TORONTO – Finally putting an end to months of speculation over plans to launch a Canadian subscription video-on-demand service, Rogers Media and joint-venture partner Shaw Media announced the highly anticipated SVoD service, dubbed shomi, in Toronto on Tuesday.
Cartt.ca broke the story in January that Rogers was working on an over-the-top video portal, but despite being continually pressed on the subject, until today, Rogers execs wouldn’t comment publically on the service other than Rogers CEO Guy Laurence’s recent cryptic allusion to the “Loch Ness Monster”.
And Cartt.ca doesn’t want to take it personally that Rogers and Shaw decided to officially…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Asian Television Network International (ATN) launched five new channels on Rogers Cable on Tuesday.
The channels, which are also available on Bell Fibe TV in Ontario and Quebec, include general interest service ATN-DD India, comedy channel ATN-Dhammal, Bollywood Movie channel UTV Movies International, Urdu food and lifestyle channel ARY Zauk, and Urdu 24 hour news channel ARY News.
"We are excited to bring these 5 channels to our huge subscriber base on Rogers Cable" said ATN president and CEO Dr. Shan Chandrasekar, in the news release. "I am sure our subscribers will enjoy a variety of programming available on these…
Continue Reading
MISSISSAUGA – The SCTE Ontario Chapter is seeking papers for presentations at its Fall Meeting and Vendor Show which will take place on October 21, 2014.
The theme of this year’s show is ‘Emerging MSO Technologies and Troubleshooting Techniques’ and the organization has requested papers that address emerging MSO network/in-home technologies, deployment architectures/practices, and troubleshooting techniques.
Proposed topic and presentations abstracts must be submitted to scte-ontario@rogers.com before 5:00 pm ET on September 8. Speakers will be contacted and finalized by September 19.
The show will once again be held at the Mississauga Grand Banquet and Convention Centre in Mississauga, and registration…
Continue Reading
TORONTO and CALGARY – Canada’s new subscription video-on-demand service showmi is coming to tablets, mobile, online, and Xbox 360 in early November for $8.99 per month.
The joint venture, owned equally by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, will launch in beta first to Rogers and Shaw Internet or TV customers. The service is being officially unveiled Tuesday in Toronto, and Cartt.ca will be there.
Featuring more than 11,000 hours of prior seasons of TV series like Modern Family, Sons of Anarchy, Sleepy Hollow, Shameless, 2 Broke Girls, Vikings, New Girl, 24: Live Another Day, Chicago Fire, The Strain, and American Horror Story, the service will…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers and Shaw are set to reveal their new over-the-top video portal, known as Showmi, at an event Tuesday morning in Toronto. According to our sources, the service could be ready to launch as early as November (but announcing it officially now, just prior to the CRTC television policy hearing, is no mistake).
As Cartt.ca was first report early this year, the service was conceived as the Canadian answer to Netflix or Hulu, a one-stop online space where TV and film content whose Canadian rights – owned by Rogers Media, Shaw Media, Bell Media and Cineplex – would…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – A group of Canadian television viewers and consumer-oriented organizations says that it’s time for the CRTC to change the way it regulates the broadcasting system; this time, by putting Canadians, and not a specific industry, front and centre.
“The broadcasting system – and its business and regulation – must move back towards one that serves Canadians,” reads an intervention by the Groups for the Public Interest to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV Conversation with Canadians.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Consumers’ Association of Canada, Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of British Columbia, National Pensioners Federation, Option consommateurs and Canadian…
Continue Reading
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
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
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
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
