Search Results for: rogers

Radio / Television News

Ziniak departs OMNI TV after more than 30 years

TORONTO – OMNI Television’s Madeline Ziniak is stepping down from her role as national vice president this fall, wrapping up her 34-year career at Rogers and OMNI Television. She will officially depart the role in October but will stay on to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities, the company said Wednesday.  Ziniak, pictured, will pursue new opportunities in the ethnic media community and remain as the chair of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA), as a founding member of the Strategic Alliance of Broadcasters for Aboriginal Reflection (SABAR), on the Ryerson Radio and Television Arts advisory board, and as a… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Vertical integration strategies could hinge on CRTC’s examination of wireless TV offerings

TORONTO – Bell, Rogers and Videotron have some explaining to do over the way that they charge customers for live and on-demand television programming on mobile applications. According to a Globe and Mail report, the CRTC has asked the three big providers a series of questions about their respective apps, such as how many subscribers the services have, how much data they tend to use, and how exactly the content is delivered. The report raises the issue of net neutrality, noting that the apps allow viewers to use their smartphone or tablet to watch up to 10 hours per month of… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Sports networks gear up for NHL coverage

TORONTO – There’s still more than a month to go before the puck drops on the 2014-2015 NHL season, but the sports networks were buzzing this week about the plethora of games that they’ll offer fans. Courtesy of its mammoth $5.2 billion deal with the NHL, Rogers will deliver 350 national regular season NHL games across nine networks, including CBC, City, Sportsnet (East, Ontario, West, and Pacific), Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360 and FX Canada (the first 200 of which were announced in June).  In addition, the company locked up exclusive Canadian broadcast coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stanley Cup… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

ANALYSIS: Rogers-led over-the-top video service Showmi, much weaker than hoped, to launch in November; Bell to launch its own portal in January

HOPES WERE HIGH EARLIER this year when word leaked out that an ambitious over-the-top video partnership aimed at taking on Netflix in Canada (dubbed “Showmi”) was soon to launch. Cartt.ca was the first to report on it and we have been following it through the year. The service was to be a one-stop online space where TV and film content whose Canadian rights – owned by Rogers Media, Shaw Media, Bell Media and Cineplex – would be stacked and available to Canadians for binge watching anywhere, anytime and… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Investigates, Radio / Television News

LET’S TALK TV: Rogers and Corus want to overhaul Terms of Trade with producers

GATINEAU – Rogers Communications and Corus Entertainment have told the CRTC that it must reconsider the usefulness of Terms of Trade (ToT) agreement between broadcasters and independent producers in creating independent Canadian programming. On the other hand, the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) argues that in a new broadcast environment with greater pick and pay options ToT will become increasingly important. In their respective interventions to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV Conversation with Canadians, Rogers and Corus claim that ToT (a deal hard-fought for by the CMPA and others which was developed and demanded over a number of years) is… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Investigates, Radio / Television News

LET’S TALK TV: Not all VI companies think alike: Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Quebecor show Commission similarities, stark differences (Corrected Version)

JUST BECAUSE BELL Canada, Quebecor Media, Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications are all broadcasters, specialty service operators, TV distributors, phone companies and broadband providers doesn’t mean they think alike. They do, however, agree on this generation’s “Death Star”. We’re looking at you, Netflix. In their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, the four big vertically integrated behemoths are on board together with certain things, such as maintaining simultaneous substitution (which is actually something virtually every industry submission we’ve read demands be kept), decreasing the amount of Canadian content which must be shown, while spending more money on fewer big… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

TSN’s new national feeds to debut August 25

TORONTO – TSN will flip the switch on its three new national feeds on August 25, opening day of the U.S. Open, and take the opportunity to deliver expanded live coverage of the final tennis Grand Slam of the season. TSN said Monday that its feeds, branded TSN1, TSN2, TSN3, TSN4, and TSN5, will initially be available to customers of Bell Fibe TV and Bell Satellite, Cogeco Cable, Eastlink, FibreOp TV (Bell Aliant), MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct, Source Cable, and Telus Optik TV.    The additional feeds will allow the sports network to show more live game coverage,… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Entwistle reminds feds that facilities-based competition remains the best way to go; says Telus could stop fibre builds

VANCOUVER – For a guy who has supposedly moved to the boardroom from the CEO’s chair, Darren Entwistle still did a lot of talking during the Telus Q2 conference call with financial analysts. The Telus executive chairman primarily spoke to a pair of important regulatory files which have the potential to dent the big wireless and wireline carrier’s performance (along with Rogers and Bell, for that matter): wholesale wireless roaming rates, and wholesale wireline broadband access. Entwistle hammered home his point that facilities-based competition (where operators are required or incented to build… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Telus leads wireless growth again

VANCOUVER – Thanks largely to being the growth leader in Canadian wireless, Telus saw operating revenue growth of 4.4% in the second quarter of 2014 to $2.95 billion, while EBITDA increased 7.5% to $1.07 billion, compared to the same time frame in 2013. Net income increased by 33% to $381 million. Consolidated revenue growth was generated by both wireless and wireline operations, with wireless revenue up 6.2% and wireline revenue up 2.4% from a year ago, reads the company’s press release. In wireless, revenue was primarily driven by continued subscriber growth and higher data usage as a result of continued… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Investigates, Radio / Television News

LET’S TALK TV: Does the industry fear what the set-top box data might say?

GATINEAU – Despite the fact cable and other TV carriers in many countries are compiling and using data gleaned from customer set top boxes to modify their programming and advertising, Canadian companies seem loathe to do the same or are apathetic about moving quickly to gather that real-time information, according to their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, slated to get under way a month from tomorrow. The Commission asked nine different questions about establishing a set-top box (STB) audience measurement system in Canada, covering issues from consumer privacy to costs and governance. With a few exceptions (especially from… Continue Reading