THE INCENTIVES FOR THE great, big vertically integrated Canadian cabletelbroadcellcasters to act unfairly towards everybody else has become too great to ignore and new protections against potential perils are needed, say many companies in their submissions to the CRTC ahead of June’s hearing into vertical integration.
(Editor’s note: This preview originally ran on April 29th. We’re re-running it here as a preview of the hearing, which gets under way Monday in Ottawa with Rogers first up. As usual, Cartt.ca will be there. But if you can’t be there, it will be streamed live on cpac.ca – and available for…
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TORONTO – While many in the traditional media industry would like to see the regulations applied to conventional electronic media extended to new media companies, Rogers Communications’ CEO Nadir Mohamed said Wednesday that he doesn’t think that’s the way to go.
With customers increasingly wanting connected experiences, to take their devices and content with them wherever they go and consume content whenever they like, continuing along with policy that was written prior to the massive growth of the Internet and all it enables is the wrong way to go, the CEO told reporters.
He referenced the recent work of Canadian media companies…
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TORONTO – During his speech to shareholders on Wednesday, where he also announced the company’s planned 2011 LTE launch, Rogers Communications CEO Nadir Mohamed pressed whomever will form the new federal government for leadership on the digital front.
A big part of which, for him, means a 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction in 2012 free of any rules favouring new wireless companies, or ones which constrict the established carriers. That spectrum is currently in use by Canadian analog TV broadcasters and is well known as prime low frequency spectrum which is excellent for distance coverage (great for rural) and…
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TORONTO – Rogers confirmed Wednesday that it will launch its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network this year and roll out commercial services in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. The company then plans to launch in what it described as “the top 25 markets across Canada” by 2012.
"The world is moving to LTE and we’re thrilled to be leading the way by bringing this next generation technology to our consumer and business customers", said Rogers Communications president and CEO Nadir Mohamed, in a statement on Wednesday morning. "LTE is the critical foundation to deliver a world increasingly being defined by connected…
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AS OVER-THE-TOP video services, Internet enabled televisions and broadband speeds all escalate, Canadian broadcasters will come to find the market power that allows them in 2011 to exclusively purchase popular U.S. TV shows and movies for Canada will erode significantly.
A new report recently published by RBC Capital Markets identifies an “OTT inflection period” likely starting in 2017 (not coincidentally, right around the time where the exclusive content contracts Astral Media and Corus Entertainment, for example, have with HBO and numerous studios expire) where the likes of Netflix will have enough penetration in Canada – helped along by more…
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TORONTO – Deep within the Rogers Communications first quarter report to shareholders was confirmation of a number that had been circulating on the rumour mill ever since the company purchased Compton Cable on March 1st, as Cartt.ca reported.
The big red machine purchased the 6,000-subscriber (5,000 digital cable, 4,000 Internet and 4,000 cable phone subs) independent cableco for $40 million, the company reported Monday, a healthy $6,667 per basic subscriber.
The Utica, Ont.-based independent system served a lucrative and growing area just outside of Toronto (Port Perry) and was one of the most technologically advanced small systems in North…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications delivered a bit of a surprise to Bay Street late Monday afternoon with more positive first quarter results than some were predicting.
Revenue in the quarter ended March 31, 2011 increased 4%, compared to Q1 2010, to $3 billion, wireless net post-paid additions came in at 45,000 and a record number of new smartphones (534,000, compared to 348,000 in Q1 ’10) were added to its grid via new smartphone customers and others upgrading their handsets. Wireless data revenue growth also stayed strong at 30% ($542 million) and margins were 49%.
The company also noted that wireless data…
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WASHINGTON – CTV British Columbia, CBNT St. John’s, NL, 680News Toronto and CHYM-FM/CKGL-AM Kitchener, ON all received awards for ‘Overall Excellence’ at the 2011 Edward R. Murrow Awards for excellence in electronic journalism.
This year, Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) judges awarded 600 regional awards in 14 categories, including Overall Excellence, Breaking News, Investigative Reporting, and Website. Awards are broken up by medium (radio, television, on-line) and by market size (small and large.) Regional winners automatically become eligible for the national awards competition, which will be judged in June and presented in October at the RTDNA Awards Dinner in New…
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OTTAWA – Nearly 7,000 Canadians have told the CRTC that television commercials are too loud, and, that they want the Regulator to do something about it.
The Commission got an earful after asking for comments back in February on measures to control the loudness of commercial messages. It launched the public consultation after receiving hundreds of complaints, and comments were due last week.
“It is highly annoying the number of times we need to adjust the volume from commercials back to programming”, wrote Mark Dostie from Richmond, B.C., in his submission to the CRTC. “In fact we will often ‘pause’…
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada members won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear from Sam Schwartz, president and a founding managing partner of Comcast Interactive Capital, a $350 million venture capital fund affiliated with Comcast Corporation.
Schwartz, who is also EVP of strategy and development at Comcast Interactive Media, will share his experiences and insights regarding Comcast’s evolution in IP video at a members-only event on May 4 at the Velma Rogers Theatre at Rogers Communications, located at 333 Bloor Street East in Toronto.
Registration begins at 3:30 pm, the presentation will run from 4 – 5:30, and be followed by…
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