TORONTO – The topic of simultaneous substitution always comes up a lot at this time of year, in the same breath as the Super Bowl and its nifty new ads.
While the average Canadian sports fan may be celebrating the CRTC’s decision Thursday to prohibit the controversial requirement in Super Bowl games starting in 2017, Bell Media, the Canadian rightsholder of the big game that airs nationally on its CTV network, told Cartt.ca that it was “extremely disappointed” with the ruling.
“The government is damaging the future of local television in Canada while rewarding U.S. corporations over home-grown companies”, said…
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TORONTO – Netflix subscriptions look to have peaked a little in Canada, while Canadians are taking a peek at shomi, according to new research released today by Toronto’s Solutions Research Group.
As part of its ongoing Digital Life Canada syndicated study, the company found that:
Netflix use is steady at 35% of Canadian online households (see below), which means it’s being used in about 4 million of the 11.5million Internet households in Canada. The penetration number stayed relatively flat through the latter half of 2014.
Netflix continues to garner exceptional satisfaction scores with an impressive 55% of paying subscribers saying it’s ‘excellent’…
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WE HATE THE WORD predictions. Research companies are good at that, but nobody can really predict the future. However, we do like making educated guesses – and now that we’re a month into 2015, we feel we can make some of those with better data than what we could have done before Christmas, when “prediction” articles are so fashionable.
So, here are a few of our prognostications…
Cord cutting will grow. Subscription TV providers used last year’s Deloitte TMT predictions and some middling overall results to show that cord-cutting is not happening – at least not at…
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OTTAWA – The newly launched Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks (CENGN) is taking its show on the road in an effort to build Canada’s leadership in Next Generation Networks.
Starting in Edmonton Tuesday, CENGN kicks off a five-city Canadian roadshow with stops planned in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa to find and support small to medium enterprises (SME) working on Next Generation Networks. These technologies include software defined networks and network functions virtualization that address the growing demand for exploding Internet content on multiple platforms, and also underpin cloud-based applications and the Internet of Things (IoT), connecting and…
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TORONTO – As of yesterday, the Rogers Wireless network is Category 6 LTE enabled, the company announced in an e-mail.
“This means that we’re using carrier aggregation technology to combine 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum so customers can download even faster and enjoy higher quality video experiences on Category 6 enabled mobiles and tablets,” reads the e-mail, which adds Rogers is the first in Canada to do this.
Category 6 download speeds can be up to 300Mbps and the technology was first unveiled at last year’s Mobile World Congress by Qualcomm and Ericsson.
Starting yesterday, Rogers customers in select…
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TORONTO – While there’s no question over-the-top video services such as Netflix have become a “phenomenon” in Canada, the same can’t be said about subscription music streaming services, which have not been taken up to the same degree by consumers.
However, that may be about to change, according to digital media experts who spoke at the Digital Media at the Crossroads conference held on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus on Saturday.
Mark Allen, director of research and analysis for the CBC, outlined some recent trends in digital media in Canada, citing research from Numeris and the CBC’s own Media Technology…
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WHISTLER – John Gossling, executive VP and CFO at Telus told an investors conference last week that high-end smartphones such as the iPhone 6 and others give the company the ability to address any potential downside from the expiry of a large number of contracts in the latter part of this year.
He was referring to the CRTC’s June 2013 decision, outlawing three-year contracts. It came into force on December 3, 2013, which means that all wireless carriers, not just Telus, will have to deal with the ending of both three-year and two-year contracts this year, a number that…
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MONTREAL – With just days to go before Bell Let's Talk Day on January 28, Bell officially kicked off the $1 million annual Bell Let's Talk Community Fund for 2015.
Applications are now being accepted for grants from $5,000 up to $50,000 for community-based mental health initiatives from coast to coast to coast. Applications are open to registered not-for-profit organizations and registered charities to fund localized mental health programs, and the selection process is aided by mental health experts from across Canada.
The 2015 application period is open until March 31, and all 2015 Fund grants will be disbursed before…
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TORONTO – Rogers’ and Shaw’s SVoD service shomi added to its list of exclusive content Thursday after finalizing an agreement with Sony Pictures Television in Canada that includes four Amazon Original Series never-before-seen north of the border.
The agreement includes the Golden Globe-winning series Transparent (pictured) as well as Betas, Alpha House and Mozart in the Jungle. All 10 episodes of Transparent will be available starting Friday, while launch dates for the other three series will be announced in the coming weeks.
"The thing that's most exciting about Amazon Originals is the level of talent their series are attracting," said shomi’s head of content & programming, Marni Shulman, in the news release. "Some real Hollywood heavyweights…
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TORONTO – Controversial radio host Dean Blundell is returning to Toronto airwaves this spring as co-host of a new morning show on Rogers' sports radio station Sportsnet 590 The FAN.
Sportsnet said Tuesday that the new show, Dean Blundell & Co., will debut on March 2 and air weekdays from 5:30 AM to 9:00 AM ET. Blundell, who had his namesake radio show on Corus’ CFNY's 102.1 the Edge cancelled last January, will co-host the new show alongside Andrew Walker. Greg Brady, co-host of the current morning show Brady & Walker, will take over the 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM slot…
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