GATINEAU – Independent distributors Cogeco Cable, Telus, EastLink, MTS and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance still hate the terms of carriage offered to them by Bell Media for its specialty channels and so the parties will soon face mandatory mediation in front of a CRTC commissioner as the carriers continue to allege undue preference against Bell.
The carriers, together they are calling themselves the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG), all object to the carriage agreement put before them by Bell Media for all of the company’s specialty channels, as we have previously reported. Bell Media insists…
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TORONTO – While 78% of all of us are consuming video entertainment over the Internet, 91% of those aged 18-34 report doing the same according to CTAM Canada’s latest research on the Multi-Screen Viewing Experience in Canada.
While broadcast TV is still the dominant player, the use of alternative platforms for viewing video content is substantial as those with no television service providers (85%) and males (82%) drive online viewing.
While watching video content on a portable device currently falls far below computers, reaching 24% nationally, this category grew sharply from 10% in 2010. Highest uptake was among males (29%, up…
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TORONTO – Rogers saw fourth quarter profits grow by 8%, helped in part by the sale of a “record” number of new smart phones, causing it to boost its dividend by 11%.
The company said Wednesday that net income for the period ended December 31, 2011 was $327 million, up from $302 million last year, while operating revenue increased to $3.18 billion from $3.14 billion.
For its 2011 financial year, Rogers’ net profit rose by 4% to $1.56 billion from $1.5 billion in 2010, while total operating revenue increased 2% to $12.43 billion.
Growth at the company’s wireless division was up 2% to $1.82 million…
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MONTREAL – Videotron is launching Rogers Sportsnet One on Thursday.
The company said that the national sports channel will be available in free preview to its digital cable customers until March 31, 2012. Available in SD on channel 177 and in HD on channel 777, it will then be available via several programming pacakges.
www.videotron.com
www.sportsnet.ca
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada is reminding members they have only one week remaining to submit their applications for the prestigious Executive Management Program (CTAM-U) at the Harvard Business School.
Registration is easy and any CTAM Canada Chapter member may apply. You must:
• Complete the registration form
• Write a 400 word essay on the following topic: "How can BDUs and programmers work together to utilize social media to enhance customer engagement and the value proposition of a video subscription?
• Provide a letter…
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TORONTO – Keith Pelley, president of Rogers Media, joined a very select group of graduates from Ryerson University yesterday who were recognized as cutting-edge leaders in their industry.
Pelley who graduated from Ryerson’s Radio and Television Arts program in 1986 received the Alumni Award of Distinction Award in recognition of a “career marked by outstanding professional achievement and distinguished personal service.” Pelley told Citytv that “Ryerson laid the foundation for me to get my start in my career and from there I’ve had some real good breaks.”
Pelley became President of Rogers Media in September of 2010, a position previously held…
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TORONTO – Having access to email, text and iPhone’s personal assistant Siri have become more important for a majority of Canadians than even their connections to family and friends reveals new research by Rogers Communications.
The latest Rogers Innovation Report focuses on how technology users connect to family and friends and includes a survey that indicates almost six out of ten (58%) Canadians cannot imagine life without the modern conveniences of texting, email and social networking. In stark contrast, only 44% of women and 22% of men surveyed indicated that they couldn’t go a day without connecting with friends (see…
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GATINEAU – One thing the aggregate annual financial returns of Canadian broadcast and distribution companies showed is holding the rights to the Olympics, even a home one, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
(Last Friday, February 10th, the CRTC released the 2011 broadcast year aggregate annual returns of large distribution undertakings, multi-system operators and conventional television and radio ownership groups, a requirement under Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2009-560. The 2011 broadcast year ended on August 31st.)
The figures show that at Bell Media (which during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was still CTVglobemedia) 2011 national ad…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC’s Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) is either a necessary source of cash desperately needed to keep some local TV stations on air, or a stimulus program circa 2008 that now should be terminated. However, if the Commission is tabulating submissions for and against (and it isn’t) LPIF the 1300-plus submissions so far on the CRTC web site land squarely on the side of maintaining it.
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…
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EXTON, PA -The cable and broadcast industry’s energy management challenges and new options for greater efficiency will be the topic of conversation when Comcast executive Mark Coblitz moderates a roundtable of cable and broadcast executives. The session takes place at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers’ SEMI (Smart Energy Management Initiative) Forum 2012 on March 15 in Philadelphia.
“Ensuring the availability and reliability of power is essential to the future of our industry,” said Derek DiGiacomo, senior director, Information Systems and Energy Management for SCTE. “Our panel will offer insights that will help attendees to better understand how operators, programmers…
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