Netflix, et al, changing the market
GATINEAU – The tipping point is coming.
That was part of the message delivered to the CRTC by Bell Media during its appearance before the CRTC for the company’s group license renewal. Thanks to new content buyers with global reach and enormous purchasing power, securing the rights to foreign content for Canada is getting ever-more expensive.
“Last May, we were in Los Angeles buying our foreign television content,” said Bell Media president Mary Ann Turcke to the commission panel. “There were three shows that we were bidding on and Netflix was the competitor – a competitor…
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TORONTO and STOCKHOLM – TV Everywhere solutions provider Accedo and Toronto-based TV apps developer Digiflare are merging in a move designed to create a stronger global company.
Accedo co-founder Michael Lantz will be CEO of the merged company, which will remain under the Accedo brand, while co-founder Fredrik Andersson and Digiflare founders David George and Mano Kulasingam will all take on senior leadership positions within the merged organization.
Both companies have worked together in Canada on projects like shomi and are currently working with Rogers, among other initiatives.
“Accedo and Digiflare share the same vision for our industry and a similar…
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GATINEAU – The long-anticipated expansion of Amazon Prime Video into Canada could happen as early as December 1.
At least Mary Ann Turcke, Bell Media president, believes it, having told the CRTC as much on Tuesday during the company’s license renewal hearing.
"Now, a new global OTT competitor – Amazon Prime – is entering the Canadian market in two days. So it's not just our fellow Canadian broadcasters who will try to outbid us for first run, original programming, but it's Netflix and now Amazon, two entities that are not subject to the same regulatory requirements as us and that have…
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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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