TORONTO – Rogers Radio and Shazam today announced today an exclusive partnership that the companies say will bring the best of traditional radio and digital music content together.
Said to be a Canadian first, the partnership includes a local daily countdown show, “The Shazam @ 7 Countdown,” beginning Monday (August 29) at 7 p.m. local time on KiSS 92.5 in Toronto, 91.7 THE BOUNCE in Edmonton, and KiSS RADiO in Vancouver. Using unique, targeted data to feature different playlists in each market, the show highlights the top seven songs of the day, comprised of recently Shazam’d tracks and…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC shouldn’t bow to pressure from the vertically integrated (VI) entities and loosen any regulatory measures on their activities, according to comments from the non-VI broadcast distributors.
In comments to the licence renewals of the large English and French-language ownership groups (for which a public hearing is coming in November), the non-VI BDUs tell the Commission that in fact it needs to strengthen regulations ensuring the VI companies (Rogers, Bell and Quebecor) don’t exhibit any anti-consumer and anti-competitive behaviour.
Telus says the Commission has rules to ensure carriage contracts for TV channels are done on…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers' and Shaw's streaming service shomi celebrated the first anniversary of its national debut on August 20 by releasing a series of fun facts, but still no subscriber numbers.
One year after launching direct-to-consumers, the TV and movie streamer boasts 118 exclusive series, more than 143 million total video plays, and said that February 15, (which was Family Day in AB, SK, and ON), was its top viewing holiday, followed by Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Other highlights include:
– Peak consumption hours are 9:00 PM – 11:00 PM;
– Top 3 most popular genres are Comedy, Kids & Family,…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers launched three new TV programming packages this week that include an extra “bonus” specialty channel that customers may swap out each month.
The ‘Select’ package is priced at $49.99 per month for 113 channels, which includes those from its basic ‘Starter’ pack plus TSN, Sportsnet, Treehouse and W Network. The ‘Popular’ package, priced at $74.99 per month, offers 143 channels including those from ‘Select’ in addition to more sports and children’s channels, while ‘Premier’ offers 183 channels, including those from ‘Popular’, plus more movie and lifestyle services, for $99.99 per month.
All of the packages also offer the option to select…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Bell Media’s Discovery is gearing up for its first-ever nationwide free preview this fall which will include the debut of Frontier, its first original Canadian scripted drama.
Set against the raw backdrop of 1700s Canada, Frontier (pictured) stars Jason Momoa in a thrilling action-adventure series that revolves around warring factions vying for control of the fur trade in a ruthless game of wealth and power. The series will debut on November 6. Other programming highlights include the return of Canada’s Worst Driver and the premier of new original Canadian series Tougher Than It Looks? on October 24.
Discovery’s free preview…
Continue Reading
Thoughts on why Canadian prices are so high
THE CRTC'S RECENT REPORT on Canadian telecom prices (prepared by Nordicity) shows that we pay some of the highest rates in the world.
According to the National Post:
“Canada won gold for the most expensive low-end wireless telephone service and landed silver for premium mobile phone services that include more minutes and data, according to the ninth-annual international telecom price comparison study commissioned by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
It also landed in the Top Three for the most expensive broadband Internet, bundled services and mobile data, which…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Bell Canada informed its customers last month that it is dropping a number of TV channels from its lineup.
While everyone is dropping ichannel because the parent company, Stornoway Communications, shut it down August 15, some of Bell’s other channel cuts are somewhat surprising.
As of September 1st, Bell is dropping Gusto and on September 27th it has told customers it will remove The Shopping Channel, CNBC, MSNBC, Nickelodeon and Sundance. (See screen cap of the note to customers below. Click it to enlarge.)
The Shopping Channel is a Rogers Media retail channel while American news channels MSNBC and…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Bell flanker brand Virgin Mobile Canada is now offering home Internet service to its Ontario customers.
On Tuesday, the company launched two plans – 300 GB for $50 per month or unlimited for $65 per month. Both plans have no activation fee or long term contract, and require one of Virgin’s modems, which the company says provides Wi-Fi with download speeds of up to 25 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 10 Mbps.
Potential customers must fall within Virgin's coverage map in the province.
The move follows Rogers' flanker brand Fido, which launched home Internet…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – A Quebec Court of Appeal ruling could result in a class-action lawsuit over excessive international roaming fees charged by the country’s biggest wireless providers.
According to a Globe and Mail report, Rogers, Bell and Telus could be on the hook for millions of dollars for allegedly charging high international data roaming fees to Quebec customers that used their smartphones in the U.S. and other international destinations after January 8, 2010.
The potential lawsuit stems from a complaint made by a Rogers’ Fido customer in Montreal who was billed $250.81 in extra charges for using 40.82 megabytes of data…
Continue Reading
Shaw write-down, content pauses, fuel talk of new, or no, partnership
IN JULY, SHAW COMMUNICATIONS wrote down the value of its 50% stake in the shomi streaming service to nil. That move, plus the fact shomi emerged from spring’s annual Los Angeles TV screenings with no new content purchases, has led many in the industry to wonder aloud about the future of the Rogers-Shaw joint venture.
At the time of the write-down, Shaw CFO Vito Culmone told analysts the $51 million accounting charge taken after it had sold its traditional media assets to Corus Entertainment did not "say anything more about…
Continue Reading
