rated services don’t need to be anti-competitive and can be constructed to meet net neutrality rules.
Blair Levin, an advisor to Facebook, said under questioning that zero-rated services such as the company’s Free Basics offering (which has faced scrutiny around the world) don’t run amok of net neutrality because ISPs are prevented from acting as content gatekeepers.
“When companies use their position as the gatekeeper to essentially favour one kind of content or another, then…
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New Toronto pilot program
TORONTO – ABC Life Literacy Canada today announced a new program supporting digital literacy for adult learners from in-need communities.
The pilot program, which begins in November, will feature an introductory series of three-hour facilitated learning sessions. Topics will include why the internet matters, how to use the internet safely, basic skills required, and how to access and grow skills to support things like job search and community engagement.
"We are delighted to be launching this new program to support and inspire 21st century literacy and learning for more Canadians," said Mack Rogers, director, community programs for…
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MARKHAM, ON – The Ontario Association of Broadcasters will present the 2016 Ontario Hall of Fame Award to both Richard Costley-White and Chuck McCoy at the organization’s fall conference.
A Board nominated honour, the OAB's Ontario Hall of Fame is presented to individuals who have spent most of their careers working for private broadcasters and demonstrated a commitment to the highest standards of broadcast excellence.
Before his passing in 2015, Richard Costley-White (pictured left) was chairman and president of Blackburn Radio Inc., a small and mid-market broadcaster with 13 stations serving Southwestern and Midwestern Ontario. He was the 5th generation of the Blackburn…
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TV wins, but 48% use social to engage more deeply
TORONTO – Two-in-three Canadians (66%) followed at least some of the Toronto Blue Jays’ 2016 playoff run according to the Sports Marketing Report, an independent, syndicated audience research survey from Toronto’s Solutions Research Group.
Audience engagement with the Jays playoff run, which included the sudden-death wild card game win over Baltimore, the three-game sweep of Texas and the team’s eventual loss to Cleveland, was very strong. Half of Canadians – 49% – followed the Jays ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ closely, seven points higher than the 42% who said the same thing for…
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TORONTO – Bell Media and Rogers Media-owned Dome Productions has unveiled its latest mobile production unit, a 4K/UHD-capable truck known as Pioneer.
According to a SVG report, Pioneer features a Grass Valley 2M/E K-Frame switcher, EVS EQX routing switcher with 135×112 UHD video capacity, four three-channel EVS UHD LSM XT3 replay servers, ChyronHego HyperX 3.0 graphics engine, and Calrec Artemis Beam digital console with BlueFin2.
Now that Pioneer is on the road as a true standalone 4K production unit, Dome Productions plans to transform its Trillium mobile from a temporary 4K option in two trailers into a permanent 4K solution…
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OTTAWA – CBC’s top executives were asked to defend the public broadcaster’s perceived competition with private media during a hearing of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on Tuesday.
The two-hour hearing, which included about 10 minutes of demonstration of a CBC virtual reality video project, didn’t see any new announcements about what the broadcaster plans to do with the additional $150 million a year it will get in parliamentary appropriations, or the accountability plan it needs to present in exchange, but CEO Hubert Lacroix (pictured above in a Parlvu screen cap) reiterated projects that have…
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NEW YORK – The U.S. appears to be following in Canada’s VI footsteps now that U.S. telecom giant AT&T has officially agreed to acquire Time Warner Inc. for $85.4 billion.
But a Fortune report says that the massive deal “seems like a desperation move by both, an admission that they don’t really know what else to do, except try to get larger and hope everything works out for the best”. Only Comcast in the States has tried something similar with NBCUniversal, although Verizon is also trying to get into more content with the planned purchase of Yahoo!.
“For one thing,…
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But there are drawbacks
CANNES – It's peak TV, silly.
That's the prevailing talk at MIPCOM in Cannes this week as Canadian deal-making is on an upswing, thanks to a still-fast-growing OTT SVOD market with more buying outlets like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. (Speculation is rampant here, too, that Amazon desperately wants to launch Prime Video in Canada before the end of November, when shomi winds down, but has work to do on clearing content here.)
"The deals are changing. There's more buyers and unlimited shelf space available for producers," Michael Hirsh, a co-founder of Nelvana and…
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FROM AN OUTSIDER’S point of view, Guy Laurence was a breath of fresh air for Rogers Communications. From the inside, however, it may have seemed more like a tornado.
Compared to other Canadian CEOs, Laurence was never short on swagger. Engaging, funny, far more open with the media than others, eager to boldly call out competitors if he felt like it, Laurence also showed himself willing to tear apart the company Ted built.
After the retirement of former CEO Nadir Mohamed three years ago, Rogers needed a shakeup. The controlling Rogers family knew it, as did its…
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