OTTAWA – Developments in the mobile payments space have been slow and ongoing for a number of years but those efforts are beginning to bear some fruit, said vice-president of emerging business at Rogers Communications Inc. David Robinson.
However, he cautioned, there is still work to do.
Speaking at the 2010 Mobile Money Forum in Ottawa last week, the Rogers’ executive talked about the Pay-Buy-Mobile initiative and how efforts among a large number of international mobile operators, handset makers and the Global Mobile System Association (GSMA) are making headway. In a nutshell, the initiative is trying to combine the…
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TORONTO – Rogers has opened up several of its application programming interfaces (APIs) to developers for the first time.
According to a post on RedBoard, the company’s blog, Rogers Catalyst Beta is now live and will allow developers and businesses to bring new, custom mobile applications or services to market more quickly than before.
“Rogers is making a commitment to work closely with third-party developers to make it easier to bring exciting new apps and services to market faster than ever before”, reads a separate post on the Rogers Catalyst Beta site. “We have reduced the barriers to a minor…
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TORONTO – Rogers will purchase for cancellation 2,000,000 of its outstanding class B non-voting shares for an aggregate purchase price of $67,662,200.
This represents approximately 0.44% of the class B shares outstanding at October 31, 2010. Rogers said that the private purchase, made under an issuer bid exemption order issued by the Ontario Securities Commission, is priced at a discount to the current market price of the class B shares.
www.rogers.com
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MONTREAL – Stingray Digital is adding music video content from Sony Music Entertainment Canada to its Galaxie Music videos on demand service.
The first service of its kind in Canada, Galaxie Music Videos on Demand (MVOD) allows viewers to select their choice of music videos, or select and watch professionally-programmed music video playlists. The service is currently available free to all Rogers digital cable customers and will soon be available with other television service providers.
"The Galaxie Music Videos On Demand service is one of the most popular VOD services on Rogers On Demand”, said Stingray Digital president, Eric Boyko, in…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media has taken on the role of digital media sales agent for NBA Canada.
Through this partnership, Rogers will sell advertising across NBA.com platforms including display ads, video content and mobile applications. It said that it plans to leverage the NBA’s sports and lifestyle brand to develop customized programs for Canadian advertisers looking to connect with the NBA’s growing fan base in the country.
"We are thrilled to add NBA.com to our already outstanding stable of premium brands," said SVP and GM Claude Galipeau, in the announcement. "The world class quality of the NBA brand coupled with their…
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TORONTO – A day after his surprise departure from CBC, Scott Moore has been named to the new position of president of broadcasting for Rogers Media. Rogers also announced that Leslie Sole will be promoted to the newly created position of chief content officer.
"The breadth of industry knowledge that Leslie and Scott bring to the table will be of great benefit," said president Keith Pelley, in Wednesday’s announcement. "It’s an exciting time in our industry and Leslie and Scott will ensure that Rogers Media is positioned to perform in a feverishly competitive environment."
Beginning December 6th, Moore will oversee…
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OTTAWA – Ruth Thorkelson, senior vice-president of public affairs at the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), described merchants’ mood towards mobile payments as “neutral to frosty” because they don’t yet see the value. Plus, merchants aren’t likely to adopt mobile payments the way they have for debit and credit card transactions because of security concerns.
“There is a reason why we are the second highest debit users in the world: it was a 100% rock solid guarantee by every player in that payment chain that your transaction was secure. There’s almost no risk for the consumer. That’s why we…
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TORONTO – Rogers is adding CTV’s prime time content to its on-demand platform, the company said Tuesday.
The announcement comes days after its biggest competitor – Bell – announced that it was adding various CTV and /A Channel series to the on demand lineup of its Fibe TV service.
A Rogers spokesperson confirmed to Cartt.ca that the content, which includes hits like The Big Bang Theory, Desperate Housewives, Blue Bloods and The Dr. Oz Show, will be available 48 hours after its original television broadcast at no additional charge.
www.rogers.com
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A GRASSROOTS INITIATIVE designed to stop incumbent ISPs like Bell, Rogers and Shaw from implementing usage-based billing seems to be quietly gaining momentum.
Led by the consumer group OpenMedia.ca, the campaign launched a petition late last week which calls usage-based billing “a blow to consumer choice, to access, and to free expression” and “devastating not only for the user experience, but for all innovation and entrepreneurship online”.
Using an image of a parking meter whose red ‘expired’ tag reads “Too Much Internet”, the petition had over a thousand names in less than 24 hours. This prompted the OpenMedia.ca network to kick off an…
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REGINA – SaskTel is voicing its firm objection to a proposed 50% increase in local telephone rates in rural Canada, at least without an opportunity for residents in those areas to weigh in.
The Regina-based telco said in a statement that rate proposals made last week by Shaw, Rogers, Telus and Bell during the CRTC’s local telephone service hearing failed to address “the sharp inequalities in employment and incomes across the country”. SaskTel also suggested that the majority of “rural and northern residents do not understand the magnitude of the impact this public hearing could have on them”.
“We believe that these…
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