TORONTO – Tony Lacavera found the investors he needed.
Back in June, the chairman and CEO of Wind spent considerable time in public campaigning almost like a politician, singing the growing wireless company’s praises (including at the Canadian Telecom Summit, pictured), noting if he had some finances behind him and if the federal government made a few changes, he just might be able to make a go of being a fourth national wireless company after all.
Since then, Lacavera has been pounding the pavement in search of that capital and today the company…
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MARKHAM – Deals TV is now available to the more than 1.75 million homes served by Rogers Digital Cable on channels 201 and 299 in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, the new channel announced today.
Programming on the new 24/7 teleshopping channel will promote a variety of products, services and ideas to consumers in a wide range of retail sectors including finance, automotive, real estate and travel, according to the press release.
“We’re incredibly excited about the upcoming launch of DealsTV and the opportunity to provide viewers 24/7 access to high quality product and service information,” says Lawrie Yakabuski –…
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GATINEAU – Of all the interveners appearing so far at the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, the CBC’s might be the most contentious – and its executives endured a good grilling by the commissioners Friday morning on the fifth day of the Commission’s TV Policy Review.
The Crown Corp, which has had a rough past 24 months as most know, has come to the CRTC asking for a number of new things, but three aspects are drawing the most attention. It wants: to be able to shut off its transmitters and charge subscription TV providers a wholesale fee; for the Commission…
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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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