TV complaints on the rise
OTTAWA – Canadians had more complaints about their television services than about their telecom and Internet services combined, says the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).
In its mid-year report released Wednesday, CCTS said it accepted 4,562 complaints between August 1, 2015 and January 31, 2016, down slightly from the 5,468 complaints received in the same period a year earlier. While the number of telecom complaints remained steady, CCTS said that it recorded over 4,650 consumer issues related to television services in the first six months of 2015-16, as compared to 7,294 in all of…
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TORONTO – Veteran radio exec Rob Farina is joining Bell Media as a senior advisor in support of the coming launch of iHeartRadio in Canada.
Effective May 1, Farina (pictured) will assist with the development, launch, and overall execution for the Canadian brand extension of the digital service. He will focus on iHeartRadio partnerships with the broadcast and music industry, as well as growing strategic relationships within the automotive and consumer electronics industries, reads Tuesday’s announcement.
Farina was program director for Toronto’s CHUM FM, then programming VP for CHUM Radio, before joining Astral Media as EVP content and platforms. He…
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TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet will get Toronto Blue Jays fans closer to the game than ever before this season, delivering more ways to experience the 2016 regular season across TV, mobile, tablet, computer, and radio.
The channel will also produce and air all 81 home games in 4K, marking the first 4K MLB broadcast, it said in a press release today.
To bring that 4K content to life, Rogers and Sportsnet are launching North America’s first 24/7 dedicated sports feeds featuring 4K content on Friday, April 1 – Sportsnet 4K and Sportsnet ONE 4K.
The following day (April 2), the…
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TORONTO – While season one of Empire aired in simsub on Citytv in 2015, season two of the Fox series, now 10 episodes in, has had no Canadian broadcaster since City dropped it. The show will not be carried by a traditional Canadian TV channel anymore as Rogers and Shaw-owned OTT portal shomi now has the exclusive Canadian rights to the series.
New episodes will be available on shomi within 24 hours of the Fox broadcasts (Wednesdays at 9 p.m.) and shomi will host all prior episodes as well. Last season and the first…
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Commissioner Shoan wanted a hearing
GATINEAU – After the close of trading Wednesday, the CRTC announced it has approved the $2.65 billion purchase of Shaw Media by Corus Entertainment.
In legal/regulatory speak, the Commission approved “an application by Shaw Communications on behalf of Shaw Media and its licensed subsidiaries, to effect a corporate reorganization resulting in the transfer of Shaw Communication Inc.’s shares in Shaw Media Inc. to Corus Entertainment Inc.”
Essentially, the Commission continued to treat Corus and Shaw as it always has since Corus was created in 1999 as a place to house media assets controlled by the Shaw family….
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TORONTO – Rogers is helping Canadian businesses simplify how they will roll out and manage Internet of Things (IoT) solutions globally.
Thanks to a partnership with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), Rogers said Wednesday that Canadian businesses can now use a single SIM, which automatically connects IoT devices to the local provider networks, eliminating the need to substitute local SIMs in each country in addition to reducing roaming costs and go-to-market timelines.
The solution is fully integrated with Rogers' IoT platform, so businesses have insight into all of their connected devices and can manage subscriptions on all of their devices remotely.
“Canadian…
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TORONTO – African Canadians now have a channel of their own thanks to the recent launch of Afroglobal Television.
Licensed in Canada in September 2008, the new channel caters to the fast-growing population of people of African descent, including viewers originally from Africa, the Caribbean and beyond, according to the news release. Programming includes movies from Nigeria’s Nollywood, music, news and current affairs, sports and children’s programs.
Afroglobal Television (AFRO-TV) is available now on Bell Fibe channel 2472, and said that it will launch on Rogers Cable, as well as other platforms in Canada and internationally, shortly.
Silvertrust Media founder Moses Mawa is CEO and executive producer…
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GATINEAU – A Bell Canada application seeking the forbearance of wireless access service (WAS) has support from network partner Telus, saying there are plenty of alternatives. Rogers Communications, on the other hand, opposes it, noting that it’s not as simple as saying there are alternatives, and that therefore WAS can be forborne.
The CRTC has dealt with WAS on two separate occasions, the most recent being its wholesale services decision 2015-326. A 2012 decision also delved into WAS. Both times, the Commission has chosen not to forbear from regulating it and allowed wireless service providers to continue to…
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OTTAWA – Recycle My Cell, Canada's recycling program for mobile devices and accessories, has announced the winners of the sixth annual Recycle My Cell Student Challenge.
Held each year in conjunction with Waste Reduction Week in Canada, the Challenge sees students from kindergarten to post-secondary collecting as many old wireless devices as possible, including cell phones, smartphones, pagers, accessories and cell phone batteries.
Students from 75 schools across the country participated in the 2015 edition of the Challenge, which was held from October 19 to November 18. In total,…
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TORONTO – Well known radio personality Darren B. Lamb has joined the popular morning show on Toronto’s 98.1 CHFI FM.
Lamb (pictured left), joins co-host Erin Davis (right) on a revamped show aptly named Erin and Darren in the Morning. He replaces Davis’ former longtime co-host Mike Cooper who retired in January.
A Manitoba native, Lamb first hit the airwaves while in high school. Soon after, his sense of adventure took him to five provinces and south of the border. After a stint at Vancouver’s Z95.3, he arrived at Bell Media-owned CHUM FM in Toronto in 2003. He left that station’s morning show last…
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