Search Results for: rogers

Cable / Telecom News

Rogers offers live streaming of NHL playoff coverage

TORONTO – On the eve of the 2012 NHL playoffs, Rogers has added CBC's Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts to its Rogers Live Mobile app. Available on Rogers’ smart phones through iTunes, Google Play and BlackBerry App World, the app streams CBC's broadcasts of the playoff games from the opening round all the way to the finals. For a subscription fee of $5 per month, fans have unlimited hours of viewing until October 31st, after which they may stream five hours per month, with $1 per each additional hour. "Canadians live and breathe hockey and at Rogers we're dedicated to delivering world-class… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Incumbent telcos stave off wireless-only competition, says Moody’s

TORONTO – Canada's three new wireless-only carriers are having little impact on the country’s big telecom incumbents, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service. The report, ‘Canadian Telecommunications and Cable Industries: Consolidation Could Be in Store as New Wireless Companies Appear to Struggle’, says Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile, which are not rated by Moody’s, do not have the economies of scale, the access to funding, or the latest products to undercut or challenge the incumbents' market share.  Rogers (Baa1 stable), Bell Canada (Baa1 stable) and Telus (Baa1 stable) together make up nearly 92% of Canada’s market… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

LPIF hearing starts Monday

GATINEAU – The CRTC will hear why the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) needs to be kept – and why it should be killed off – when a public hearing over its existence gets under way in Gatineau Monday morning. The fund was created almost three years ago (in the midst of the financial crisis and just prior to the destructive Stop-The-TV-Tax vs. Local-TV-Matters battle), before Shaw and Bell bought into broadcasting, to support the creation of local television programming, particularly local news, in smaller markets. At that time, it was determined broadcaster spending on local programming had stagnated or… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

New entertainment channel for Rogers, Colba.Net Telecom expansion, among new broadcast applications

OTTAWA – Rogers Broadcasting’s request for a new entertainment channel called The Entertainment Desk is among 12 new broadcasting applications that the CRTC will consider at a hearing set for June 7 in Gatineau. The Commission made the new applications public on Tuesday. Other applications of interest include one from MOTV Média Inc. for an English-language category B service to be known as PIN – Positive Insight Network, and three from Colba.Net Telecom Inc. for regional broadcasting licences to operate terrestrial BDUs in areas of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The deadline for… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Videotron TV packaging flexibility reports tell a tale of different customers

GATINEAU – Do customers want more choice or more channels? Are the two questions mutually exclusive? If that sounds like an odd pair of questions because choice and channels can’t be unlinked like that, hear us out, because those two queries are what repeatedly sprung to mind reading the progress reports submitted to the CRTC by Bell Canada, Shaw Communications, Rogers Communications and Vidéotron on the vertically integrated companies’ moves to allow more programming choice and flexibility for their customers. When it released its new policy on vertically integrated media and distribution companies last fall, the CRTC gave the big four… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

FX Canada launches long weekend freeview

TORONTO – Nascent FX Canada kicked off a free long-weekend preview Thursday through Monday for Rogers, EastLink, Cable Cable and Telus’ Optik TV customers.  MTS and SaskTel subscribers continue their two-month free preview of the channel through May 31st. The Rogers-owned specialty channel, which launched last October, will offer “marathon programming” of Wilfred (season one), The Ultimate Fighter Live and Sons of Anarchy (season two). www.fxcanada.ca Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Rogers’ LTE arrives in Calgary, Halifax

TORONTO – Rogers’ LTE network is now live in Calgary and Halifax, meaning that almost 12 million Canadians now have access to the new wireless network service. Rogers said that it is planning to launch LTE in Edmonton in the coming months, and has plans to cover almost 60% of Canada’s population by the end of the year.  In addition, it will begin offering the first Windows LTE smart phone, the Nokia Lumia 900, later this month. "We're thrilled to offer our LTE network to even more Canadians in the east and the west," said John Boynton, EVP and chief marketing officer, in… Continue Reading

In-Depth

Cartt.ca IN-DEPTH: Data challenges drive capex needs at Crown Corp, too, says SaskTel CEO Ron Styles

IT’S PRETTY UNUSUAL for dropped cellular phone calls to be mentioned in a Speech from the Throne. But, that’s exactly what happened last fall when Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor Gordon Barnhart said in that speech that “improving digital and electronic infrastructure is essential to the new economy,” and that “(d)ropped cell phone calls are still a problem, despite an increased investment in SaskTel’s 4G network of $170 million in my government’s first term.” SaskTel’s ownership – the taxpayers of Saskatchewan – is a holdover of the past, when many telcos were government-owned. While its competitors feel competing against the government is unfair, the… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

SCTE Canadian Summit 2012: Cable operators see gold in business services

TORONTO – Delighted with their early business successes, major cable operators are stepping up their efforts to capture sizable chunks of the commercial telecom services market and recruit larger companies. Appearing at the SCTE Canadian Summit here earlier this week, top engineering executives of four leading Canadian and U.S. MSOs said they will keep pouring resources into business services initiatives in 2012, after experiencing strong growth over the last few years. In particular, they are investing more heavily in technologies, equipment, products and services for mid-sized and larger companies after making great headway with smaller firms. For example, Comcast has just… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Rogers readies multiplatform coverage of entire Blue Jays season

TORONTO – Sportsnet has all the bases covered this season when it comes to MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays. In addition to airing all 162 of the team’s games on Sportsnet and radio station Sportsnet 590 The Fan, Rogers cable customers in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland who subscribe to Sportsnet and Sportsnet One can stream all the action live on RogersAnyplaceTV.com. Rogers wireless customers across the country will see every pitch when they subscribe to the Rogers Live Mobile app, available for mobile devices through the Apple App Store, Google Play and Blackberry App World. The app’s subscription is $5 per… Continue Reading