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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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,…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Communications saw its third quarter profits tumble 53% due to the wind down of its jointly owned shomi streaming service, the company said Monday, releasing its financial report three days earlier than planned.
For the period ended September 30, 2016, net income of $220 million fell from $464 million in the same period last year, while adjusted net income dropped from $472 million to $427 million as a result of higher other investment-related gains incurred in the prior year.
Consolidated revenue increased 3% this quarter to $3.5 billion, largely driven by growth in Wireless service and Media revenue of 6%…
Continue Reading
Shocker after less than three years at the helm
TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced this morning that president and CEO Guy Laurence will step down, effective immediately. No reasons were given for his departure.
It also announced that it is Rogers intention to hire former Telus CEO Joseph Natale as president and CEO as soon as he is in a position to join Rogers. During the interim, board chair Alan Horn will act as president and CEO.
"We have appreciated Guy's leadership over the last three years," said Edward Rogers, deputy chairman, Rogers Communications, in a press release. "He has moved the…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers is offering its new mobile communications system to medium, large and public sector organizations in Canada after first launching to small business customers earlier this year.
Using a web portal, Rogers Unison allows businesses and their employees to make and receive calls on any device and move calls easily from one device to the next, all while keeping their landline numbers. It also promises to cut costs previously spent on desk phones through an as-a-service payment model with no maintenance costs, reads the news release.
"Our medium and large business customers want a solution that offers…
Continue Reading
TORONTO/VANCOUVER – Rogers’ OMNI Television will air 48 regular season NHL games in Punjabi this season with the return of Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition beginning Saturday, October 15.
Host and play-by-play announcer Harnarayan Singh joins analysts Randip Janda, Bhupinder Hundal, and Harpreet Pandher every Saturday night for back-to-back games live from the OMNI Television studios in Vancouver.
The games will air live every Saturday on OMNI 2, OMNI BC, and OMNI Alberta, and online at www.omnitv.ca/hockey. Broadcast details and NHL matchings will be announced weekly on Twitter at @HkyNightPunjabi
“Broadcasting NHL games in Punjabi allows us to deliver…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – When Guy Laurence came to Canada nearly three years ago to take the helm at Rogers Communications, he was not shy about telling people his first goal was to tackle a mountain of customer service problems.
It was a widely acknowledged failing.
Even the fellow who stamped Laurence’s Canadian work visa back then wasn’t shy about telling him “Your service sucks,” the CEO recalled when he met with members of the media last Thursday to launch the company’s new self-service wireless bandwidth management tool.
Laurence set to work when he was…
Continue Reading
