GATINEAU – The place, and prominence, of American specialty networks in Canadian television programming packages may soon be changing as the CRTC grapples with the part that U.S. discretionary services play in our rapidly changing broadcast environment.
When the Commission launched the third phase of Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians last April, it also proposed a potential new approach to licensing foreign services for carriage in Canada. That proposal suggested a simple test: a non-Canadian service would be authorized for carriage and distribution unless it would have “an undue negative impact” on the Canadian TV system. Services that…
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MONTREAL – Viewers Choice, the 23-year-old pay-per-view service owned by Bell and Rogers and carried on cable providers in eastern Canada, is winding up operations and will shut down on September 30, Cartt.ca has learned.
Sources at two distributors said that Bell Media, which holds a majority stake in Viewers Choice, recently sent out notifications of the closure to those offering the service. Those companies include Rogers, Videotron, Cogeco, Eastlink, Bell Aliant, Source Cable and select other smaller providers.
Viewers Choice was set up in 1991 as a partnership between Astral Bellevue Communications Inc. (50.1 per cent), Rogers Pay Per…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – The Canadian Premium Audience Exchange (CPAX) is re-launching and is adding three new partners.
Quebecor Media, Channel Zero and Reader's Digest have joined existing partners CBC/Radio-Canada, Rogers Media, Shaw Communications, Corus Entertainment, Cineplex, V and Télé-Québec. The bilingual real-time bidding exchange service allows each media company to maintain their unique, direct sales operations with a portion of their inventory flowing directly into CPAX for bidding by private access buyers. Inventory is pooled amongst the companies' digital assets, enabling buyers to bid specifically on inventory targeted to their demographic, and agency partners have first access to bid on the inventory.
According…
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MONTREAL – Entrepreneur and seasoned telecommunications professional Shawne MacDonald has joined Incospec Communications as account executive, sales and business development.
MacDonald (pictured) has over 25 years of hands-on and management experience in technical services. In 2009 he founded and launched SMD Technical Solutions Inc., a company focused on providing technical services to the telecommunications industry, including Rogers Communications, Northwestel and VANOC/2010 Olympic Games. Previous to that, he held management positions with Shaw Communications in Whistler and Whistler Cable, and was a senior technician with UMG Telecommunications in Brockville, and Kincardine Cable TV.
In his new role, MacDonald will be responsible for…
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GATINEAU – Among the 2,704 official filings to the CRTC for its Let’s Talk TV formal policy review coming in September is an 11-page warning from over-the-top video behemoth Netflix which said, essentially: Don’t slap any new regs on us, thanks.
While the CBC, Canadian Media Producers Association and others want the CRTC to tap Netflix’s Canadian revenue for contributions to Canadian content, the U.S.-based online video provider says the Commission has no right, and besides, it already has a ton of Canadian content, produces some things here and is merely complementary to the regulated system.
The CBC, however, says it’s…
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GATINEAU – The press release headlines sound pretty good, but it’s in the conditions, the details, where all this talk of consumer choice and flexibility gets bogged down.
The three largest Canadian vertically integrated media and carriage companies (Bell, Shaw and Rogers) each issued press releases Friday – the day their submissions to the CRTC on its TV Policy Review were due – saying, and we’re paraphrasing here: “boy oh boy, are we consumer friendly and choice leaders!” The big three each said they support more pick and pay, or a-la-carte channel selection, so that Canadians…
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MONTREAL and TORONTO – Broadcasting and distribution behemoths Bell, Rogers and Shaw said Friday in press releases that they are advocates for more flexible packaging and channel selection options for Canadian consumers. The comments come as part of their respective submissions to the CRTC's Let's Talk TV consultation, (which Cartt.ca will be breaking down in a series of stories over the coming weeks, beginning Thursday).
Bell said that BDUs should have “continued flexibility” to include discretionary Canadian services in basic packages and offer a range of TV packaging options, while also having the ability to make all Canadian discretionary…
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TORONTO – With the 2014 CFL season set to kick off Thursday, TSN is offering fans new digital content to help round out its television coverage.
The new TSN Fantasy Football: CFL Edition lets fans build their own fantasy roster each week to score points and win prizes, while the enhanced TSN Game Tracker: Canadian Football Edition offers a “companion experience” to the games by offering instant highlights, real-time access to in-depth stats, and detailed game and player analytics.
In addition, TSN subscribers can both live stream and watch all CFL games on demand using TSN Go. To date,…
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TORONTO – Rogers unveiled the first 200 games of its 350 NHL game schedule Sunday, slated to air across CBC, City, Sportsnet (East, Ontario, West, and Pacific), Sportsnet One, Sportsnet 360 and FX Canada.
The action kicks off Wednesday, October 8 with an all-Canadian double-header featuring Toronto vs. Montreal and Vancouver vs. Calgary on Sportsnet, and Rogers said that it will announce its remaining national and regional broadcast schedules in the coming weeks.
In addition to regular season games, Rogers has exclusive Canadian broadcast coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Stanley Cup Final, NHL All-Star Game, NHL Draft Lottery, NHL Draft, and the…
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MARKHAM, ON – Retired Rogers radio executive John Hinnen will receive the 2014 Hall of Fame Award from the Ontario Association of Broadcasters at the organization’s fall conference in October.
The OAB Hall of Fame Award honours private broadcasters who have devoted a substantial part of their career to the Canadian broadcasting industry and demonstrated a commitment to the highest standards of broadcast excellence and community service in their role.
Hinnen and his family emigrated from the Netherlands in 1960, arriving in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax. As he learned English, Hinnen developed a love for the power of the…
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