TORONTO — The race to deliver live 4K sports events to TV customers in Canada heated up significantly in the last week, with Rogers slightly ahead of Bell at achieving major firsts in the industry.
Thanks to an agreement with BT Sport in the UK, Rogers Sportsnet broadcast the National Basketball Association’s first-ever live NBA game in 4K, when the Toronto Raptors played against the Orlando Magic at The O2 Arena in London, England on January 14. That was six days before Bell’s TSN network is scheduled to broadcast its first NBA game in 4K (a.k.a. Ultra HD), when the…
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GATINEAU – Four and a half months after Vidéotron announced it would exempt certain music streaming services from its wireless data caps, prompting two complaints to the CRTC mere days later, telecom companies, consumer rights groups and others are still debating the interpretation of the Telecommunications Act, Internet traffic management policy and the wording of a recent CRTC decision.
The Unlimited Music offer applies to higher-end data plans offered by Vidéotron Mobile. It exempts a list of music streaming services, including Songza, Spotify, Google Play Music and Stingray Music, from…
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TORONTO — Although the proposed sale of Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment was top of mind for financial analysts Thursday afternoon, Wind Mobile and FreeRange TV was a big deal, too
Calling the Shaw Media sale to Corus “a significant milestone for both companies,” Jay Mehr, EVP and COO of Shaw Communications, said during the Q1 conference call with financial analysts that the transaction along with Shaw’s acquisition of Wind will position Shaw “as a leading pure-play connectivity company with a strong growth profile.” The Wind wireless business complements Shaw’s existing Business Network Services and Business Infrastructure Services segments, Mehr…
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TORONTO – Police in Ontario will have to be careful when they ask a judge to order cellular carriers to hand over data records of phones that use particular cell towers in the province, a judge has ruled.
Law enforcement agencies want such data, including personal information on subscribers, to track the movement of suspects and who they are contacting.
But Justice John Sproat of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice ruled Thursday that a 2014 order by a justice of the peace telling Rogers Communications and Telus Corp. to turn over records for all phones activated, transmitting and receiving data through…
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TORONTO – Canada’s sports networks are tipping off their 4K productions with live coverage of Toronto Raptors broadcasts.
As Cartt.ca readers know, 4K is billed as intensifying the live sports viewing experience with enhanced motion detail, increased screen pixel counts, and greater brightness range.
Rogers-owned Sportsnet is airing the Toronto Raptors versus the Orlando Magic on January 14 at 3:00 PM ET, live from The O2 Arena in London, England. Rogers cable customers can tune their NextBox 4K set top box to channel 999 to get the game, and Sportsnet will also air the game in HD on Sportsnet East, Ontario,…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco and subsidiary Cogeco Cable held their annual general meetings in Montreal on Wednesday, preceded by a conference call with analysts and a meeting with journalists. Here’s what we heard.
Wireless
“It’s been 10 years that you’ve asked me that question,” Cogeco CEO Louis Audet told journalists, and he had it again in the investor conference call. But the logic hasn’t changed, even as Shaw’s acquisition of Wind Mobile makes Cogeco the largest Canadian cable or telecom provider without a wireless service.
“Our perception since the beginning is that if we enter this industry it has…
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Terms of Trade even more essential
TORONTO – The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) is today calling for a formal review of the need for enhanced Terms of Trade between broadcasters and producers in light of Corus Entertainment’s proposed acquisition of Shaw Media.
“This acquisition has troubling implications for the independent production sector,” said Reynolds Mastin, president and CEO of the CMPA, in the organization’s press release. “If approved, it will lead to even greater consolidation of control in an already exceptionally consolidated broadcasting industry. It will mean that two players – the merged Corus/Shaw and Bell Media – would control…
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Shaw to use cash to fund Wind buy; Corus scales up for pick and pay
TORONTO – While many often assumed the opposite would happen, Corus Entertainment and Shaw Communications this morning announced the former would buy the latter’s media properties for $2.65 billion.
The two companies have been planning the transaction for a while. “For a few months now, we’ve been hard at it,” Corus CEO Doug Murphy told Cartt.ca Wednesday in an interview. “Many felt it might go the other way, but the industrial logic, if you would, of bringing these two businesses together make a lot of sense…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has found that Rogers Media’s decision to cancel local third-language newscasts on its OMNI stations does not constitute a breach of its conditions of licence, and subsequently turned down requests by Urban Alliance on Race Relations and Unifor Local 723M seeking an expedited public hearing on the matter.
The Commission said Tuesday that it will instead review the OMNI stations’ ongoing performance and requirements, including their obligations regarding the provision of local third-language programming, as part of the upcoming hearing that will form part of the licence renewal process scheduled to begin later this year.
“This will…
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TORONTO – The Ontario Superior Court in Brampton is expected to issue a ruling this week that could have far reaching effects on cellphone privacy.
According to a report in the Globe and Mail, Justice John Sproat heard arguments from Rogers and Telus last summer pertaining to “tower dump” production orders issued by Peel Regional Police asking the two companies to provide communication records related to 21 cellular towers or sites. That would have required the telcos to disclose the personal information of about 40,000 customers.
Police use such orders as a technique to get all call-detail records from specific…
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