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Search Results for: rogers

Radio / Television News September 25, 2024 1 year ago

Anthem Sports & Entertainment to acquire Hollywood Suite

By Connie Thiessen Anthem Sports & Entertainment has reached an agreement to acquire Hollywood Suite, the owner and operator of four linear TV channels and accompanying digital on-demand service, pending CRTC approval. Launched in 2011, Hollywood Suite is the largest pure-play movie service in Canada, with its film-focused 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s channels available in over 10 million homes via Rogers, Bell, Telus, Amazon Prime Video, Cogeco, Eastlink, and Freedom Mobile, among other cable providers. Anthem – which has offices and studios in Toronto, Los Angeles, Denver, Nashville, New York, and Cleveland – says Hollywood Suite’s ability to satisfy both traditional linear viewers and on-demand focused digital… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News September 18, 2024 1 year ago

Conservative MP sponsoring petition to recover tax dollars spent on ‘Russians at War’ doc

By Ahmad Hathout A Conservative member of Parliament is expected to carry a petition, opened for signatures Tuesday, that asks the federal government to recover all taxpayer money that went into the production of the documentary “Russians at War.” The petition, sponsored by Manitoba MP James Bezan and opening to 331 signatures so far, additionally asks that the government request that Canadian law enforcement agencies, including the RCMP and CSIS, investigate “potentially violations of Canadian, Ukrainian, or international law” by the lead filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, who is Russian-Canadian; to work with the RCMP to “seize all materials collected and filmed as… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News September 18, 2024 1 year ago

Corus unveils new lifestyle channel branding

By Connie Thiessen Corus Entertainment has unveiled the branding for its two new lifestyle networks set to launch in Canada at the end of the year. Flavour Network and Home Network will both launch Dec. 30, with more than 460 hours of lifestyle content. Corus says the channels will feature a mix of Canadian original programming, as well as international acquisitions through new and expanded license deals. The channel unveilings come following Corus’ loss of the Canadian broadcast rights to Food Network Canada and HGTV Canada, among other Warner Bros. Discovery content, in a coup by Rogers Sports & Media to scoop brand and content licensing rights from both Corus and Bell. Flavour Network… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News September 18, 2024 1 year ago

Rogers to buy out Bell’s ownership stake in MLSE

Bell secures access to Raptors and regional Leafs games By Connie Thiessen and Ahmad Hathout Rogers Communications has signed an agreement to buy Bell’s 37.5 per cent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) for $4.7 billion, making it a majority owner in the Toronto sports empire. MLSE owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, Toronto Argonauts, Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League, the NBA G League Raptors 905, MLS Next Pro team TFC II, and the Raptors Uprising Gaming Club, which is the Toronto Raptors esports franchise in the NBA 2K League. MLSE also owns and… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News September 16, 2024 1 year ago

Rogers says Corus’s Disney-themed channels not comparable to Disney+

By Ahmad Hathout Corus has failed to show that any of its Disney-themed channels are comparable to Disney+ programming, making its undue preference complaint against Rogers unfounded, the cable giant said in response to the media company’s Part 1 application. Corus filed the complaint last month alleging Rogers is giving itself an undue preference by trying to lure people to its Disney+ offerings – which Rogers provides in subscription and ad-supported formats – by manipulating how it positions those services to Corus’s Disney-theme specialty channels on the Ignite TV service, an aggregation platform. That manipulation allegedly includes the… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News September 13, 2024 1 year ago

SaskTel alleges CRTC made wholesale decision based on contradictory cabinet direction

By Ahmad Hathout Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. has fired Thursday the first challenge to the CRTC’s decision to force it to open its last-mile fibre facilities to its major competitors, alleging the regulator relied in its decision on a cabinet direction that was already beyond the jurisdiction of the Governor in Council. “The CRTC, by adhering to the cabinet direction, conducted a lengthy consultative exercise, with input from a broad spectrum of industry participants and interested parties, including SaskTel, in service of making a determination that was, in effect, already made,” the Crown corporation says in its memorandum to the Federal… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News September 12, 2024 1 year ago

DOC condemns TVO’s withdrawal of support for ‘Russians at War’

By Connie Thiessen The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) says it is profoundly alarmed by a decision by TVO’s Board of Directors to withdraw support for the documentary “Russians at War.” Currently set to make its North America debut at TIFF, following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, the Canadian-French co-production, was developed through a multi-year collaborative effort involving the filmmakers, led by Russian-Canadian Anastasia Trofimova, TVO’s Documentary team, and B.C.’s Knowledge Network. The film also received $340,000 from the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and funding from the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund and Rogers Documentary Fund.
Working alongside award-winning editor Roland Schlimme, Trofimova’s first-person doc sees her join Russian soldiers in Ukraine as… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News September 10, 2024 1 year ago

News groups urge CRTC not to redirect pledged Google money into public participation fund

By Ahmad Hathout Organizations representing news media and their workers are warning the CRTC not to redirect any of the $100 million they were earmarked by Google toward public interest participation in CRTC proceedings related to news linking matters. The Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF), which bankrolls public interest participation in CRTC proceedings, filed a Part 1 application this summer requesting that the commission expand its mandate to include matters pertaining to large technology platforms that must pay to link to Canadian news content under the Online News Act. Google has already agreed to put an annual inflation-indexed $100… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News September 6, 2024 1 year ago

Appeal court grants Rogers hearing in MVNO arbitration decision

By Ahmad Hathout The Federal Court of Appeal has granted Rogers’s application to challenge the CRTC’s decision to pick, in final offer arbitration, Quebecor’s offer to ride on the cable giant’s mobile wireless network. The appeal court released its decision on August 16, almost exactly a year after Rogers filed an appeal disputing the July 2023 decision on the basis of an alleged lack of transparency by which the CRTC decided to select the Montreal-based company’s rate to lease wireless capacity. Rogers has always claimed that the rate selected by the CRTC is “materially lower than… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News September 4, 2024 1 year ago

Rogers refiles request for interim speed-matching exemption on new gigabit services

Rogers has submitted to the CRTC a restated application for an immediate temporary stay of the speed-matching requirement for its new retail gigabit internet services. The amended application dated Aug. 23 was posted to the commission’s website on Aug. 29. The changes to the cable giant’s initial application asking for an interim speed-matching exemption reflect the CRTC’s Aug. 13 decision to expand the last-mile fibre regime nationwide, Rogers explained in its new application. The regulator had informed Rogers via an Aug. 6 letter that it would not consider the company’s request for an expedited… Continue Reading
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