OTTAWA – In the third quarter of 2013, Canada’s publicly traded television service providers combined to add subscription TV customers, thanks to the record growth of IPTV, reversing a trend of cumulative losses in each of the previous three quarters.
New research from Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services shows that the publicly traded TV service providers (cable satellite and telcoTV) added an estimated 14,145 TV subscribers combined in Q3 in what is traditionally a strong quarter for TV subscriber growth – and all of it was a result of record IPTV subscriber…
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DARTMOUTH, NS – Newcap has received CRC approval to sell CHFT-FM in Fort McMurray, AB to Harvard Broadcasting Inc.
This transaction, reported by Cartt.ca last July, is expected to be completed within the next 30 days. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fort McMurray’s radio market includes competitor Rogers, which owns Country 93.3 FM and Rock 97.9 FM. CHFT-FM, which operates as K-Rock 100.5 in Fort McMurray, will join Harvard’s Mix 103.7 FM station in that market.
"This was a unique situation in a market where two stand-alone stations, Newcap's…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – Rogers and Bell were quick to respond to those impacted by Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded.
Rogers will donate $50,000 and Bell will offer $100,000 to the Canadian Red Cross to help with relief efforts.
All mobile phone users in Canada can help by donating $5 by texting REDCROSS or ROUGE to shortcode 30333. The Canadian Government will match individual Canadian donations made from November 8 through December 9 to registered Canadian charities supporting relief efforts in the region.
Donations can also be made online at www.redcross.ca,…
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OTTAWA – Industry Canada made public the list of fully qualified bidders on Friday and little has changed.
Three applicants who entered the auction process, Birch Hill Equity, Vecima Networks and a numbered Alberta company headed by CCI Wireless CEO Amir Bigloo have withdrawn, leaving a dozen others, all well-known telecom industry players still in the game.
They are: Bell Mobility, Bragg Communications (Eastlink), Feenix Wireless (Mobilicity founder John Bitove is leading this one), Globalive Wireless (whose CEO, Tony Lacavera, runs Wind), MTS, Novus Wireless, Rogers Communications, SaskTel, TBayTel, Telus, The Catalyst Capital Group (one of the original Mobilicity financiers), and…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has parted ways with its senior vice president, corporate and regulatory affairs, Jean Brazeau.
While a company spokesperson confirmed Brazeau is no longer with Shaw, the reasons for his departure are not known at this time. He had worked at Shaw since 2006.
Prior to joining Shaw, Brazeau was SVP regulatory at Call-Net and then at Rogers after the company’s acquisition of Call-Net in 2005. He has also worked at Bell Canada, the Competition Bureau and at Cable & Wireless.
Shaw has listed the job opening, a plum one in the media regulatory space,…
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TORONTO – Rogers is readying its new mobile wallet just in time for the holiday shopping frenzy.
The company said Thursday that its suretap wallet, the first mobile wallet from a carrier in Canada, will be available for download in the coming weeks. Available on select NFC-enabled Android and BlackBerry smartphones, suretap wallet will offer a co-branded virtual Rogers Prepaid MasterCard and gift cards from select national retailers as the first cards available for download.
The suretap wallet promises to deliver a secure mobile payment experience, safely storing payment card information and passcodes on the secure SIM card in select NFC-enabled…
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TORONTO – While radio continues to be a success story in Canada as a strong, vibrant, local media source, “there is always a ‘but’,” Ontario regional commissioner Raj Shoan told delegates to the Ontario Association of Broadcasters Connection conference in Toronto on Thursday.
“Radio does not automatically get to hold its position in the audio marketplace. Other contenders are coming to town,” he cautioned. While streaming radio has not made a big impact here yet with only 13% of Canadians saying they do that, according to Shoan, services like Songza and Rdio (and although he didn’t say it, Canada’s own…
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada is moving its Broadcaster Forum to a larger venue to accommodate larger than expected registration demands by members.
Scheduled for November 20 from 12:30 PM – 5:00 PM, the event will now take place in the Frontenac Room at the Westin Harbour Castle, just down the road from its previous location at Corus Quay in Toronto. CTAM will re-open registration for the event later this week.
The afternoon will consist of three panels, two of which will be moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien. Senior executives from major broadcasting…
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OTTAWA and HALIFAX – Rogers Media has added more sports programming to its news talk stations in Ottawa and Halifax in an effort to “bring new energy” to the airwaves.
Starting Wednesday, both stations began airing Sportsnet 590 The Fan radio shows Hockey Central and Prime Time Sports. Ottawa station 1310News also added Tim and Sid to its weekday afternoon schedule.
Rogers Media told staff in an internal memo that the move was “necessary to meet the demands of evolving audience needs and to keep us viable in the local Ottawa and Halifax markets”. The…
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OTTAWA – Wireless services once again topped the list of complaints made to Canada's Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) for the fifth straight year, according to its 2012-2013 Annual Report ‘When You Need Help’ released Wednesday.
The CCTS handled 14,036 customer complaints in 2012-2013, well up from 10,678 in the previous year, which is not surprising as more and more Canadians ditch feature phones for rich smartphones. Wireless services complaints comprised 60.4% of all complaints, followed by 19.5% for Internet access, 16.4% for local telephone service and 3.7% for long distance.
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