By Linda Stuart
Bell and Rogers announced Tuesday they have signed an agreement to distribute each other’s specialty channels across their respective Bell Fibe TV and Rogers Xfinity platforms.
Under the agreement, Bell is bringing Rogers Sports and Media’s HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, Magnolia Network and Investigation Discovery to its Bell Fibe TV, Fibe TV app and Bell Satellite TV subscribers. Those customers will also continue to have access to Bravo. Bell is currently providing these new channel offerings to customers in free preview as of July 29, it said.
In addition,…
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Rogers and the United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 1944 have resumed negotiations on a new collective agreement for 25 Rogers technicians who are currently on strike in Abbotsford, B.C.
Following accusations by the USW earlier this month that Rogers was refusing to return to the bargaining table, the USW issued a press release Monday saying talks were set to begin again.
A Rogers spokesperson confirmed to Cartt on Wednesday afternoon that the two sides resumed bargaining on Tuesday, with discussions carrying over into Wednesday.
A sticking point for the striking…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers president and CEO Tony Staffieri said Wednesday that the company’s spending on networks is now at risk if the federal government doesn’t rescind a CRTC decision mandating that the three largest telecommunications companies be allowed to ride on the networks of others.
Last month, the CRTC turned away applications, including from Rogers, that asked the regulator to reconsider allowing Rogers, Bell and Telus – the “Big 3” – to use the wholesale internet regime because of the claimed negative impact on investments and on smaller service providers who, they say, will be crushed by…
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By Linda Stuart
Following a Globe and Mail story published July 11 that was further reported on by online publication iPhone in Canada, Rogers has told Cartt that it has made changes to its “vendor mix” when it comes to outsourcing some of its customer service roles to third-party companies.
Rogers provided a statement July 17 to Cartt in response to questions about the Globe report that Rogers had ended its contract with Foundever, a Luxembourg-headquartered company that had reportedly been providing Canada-based customer service personnel for Rogers until recently.
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Rogers last week filed with the CRTC proposed new tariff pages for new internet service speeds it is introducing to retail customers while also proposing to destandardize a number of service speeds that it no longer offers to new retail users.
The cable giant’s tariff change request is being made in accordance with the CRTC’s speed match rules whereby a provider introducing new service speed packages to retail customers must make those same speeds available to third-party providers or wholesale customers.
Rogers said in its Tariff Notice 86 (dated July 15 and posted on the…
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By Linda Stuart
Rogers announced Tuesday the launch of a beta trial of Rogers Satellite, a new satellite-to-mobile text messaging service that all Canadians can participate in at no cost.
“With Rogers Satellite, Rogers now covers over 5.4 million square kilometers — that’s over 2.5 times more than any other Canadian wireless service provider,” reads a Rogers press release.
Starting July 15, all Canadians on any mobile carrier can sign up for the Rogers Satellite beta trial for free. Participants must have a compatible smartphone and unlimited messaging plan….
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal has set a date for a hearing into whether the CRTC erred in freezing Rogers’s ability to move and remove certain Corus channels.
The court will hear the case on September 23 at 9:30 am in a special sitting in Toronto, according to an order dated Friday.
Rogers filed the original application against two confidential November decisions of the CRTC that froze its ability to remove or relocate three Corus channels: Slice, Home Network, and Flavour Network.
Rogers has argued that the Broadcasting Act’s standstill rule – which requires the two companies…
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Rogers announced last week it has launched new Roam Like Home Travel Passes that allow customers travelling internationally to roam worry-free for 14 or 30 days at a time, “for one all-in price”, it says.
Customers can pick a travel pass based on where they’re going and for how long, with tailored options for the U.S., Mexico and the Caribbean, or Europe, or the Roam Like Home International Pass with up to 185 destinations.
“Our travel passes are great for trips with multiple stops — travellers can hop between different destinations…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A landowner is asking a British Columbia court to scrap a right-of-way that gives Rogers the authority to build a 115-foot cell tower because it says the term “telecommunications facility” in the contract it inherited is vague and provides no certainty as to the size of the tower Rogers intended to build.
In September 2024, Surrey-based glazing and aluminum company Alummen Holdings Inc. (dba Vision West Aluminum) purchased from CPO Enterprises Ltd. the property located in the Gloucester Industrial Park in Langley. With the purchase came a statutory right-of-way (SROW) registered to the title of the property that…
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The United Steelworkers union (USW) is alleging Rogers is refusing to return to the bargaining table with striking workers in Abbotsford, B.C., and is instead bringing in managers from Alberta and other parts of British Columbia to do the work of unionized employees on strike.
The 25 technicians who are members of USW Local 1944 have been on strike since June 19, after negotiations with Rogers failed to deliver a contract that ensured equal pay for the Abbotsford workers when compared to their counterparts in Vancouver and Surrey, the USW says. The Abbotsford…
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