NETWORK EXPANSION NEWS
Launches this week:
Rogers-MTS agreement allows Rogers LTE Max expansion in Manitoba
TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced Thursday it will bring Rogers LTE Max to customers in Manitoba through a province-wide network sharing agreement with MTS Inc.
Starting Monday, Rogers will roll out LTE Max, an LTE network deployment that enables speeds of up to 150 Mbps, to customers in Winnipeg, Brandon, Victoria Beach, and Grand Beach. Rogers will continue to expand LTE Max coverage to additional markets in 2013, including Portage la Prairie, Selkirk, Steinbach, and Ste. Anne, with plans…
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite the launches of dozens of TV Everywhere offerings in recent years in the U.S. and Canada, few consumers appear to know about these offerings yet.
In the latest study conducted by Parks Associates, just 26% of U.S. consumers said they knew that their pay TV provider offered multi-screen video service. Although this figure is up from 18% a year earlier, almost three-quarters of consumers are still not aware that they can access video content on multiple devices.
Brett Sappington, director of research for Parks Associates, blamed the low consumer awareness mainly on a lack of marketing by…
Continue Reading
BANFF – Industry reps from the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Media Production Association presented highlights to attendees at the Banff World Media Festival being held this week on a new national promotion strategy and new branding to promote Canadian content.
CMF president and CEO Valerie Creighton, Telefilm Canada executive director Carolle Brabant, and CMPA president and CEO Michael Hennessy are part of a working group focussing on increasing awareness and interest in Canadian content and on developing partnerships with various industry leaders. The project, initially dubbed “Watch Canada,” evolved from a symposium…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Shaw Communications now has 100% ownership of specialty channel TVtropolis after the CRTC approved its application in a decision Tuesday to acquire Rogers’ 33% interest in the Category A service for a reported $59 million.
The acquisition of Rogers’ remaining interest in TVtropolis is part of a number of transactions between Shaw and Rogers announced in January. At that time Rogers said it would acquire Shaw’s cable system in Hamilton, Ont. and secure an option to purchase Shaw’s Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum holdings in 2014. Rogers said it would also enter into…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Spectrum hoarders need to “use it, lose it, or pay” was the message from wireless broadband services providers who spoke Wednesday afternoon during the closing session of the 2013 Canadian Telecom Summit.
“Our challenge is there are people out there who hoard spectrum and don’t make it readily available for people who need it,” said Michael Stephens, vice-president of marketing for TeraGo Networks, a provider of business broadband and cellular backhaul services during the panel discussion about the next generation of wireless.
Stephens said TeraGo would like to see the enforcement of spectrum implementation. “As long as people are…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Canadians have taken up the habit of binge-viewing multiple sessions of their favourite TV episodes like a duck takes to water, according to the findings of the latest Rogers Innovation Report, released Monday.
The report found eight out of 10 Canadians have watched three or more TV episodes or two or more movies back-to-back this year, and would willingly sacrifice some of their sleep to spend a few more minutes watching TV. The longest consecutive viewing session averages more than five hours on a weekday and almost seven hours on a weekend. “Canadians have…
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Eager to prove to the cable industry it means business, LG Electronics made a splashy debut at the Cable Show here Monday with a wide array of new set-top boxes and smart TV applications.
LG’s portfolio of new products includes IP set-tops, an MPEG-4 QAM set-top, small TV dongles, and an Ultra HD gateway server. In addition, the company is running several demonstrations featuring the integration of its smart TVs with cable-specific applications. The Korean CE manufacturer’s massive presence at the show – including its designation as the show's "official smart TV partner" – indicates just how much…
Continue Reading
EDMONTON and BEVERLY HILLS – Super Channel announced today it has expanded its exclusive licensing and programming distribution deal with Starz Worldwide Distribution.
The agreement makes Super Channel the exclusive English pay television home in Canada for several Starz original series including David S. Goyer’s Da Vinci’s Demons, and the second season of Magic City, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Olga Kurylenko, and James Caan. Each program will have a Canadian premiere on June 14, 2013 during a special two-hour programming block at 9pm ET.
Other TV series as part of the agreement include the widely…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The idea of “TV anywhere” has not yet been realized in Canada, but it’s what consumers will demand very soon, according to industry experts who spoke during a special panel titled “The Revolution of TV: Content Anywhere and Anyhow” at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday afternoon.
“There are a lot of indications that we’re about to go through a major change,” said David Purdy, senior vice-president of content for Rogers Communications. “Today, we’re in the middle of a revolution, but it’s nascent.”
The panel discussion’s moderator, Peter Miller, chair of Interactive Ontario, quoted some statistics from CBC’s Spring…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Wind Mobile CEO Tony Lacavera told folks at the Canadian Telecom Summit this week that sure, with the federal government denying the bid from Telus to take over Mobilicity he’d be interested in talking about buying the struggling wireless firm, but there was another thing he said that caught our attention.
Namely, while Lacavera said thank you to the federal government for its announcements on spectrum transfers Tuesday, he also had some advice for the feds as well: Lift all foreign ownership restrictions in telecom, then let Bell and Telus merge and go international.
“We…
Continue Reading
