GATINEAU – The argument which says the incumbent telcos would simply stop investing in fibre networks if competitors were granted access to them is just not true, according to the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) and Primus Telecommunications Canada.
Chris Tacit, legal counsel to CNOC, told the CRTC on the second day of the hearing that telcos will continue to build because they need to compete with the cable companies (and vice versa, for that matter).
“First of all, they have a natural incentive to build wherever there is a cable carrier because otherwise the cable carrier will eat their lunch,”…
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GATINEAU – While the Competition Bureau argued Monday it’s better not to regulate fibre facilities, others countered that Canada is far too big for facilities based competition and that the Commission should switch its focus to a more service-based approach.
The Competition Bureau kicked off day one of the Commission’s hearing into wholesale fibre access for independent third party broadband providers that it shouldn’t jump the gun on regulating access to wholesale facilities including fibre to the premise (FTTP) networks. The agency said the risks of imposing mandated access to FTTP now may be higher than if the Regulator waited…
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TORONTO – Once viewers are convinced to try the various TV Everywhere platforms being made available by carriers and broadcasters, keeping them engaged with great content and a seamless user experience reduces subscriber churn and leads towards making a profit from the significant investments that broadcasters have made in TVE apps and services.
A panel moderated by Cartt.ca’s Greg O’Brien at the CTAM Canada Broadcaster Forum held Wednesday at Toronto's Sony Centre saw experts from Vidéotron, Corus Entertainment and the CBC offered insight into their organizations’ current TVE services, while TVE platform experts from U.S. technology providers Accedo…
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VANCOUVER – Rogers has committed approximately $4 million to non-profit business incubator Wavefront, Canada's Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, to accelerate the growth of machine-to-machine (M2M), the Internet of Things (IoT) and wireless businesses in Canada.
Over the next five years, Rogers pledged to offer financial resources, technology tools, training and mentorship programs to thousands of technology businesses and entrepreneurs that walk through Wavefront's doors. As part of its commitment, Rogers will sponsor the development of new programs including the Wavefront National Accelerator Program and Commercialization Support Program, as well as hands-on mentorship to M2M businesses looking to…
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TORONTO – The Rogers family has donated $130 million, the largest monetary gift ever made to a Canadian health care initiative, to establish the Ted Rogers Centre for Heart Research.
The donation will be matched with $139 million in additional funds combined from The Hospital for Sick Children, University Health Network and the University of Toronto for a total investment of $269 million.
With facilities in the three participating institutions, the Centre will be the first in the world to bring together research, education and innovation in individualized genomic medicine, stem cell research, bioengineering, and cardiovascular treatment and management under…
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TORONTO – Rogers wants the CRTC to dismiss Bell’s allegations that its new GamePlus online hockey viewing app provides Rogers with an “anticompetitive advantage.”
In a submission Thursday to the Commission, filed in response to Bell’s complaint last month, Rogers described Bell’s application as “nothing more than Bell’s attempt to use the Commission’s regulatory processes to inhibit or hinder our ability to provide Canadian consumers with new and innovative content offerings”.
GameCentre Live is Rogers’ new online platform that allows fans to stream over 1,000 regular season and playoff games online and to whatever device they like for $200 a…
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TORONTO – TV programmers and BDUs should consider their TV Everywhere offerings as a way to retain paid TV subscribers, in the face of increasing consumer use of OTT services and the continuing trend toward channel-trimming and cable-cutting.
That was the consensus among broadcasting industry experts who spoke at CTAM Canada’s 2014 Broadcaster Forum, held on Wednesday at the Sony Centre in downtown Toronto. More than 250 were in attendance.
Gord Hendren, president and CEO of Charlton Strategic Research in Toronto, presented research done earlier this year which indicates the vast majority of paid TV subscribers are very likely…
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GATINEAU – Here we go again.
Several years after the CRTC set the rules for mandated access to essential broadband facilities, the big telecommunications service providers (TSPs) and their smaller competitors who rent space on those TSP networks, will once again take their turns before the Commission beginning Monday to argue about mandated access to incumbent networks, specifically the deep fibre networks built by the large cable and telco incumbents.
As can be expected, the incumbents are going to argue that the retail broadband market is already highly competitive, the result of vigorous battles among facilities-based competitors. Any unwarranted…
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TORONTO – Quebecor Media chief financial officer Jean-Francois Pruneau said Wednesday morning his company would love to be part of a national wireless play, has talked to investors and others about it, but is still awaiting the right conditions.
The big attraction at this point, he told Scotiabank’s telecom and cable investors conference in Toronto, is that the initial network builds have been done. “We don’t have to invest from the ground up, like the new entrants had to do,” he said, meaning any new national wireless company Videotron may be part of, would be “buying this at…
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TORONTO and OAKVILLE – Facing a cloudy future, the public broadcaster is paring back its weather department in favour of a new content sharing agreement with The Weather Network that will see national weather forecasts on select CBC News television properties provided by The Weather Network’s team of meteorologists and on-air personalities.
The agreement, which begins December 8, will see The Weather Network provide weather updates on CBC News Network throughout the day and at the end of The National on CBC-TV and CBC News Network, including expanded weather reports on CBC Toronto on weekends, the two companies announced Monday.
From…
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