TORONTO — Following on its exclusive deal last summer to distribute WWE’s flagship programming in Canada, Rogers announced today it has reached carriage agreements for WWE Network with multiple television providers.
Rogers became the exclusive Canadian distributor of WWE Network through 2024 in a 10-year broadcast and multimedia agreement reached with WWE in August.
In addition to Rogers and Eastlink, the premium WWE Network linear TV channel will soon be available to Cogeco Cable Canada, Shaw and Shaw Direct, Telus Optik TV and Telus Satellite TV, and Vidéotron subscribers. (In a Rogers press release issued today, no word was…
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LAST WEEK WE SPECULATED that the big, vertically integrated Canadian telecom, cable, wireless and media companies could get out of media.
We talked to a few broadcasters who spoke on condition of anonymity who angrily wondered – with the CRTC apparently not listening to their concerns about costs, nor about being able to use their content as a point of differentiation with wireless or broadband customers while also taking simsub away, at least for the Super Bowl – why should carriers continue to own broadcasters?
The answer is cash flow, capex and a lack of available suitors.
Bell…
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OTTAWA — Consumers who want to sign up for CraveTV or shomi without first being Bell or Rogers/Shaw customers could be the potential beneficiaries of applications filed with the CRTC on Friday by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC).
PIAC-CAC submitted two applications to the CRTC, challenging the tied selling of the two online streaming services linked to the consumption of the service providers’ other telecom or broadcasting services.
In the application regarding CraveTV, PIAC-CAC are challenging whether Bell can restrict access to its subscription video-on-demand service to customers who already have a TV…
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OTTAWA — The list of applicants for the upcoming AWS-3 and 2500 MHz wireless spectrum auctions, revealed yesterday by Industry Canada, is comprised mostly of national and regional incumbents, with a couple of smaller players thrown into the mix.
In total, 13 Canadian companies have submitted applications to compete in the AWS-3 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions, expected to begin this spring.
Bell, Rogers, Telus, MTS, Vidéotron, Wind, Eastlink and TBayTel have all applied to take part in both the AWS-3 and 2500 MHz spectrum auctions. Mobilicity and SaskTel plan to bid on AWS-3 spectrum only, while Xplornet, Calgary-based CCI Wireless…
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THERE WAS TOO MUCH symbolism to ignore with the choice of London, Ont., as the place where CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais chose to begin dismantling simultaneous substitution and to shift the ground under Canadian TV companies, forcing the vertically integrated behemoths to ask themselves this question: “Why do we need to own media companies?”
Blais spoke in London a week ago to make three announcements, two of which were decisions from the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV hearing held in September 2014.
London is generally acknowledged as the first city in Canada to get cable over 60 years…
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TORONTO – While the number of Canadians tuning into NHL hockey on television in Canada is down (despite Rogers public complaints about how ratings service Numeris is filling its viewership panels), Rogers Communications’ CEO and CFO say they’re pleased with the overall performance of the first half of the first season of the company’s 12-year, $5.2 billion rights deal.
“Actually, NHL’s doing very well for us, we’re very pleased with the execution of it thus far, and excited as we go through the rest of the reason. In fact, I spent yesterday in a…
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ACCORDING TO A Globe and Mail article published this weekend, “the ratings for NHL games in the first year of the broadcast contract for Rogers continue to slide,” based on information from Numeris, the company that provides all broadcast ratings in Canada. Solution Research Group’s independent tracking research conducted in December 2014 suggests a similar trend line for NHL audiences on TV.
Early that month, we asked a national sample of 1,500 Canadians aged 12 or older whether they followed NHL and a number of other professional leagues – and…
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OTTAWA – The participant list for Industry Canada’s upcoming AWS-3 and 2500 MHz auctions this spring is beginning to take shape. Among those who have confirmed to Cartt.ca that they have submitted applications to participate in the two aforementioned auctions are Rogers Communications and Telus Corp.
SaskTel says it applied for the AWS-3, but noted it is ineligible for the 2500 MHz sale. Bell Canada and Eastlink wouldn’t confirm or deny that they filed applications. Vidéotron and MTS hadn’t replied to Cartt.ca by deadline.
Wind Mobile, which recently completed a restructuring, had previously announced its…
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TORONTO – Rogers is gearing up to deliver live pay-per-view coverage of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup and will extend access to that coverage to Bell, MTS, SaskTel, Shaw/Shaw Direct and Telus subscribers.
The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup kicks off on February 13 at 5:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT with Sri Lanka vs. New Zealand, and continues through to the final match on March 28. Canadian fans without a pay-per-view subscription can catch Pakistan as it meets defending champion India on February 14 at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT on OMNI.2.
As the exclusive national distributor, Rogers will offer all 49 matches…
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TORONTO – Rogers’ fourth quarter profits fell 7% despite gains in its Wireless and Media divisions, the company announced Thursday.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2014, Rogers posted net income of $297 million, down from $320 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, on operating revenue of $3.37 billion, which increased 4% from $3.24 billion year-over-year. Adjusted net income was $355 million which dipped 1% from $357 million last year.
Rogers said that the lift in consolidated revenue reflected 3% revenue growth in Wireless and 20% in Media, flat revenue in Cable, and a decline of 1% in Business Solutions. …
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