GATINEAU – The non-vertically integrated cablecos, Cogeco and members of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) entered the Let’s Talk TV policy hearing discussion fray on Thursday with both arguing the Commission must ensure they can acquire programming rights at reasonable costs without onerous terms.
Keith Stevens, chair of the board at CCSA member Execulink Telecom, noted during the CCSA’s opening remarks that the recent affiliation agreement with Bell Media is a prime example of the harm small cable TV providers face when dealing with VI providers. Under this deal, Execulink was required to maintain packaging requirements as they were…
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MARKHAM, ON – CRTC Ontario Commissioner Raj Shoan will address Ontario Association of Broadcasters members and take part in a town hall at the organization's annual general meeting next month.
The AGM will be held just prior to the organization’s fall conference, Connection 2014, at 8:00 AM on October 30 at the Marriott Toronto Airport Hotel in Toronto. Commissioner Shoan will address the membership during the AGM.
He will also participate in the Executive Industry Town Hall later that day and discuss the hot issues, challenges and opportunities affecting broadcasting today and tomorrow. Other confirmed panelists include Erica Farber, CEO, Radio Advertising Bureau (U.S.); Geoff…
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GATINEAU – The funding of big budget Canadian programming as well as the role of the U.S. TV channels in the broadcasting system were put under the microscope during the fourth day of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV policy hearing.
Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Cogeco Cable warned of significant negative consequences to the Canadian system if the commission removed US 4+1s (CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX + PBS) from basic cable packages. The CRTC’s proposal was certainly a bone of contention for Rogers with the company saying it would face the wrath of subscribers if these channels were removed from…
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GATINEAU – The biggest stir on the third day of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV policy hearing centered on the possible inclusion of revenue earned from broadcasters’ online activities when calculating Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) Bell Canada arguing that it’s illogical, odd and added insult to injury.
“Working document item 10 concerns us greatly,” said Mirko Bibic, Bell’s executive VP and chief legal and regulatory officer, adding that the proposal on the table “would treat Canadian licensees in that space differently than the Netflixes of the world.”
That bit of the CRTC’s discussion document says: “The definition…
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TORONTO – Despite their continued discounted pricing, Canada’s new wireless entrants are expected to own only 5.8% of the wireless market (or 1.64 million Canadian wireless subscribers) by the end of 2014, the same percentage as they did at year end 2013, according to a new report from Convergence Consulting.
Canadian Wireless: Assessing the Impact of New Entrants, September 2014 says that Wind Mobile and Mobilicity can in some cases undercut incumbents Rogers, Bell and Telus and their discount brands on voice and on combined voice/data packages by more than 60%. Though in some cases, especially against Videotron,…
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TORONTO – Rogers is embarking on a cross country celebration of “The Game”, unveiling the inaugural Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour that is scheduled to touch down in 25 hockey hotbeds between and Burnaby, BC and St. John’s, NL.
Each week during the 2014/15 NHL season, the Rogers Hometown Hockey Tour will roll into a different community with a weekend of free outdoor hockey festivities for all ages, from interactive games to meet and greets with NHL Alumni. The weekend’s events will culminate in an outdoor viewing party of an NHL game broadcast every Sunday, hosted by hockey guru Ron MacLean live onsite…
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TORONTO – The CEOs of BCE and Rogers say they are more than happy to offer access to their upcoming online subscription video-on-demand services to other TV providers, and at least one of those other providers is eager to sign up.
At the annual BMO Media and Telecom investors’ conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Rogers CEO Guy Laurence said Shomi, a joint project with Shaw that is set to launch in November, was to have other partners (as Cartt.ca first reported earlier this year). But they decided to launch without them because they “couldn’t get their…
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TORONTO – Bell Media continued its programming spending spree, announcing an agreement with HBO for all Canadian multi-platform rights to HBO's complete off-air catalogue of television programming.
The agreement is separate and distinct from its earlier announcement that HBO Canada has secured the entire past-season library of every HBO series currently on air.
In this agreement, Bell Media has exclusively acquired all national multi-platform rights, including SVOD, for the entire off-air library of HBO's programming catalogue. The deal encompasses more than 850 hours of past scripted programming, as well as hundreds of hours of HBO movies, documentaries, and stand-up and music…
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SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT. Especially if I’m quoting Macbeth.
We have analyzed the hell out of the CRTC’s TV Policy Review which is set to begin Monday in Gatineau, but there’s something ungraspable about the whole thing. Is there too much on the table? Probably. Is the Regulator looking to solve problems it has no chance of fixing – or trying to solve some where none exist? Yes, and yes, certainly.
This is a hearing about all things English Television, or English language video. Yes I know it’s supposed to be about all things television in Canada, but let’s be honest here;…
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TORONTO – Rogers is making good on its promise to change the way that Canadians watch hockey, announcing a new mobile app for computers, phones and tablets that will allow fans to live stream over 1,000 regular season games and the NHL playoffs.
Rogers NHL GameCentre LIVE, scheduled to debut in October, will serve up the English and French online streaming rights to a range of national games, including Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday, Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey, and Hometown Hockey on Sundays, as well as 800 classic games from the NHL Vault dating back to 1960. In addition,…
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