By Connie Thiessen
A round of restructuring is underway at Rogers Sports & Media, spanning multiple markets.
More than two dozen staff are impacted across the company’s radio and podcasting divisions, including managerial and administrative positions at some stations.
Among the markets impacted is Vancouver where JACK FM National Music Curator Terry Chan has been released after almost 35 years with the company. Additionally holding the title of Assistant Content Director at JACK 96.9 (CJAX-FM) Vancouver, Chan first joined Rogers in 1990 as an announcer, Music Director and Assistant Program Director at KISS 97.
Alex Carr has also been released by SONIC 104.9 (CKKS-FM) Vancouver. One of the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TekSavvy is the latest telecom to submit a review-and-vary application since cabinet’s recommendation to revisit a part of the CRTC’s decision on the wholesale internet framework, with the independent last week asking for clarity on access to new fibre builds inside the telcos’ footprint as well as when wholesalers will be able to access the cable companies’ last-mile fibre builds on an aggregated basis.
The CRTC made two exemptions in its August decision: that Bell and Telus will be shielded from the aggregated last-mile fibre regime for five years to allow them to recoup their…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is asking the CRTC to consider banning itself, Bell and Telus from accessing tariffed aggregated wholesale internet for both last-mile fibre and hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) technologies.
The cable giant is also asking the commission to include a five-year moratorium on competitor access to new speeds produced by investments in cable networks and/or implement a speed cap of 1.5 Gbps on an aggregated wholesale basis (bundled middle- and last-mile).
Applying none of these suggestions would leave cable carriers shouldering the burden of the wholesale regime again, which is offside of the direction from cabinet which calls for equitable application…
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Applicants claim regulatory asymmetry between wireless and wireline policies
By Ahmad Hathout
A consortium of competitors is asking the CRTC to consider banning Rogers, Bell and Telus from accessing the wholesale internet regime regardless of technology and geography.
The regulator announced last week it is launching a public consultation, at the behest of the federal cabinet, to review whether the Big 3 should be banned from accessing at least the last-mile fibre regime – which includes the middle- and last-mile facilities of Bell and Telus in Quebec and Ontario. The concern is that smaller players would not be able…
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Rogers last week launched Rogers Xfinity, bringing a suite of Comcast technologies to its customers as part of a 10-year partnership with the American cable giant.
Comcast’s next-generation EntertainmentOS simplifies the viewing experience by bringing live sports, entertainment and news, on-demand and streaming apps into one platform, “so customers spend more time watching and less time searching with the award-winning voice remote and integrated interface,” a Rogers press release from April said.
The Xfinity ecosystem includes other technologies, such as next-generation internet gateway technology that allows for higher speeds, better reliability with “Storm-Ready WiFi” technology meant to allow…
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Telco phasing out prepaid plans on Bell brand by year-end
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell executives said Thursday that approximately 106,000 subscribers are affected by a ruling by the CRTC this summer that prohibits Bell customers from using the wholesale internet regime in its operating territory.
The regulator said in the August decision that large players and their affiliates cannot lease internet capacity from others in areas where they have their own networks. To avoid service disruptions, existing customers on the third-party internet access (TPIA) regime will be able to continue to receive service but they cannot change speed plans…
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Company not happy with claims it’s the aggressor on price
By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor executives said Thursday that aggressive competitor pricing on wireline and wireless and its own immobility on price adjustments have put unnecessary pressure on its revenues in the third quarter, saying they will have to make an annual increase come December.
In response to a question about lower cable revenues despite customer gains in the third quarter, Chief Financial Officer Hugues Simard said the company is “not pleased.”
“Most of the explanation, actually, for the lower revenues has to do with us not making an annual increase for internet and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
On federal cabinet urging, the CRTC is “working quickly” to launch a public consultation on whether Rogers, Bell and Telus should be banned from using the aggregated last-mile fibre regime in Ontario and Quebec, the regulator said in a statement to Cartt, a move that is being welcomed by competitors.
The minister of Industry, Francois Philippe-Champagne, made the recommendation to the CRTC on Wednesday. It was a partial win for Bell, which requested in its February petition for the cabinet to rescind or vary the regulator’s decision last year that mandated competitor access to its bundled middle- and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking Canada’s major telecommunications service providers to explain how their employees are informing customers about the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), after the regulatory said it found an unsatisfactory number of survey participants even knew it existed.
The regulator commissioned a survey by Nanos Research, which found only 2 per cent of participants who had an unresolved complaint were made aware of the organization by their service provider. The research was delivered in March.
“This finding is supported by consumer feedback data in the CCTS’s annual reports from 2015 to 2023, which shows…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers filed a confidential application in May requesting the CRTC lift a standstill and allow it to remove several undisclosed Corus specialty channels primarily related to children’s programming from its television rotation due to underperformance, according to court documents on which Cartt can now report.
The documents in the Ontario Superior Court show that the CRTC had previously ordered a standstill in September 2023, indicating a carriage dispute between the two, and then reaffirmed it on May 30 and August 5, 2024. That means Rogers must continue carrying the channels until either the issue is resolved by the…
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