TORONTO – Astral’s The Movie Network announced a partnership Tuesday with three integration service providers to provide television distributors easier access to provide its The Movie Network GO, TMN’s video-streaming, service to subscribers.
Astral is offering the centralized TV everywhere integration option in conjunction with Great Lakes Data Systems (GLDS), watchTVeverywhere (WTVE) and Synacor, which allows television distributors to partner with an intermediary service that handles the back-office integration, including billing systems assimilation, authentication and entitlement services. The company says the service is aimed at smaller, independent distributors who may not have the ability to invest…
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TORONTO – Cell tower sharing remains a white hot topic for wireless competitors and the issue raised its head Tuesday morning during the Canadian Telecom Summit’s annual regulatory blockbuster panel, moderated again this year by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien.
Although mandated tower sharing was included in the 2008 AWS spectrum auction rules – as it will be for next year’s 700MHz spectrum auction – the problems for new wireless entrants are the growing costs to share tower space and that access rules are not adhered to by the three incumbents, said Ed Antecol, vice-president of regulatory affairs and…
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TORONTO – Rogers-owned Citytv unveiled its plans to keep building its viewership in the 25-to-54 demographic with the addition of 16 new series, seven original Canadian series and the Grammys awards broadcast to its fall and mid-season schedule.
The new schedule, announced by Rogers president of broadcast Scott Moore during Rogers Media’s ‘upfront’ presentation Tuesday in Toronto, includes eight new comedies, six new dramas, two new reality series, as well as a roster of returning series.
Comedy shows continue to figure prominently in City’s programming mix, with five of the network’s shows among the top…
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TORONTO – Rogers announced today its recently acquired station The Score will be rebranded as Sportsnet 360, providing breaking news, scores, stats, highlights, analysis and live events.
Targeted to the hard core sports fans, Sportsnet 360 will launch on July 1 with a new logo, sets, animation package, and enhanced ticker that combines the look and feel of Sportsnet with familiar elements of The Score brand.
Rogers president of broadcast Scott Moore announced the launch today as…
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OTTAWA – The federal government said Tuesday that Telus can not buy Mobilicity right now and also pushed out the date of the auction of 700 MHz wireless spectrum to January of 2014.
Mobilicity’s network is built with AWS spectrum that was set aside for new competitors in 2008 and part of the rules of that set aside meant the spectrum could not be transferred to an incumbent for five years, a period which does not expire until February 2014. "Our government has been clear that spectrum set aside for new entrants was not intended to…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC’s new Wireless Code issued today allows consumers to cancel their mobile wireless contracts after two years even if they have signed on for a longer term, and also places caps on data overage and roaming charges.
The code, which will apply to new wireless contracts beginning December 2, 2013, requires wireless service providers to cap data overage charges at $50 and national and international roaming charges at $100 within a single monthly billing cycle. Additional charges cannot be added without a consumer’s consent.
The Commission says capping these charges is…
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KITCHENER – Rogers has announced it will be rebranding all of its country music stations throughout the year, starting with today’s unveiling of a new look and name for its Kitchener station KIX 106.7 to Country 106.7.
Featuring a new name, logo and website, the brand will debut an all-new mobile app in the coming weeks. “The enhanced image and sound of Country 106.7 reflects the rapid growth and evolution of the format which we are excited to share with our listeners and advertisers,” said Julie Adam, Rogers Radio vice-president of programming,…
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VANCOUVER – The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) along with Telus, Rogers and Bell announced yesterday they are donating the $22,000 legal costs awarded in a court decision with the City of Nanaimo back to the city for support of its 911 emergency operations.
The CWTA and the wireless carriers were awarded the legal costs from the City of Nanaimo following a decision by the Supreme Court of British Columbia last July concerning a jurisdictional review of a municipal fee on 9-1-1 calls.
“Our goal in determining what role wireless carriers can play…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media today announced the closure of its 18-month old all-Toronto news station CityNews Channel, as well as some news programming cancellations at OMNI.
“Today, we made changes to the company’s television strategy to reflect evolving viewer habits and the global structural shift in advertising,” said Rogers Broadcasting president Scott Moore, in a statement. “Moving forward, we will focus our broadcast news resources in Toronto on 680News and CityNews on City.”
Programming changes have also been made at OMNI Television, where its English-language South Asian newscast is cancelled and production operations in Alberta have ceased. “We remain committed to…
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TORONTO – Vicinity, a new loyalty and automation platform launched in Toronto on Wednesday by Rogers Communications, is geared towards providing local retailers who buy into the program the opportunity to deliver customized loyalty programs which recognize, reward and communicate with customers – and hopefully grow repeat business.
"Small businesses across Canada are looking for cost effective, turn-key solutions to drive growth in their business and establish meaningful customer relationships," said Fiona Lake Waslander, general manager, Vicinity, in the company’s press release. "Vicinity integrates easily into businesses, providing a simple platform to drive return traffic and increase customer lifetime value…
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