TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet has signed a four-year agreement to broadcast live cricket matches from the Indian Premier League, beginning this Friday.
The agreement gives Sportsnet exclusive Canadian television and pay-per-view rights to the league, which will play Twenty20 cricket, comprised of 10 teams competing in 12 venues across India. Sportsnet One will air 36 group-stage matches while Rogers Sportsnet will show another 38 matches on pay-per-view, including 34 from the group stage, three playoff games, and the championship match.
“Cricket is a premiere sport whose multinational flavour is felt across the globe,” said Rogers Broadcasting president Scott Moore, in the…
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OTTAWA – Canadian independent producers and the country’s major private broadcast groups reached an agreement in principle over terms in trade on Monday.
The framework deal, which is still subject to final approvals, will apply to the entire life cycle of a show – from first pitch, through to development, production and broadcast on all platforms, the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) said. Once fully executed, it will apply to all independently produced projects developed and commissioned by Astral, Corus, CTV, Rogers and Shaw Media.
“Terms of Trade will bring greater clarity and certainty for both broadcasters and independent producers in…
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MONTREAL – Shaw Direct has become the latest operator to offer the Galaxie on-line music player to its customers.
Available now as part of Shaw Direct’s new on-line video-on-demand (VOD) library, the service allows users to stream their choice of the same 40 Galaxie channels currently available on Shaw Direct, view the album cover art of the current, next and previously played songs, or check a list of the songs played in the past 24 hours.
“Galaxie has been the preferred source of music for Canadians for more than 12 years and every day our listeners ask us how…
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WINNIPEG – Rogers and MTS Allstream flipped the switch on their joint HSPA + wireless voice and data network in Manitoba on Thursday.
Covering 97% of the province’s population, the network offers download speeds of up to 21 Mbps plus supports the iPhone, many Android and BlackBerry devices, and mobile Internet solutions.
"Our new high-speed 4G network offers MTS customers faster and more reliable service as well as more wireless device choices," said MTS president Kelvin Shepherd, in the announcement. "Looking to the future, our investment in 4G technology will allow us to focus on delivering more services that meet our…
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BANFF – Media leaders from five of Canada’s major broadcast media companies will come together to kick off this year’s Banff World Media Festival.
Phil Lind, vice chairman of Rogers Communications; Paul Robertson, group vice president, broadcasting and president of Shaw Media; Kevin Crull, COO at CTVglobemedia; Kirstine Stewart, executive vice president of English services at CBC; and John Riley, president of Astral Television Networks, have been confirmed for the event’s Media Leaders panel.
Moderated by Gordon Pitts, senior reporter for The Globe and Mail, the executives will speak to the issues they find most pressing for today’s media ecosystem, plus…
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TORONTO – Rogers is asking the Governor In Council to tweak a CRTC decision allowing Bell to use deferral account funds to expand broadband services to underserved communities in Ontario and Quebec.
In the decision, the CRTC approved a proposal by Bell Canada and Bell Aliant to use $306.3 million in deferral account revenues to extend broadband service to 112 approved locations using high-speed packet access (HSPA)+ wireless broadband technology. But Rogers has asked that this amount be reduced by the deferral account revenues required by Bell to cover “the uneconomic portion” of its cost to serve the 15 approved…
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TORONTO – Industry veteran Claude Galipeau is joining social media management company Syncapse Corp. in the newly created role of chief service officer.
Galipeau was most recently SVP and GM of digital media at Rogers before departing abruptly in February. He has also held senior leadership positions at Astral Media, Alliance Atlantis and the CBC. Starting April 1st, Galipeau will be responsible for building and managing a team capable of meeting intellectual and delivery demands across Syncapse’s strategic, technical, measurement and professional services teams. Syncapse delivers solutions that empower brands and agencies to build, manage and measure their digital customer…
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OTTAWA – As Bell Canada stole the show with its usage-based billing (UBB) backdown earlier this week, the fact that the cable companies also suggested that billing on an aggregate use basis might be a more palatable approach was overlooked.
Under this type of model, the independent ISP which leases network capacity from a facilities-based carrier would be charged for a pre-determined amount of bandwidth that it could then offer to all of its customers. If the small ISP exceeds this amount, it would be charged additional fees. The current UBB approach contemplates charging independent ISPs on per-customer basis….
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“THIS IS THE EXCEPTION rather than the rule,” Industry Minister Tony Clement told a Parliamentary committee earlier this month regarding the Conservatives penchant for weighing in on CRTC decisions.
He quoted the number six – three varied and three referred back to the Commission – out of 2,200 telecom decisions issued by the CRTC (below is a list of the decisions and how the government ruled). These numbers don’t tell the whole story though. While on the surface six out of 2,200 is miniscule, the fact of the matter is that out of those 2,200 decisions only 30 were…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Rogers Communications has made a $275,000 payment to the CRTC for its use of automated calling devices without consent.
The Commission said Thursday that Rogers was using these devices to notify its prepaid mobile customers of how they could purchase more minutes to avoid a service interruption. Automated calling devices are used to dial telephone numbers and automatically deliver a pre-recorded message. The CRTC’s automatic dialing and announcing device rules prohibit telemarketers from using these devices to sell or promote a product or service unless a consumer has consented to be called by them.
While not admitting fault, after…
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