GATINEAU – There was little love for the CRTC when, on the day before St. Valentine’s Day, Videotron filed its appeal of the wholesale Internet billing decision (more popularly known as the usage-based-billing issue). However, the Quebec cableco wasn’t the only provider to let its feelings be known regarding the matter, other network owners as well as the independent ISPs have taken the Commission to task over the appropriate rates for wholesale network access and use.
The issue that never seems to go away is not focused on the capacity-based billing framework, which most agree is a good idea, but…
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OTTAWA – Terrestrial pay-per-view service Viewer’s Choice is going national.
The service was granted permission from the CRTC Tuesday to amend its broadcasting licence from a regional service, serving Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, to a national nature of service.
Viewers Choice is owned by Viewers Choice Canada Inc., which is majority owned by Astral Media with minority partners CTV and Rogers Media. Its programming includes movies, concerts, adult content and live sporting events such as boxing, wrestling, mixed marshal arts and special events like The World Series of Poker.
www.crtc.gc.ca
www.viewerschoice.ca
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EXTON, PA – Arris’ Christopher Skarica has been named as the 2012 recipient of the SCTE Canadian Engineering Professional of the Year Award.
The annual award honors an engineering professional who resides in Canada, who is an SCTE member, and who has displayed outstanding technical achievements and contributions to the advancement of the cable telecommunications industry.
Skarica, who is account vice-president, strategic sales, Canada, will be presented with the award at SCTE Canadian Summit 2012 in Toronto during the event’s luncheon on March 27. Cartt.ca is the media partner for the event.
A 23-year industry veteran, Skarica has held various engineering and…
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TORONTO – Rogers Digital Media is the exclusive Canadian online advertising representative for brands Time.com, InStyle.com, RealSimple.com, CookingLight.com, and MyRecipes.com.
The partnership with parent Time Inc. gives Rogers Digital Media a leg-up with Canadian advertisers looking to align with its women and news and business channels, according to the announcement. Time Inc., a division of Time Warner, is one of the largest branded media companies in the world with magazines reaching more than 110 million Americans each month, and websites that attract nearly 50 million unique visitors each month.
InStyle.com is billed as the ultimate destination for celebrity style, trends and service that…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has received 22 applications for the coveted 88.1 FM slot in Toronto which vary from a $12 million CanCon promise from Newcap, to an all-business news station from Channel Zero, to a student-supported bid by Ryerson University to reclaim the frequency it lost last year when The school’s CKLN Radio was stripped of its licence.
CKLN Radio Inc had been broadcasting its community-based campus radio station at Ryerson University for 27 years until its licence was revoked in January, 2011 after it repeatedly failed to comply with federal broadcasting regulations over a number of years. But…
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TORONTO – Rogers has begun offering live streaming of select Toronto Raptors games.
On-line through Rogers Anyplace TV or via the Rogers Live Mobile app, fans will be able to watch up to 18 live regular season games on their computer or smart phone. Digital TV customers with subscriptions to Sportsnet and Sportsnet One will be offered the games at no extra cost, while Rogers wireless customers can download the Rogers Live app on their smart phones for $5 per month.
“We're thrilled to deliver live games to Raptors fans across Canada," said David Purdy, VP and GM of television products, in…
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TORONTO – Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC) is appealing two CRTC decisions around wholesale Internet rates plus wants greater transparency in the regulatory process going forward.
Referring to the Commission’s usage-based billing decision which adopted a capacity-based rate structure alongside the traditional flat rate model for wholesale Internet services, CNOC called the capacity-based rates approved for incumbents Bell, Cogeco, Rogers and Videotron “inflated”, which therefore makes it difficult for independent Internet service providers to compete.
“The rates struck under the two decisions were made by the CRTC using a considerable amount of information filed in confidence by incumbents that interested parties, such…
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OTTAWA – Despite Rogers’ promise to drop its Internet traffic management practices (ITMP) this year, it appears as though the company still has a little explaining to do to the CRTC.
In a letter sent to Rogers this week, the Commission’s chief compliance and enforcement officer Andrea Rosen said that further testing uncovered another issue with Rogers’ technical ITMP which she described as a potential instance of non-compliance requiring immediate attention.
“It appears that Rogers applies a technical ITMP to unidentified TCP upload traffic, regardless of the port used, when traffic from certain popular P2P applications is or was recently present”,…
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TORONTO – Rogers has finalized an agreement with TVA Group for TVA Network, TVA Sports, Sun News and related content.
The multiplatform agreement also allows TVA Network's French-language programming to be made available to mobile subscribers in Quebec starting in April, and to digital cable subscribers via video-on-demand (both on TV and online).
TVA Sports is available now in free preview on channels 656 (SD) and 657 (HD) through Rogers’ digital basic package in some markets, and through French theme packs in the rest of Rogers’ systems. Sun News is on channels 142 (SD) and 567 (HD) and distributed via Digital VIP and other…
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TORONTO – The pitch Rogers Digital Media is making to advertisers, agencies and other marketers is audience intelligence, says Rogers Media’s chief digital officer Jason Tafler.
With over 1,000 digital media assets owned and under its management (from the digital presences of Maclean’s and Flare to the company’s popular iVillage and nascent R Deals plus many others the company manages such as NBA.com, Cosmopolitan.com, and HarpersBazaar.com – with more to come), Rogers Digital Media now reaches more than 17 million Canadians per month and has seen a more than 100% increase in visitors in the year Tafler Continue Reading