TORONTO – Astral and Rogers have finalized a content deal that will see programming from TMN, HBO Canada, Mpix, Family Channel and Playhouse Disney added to the cable co’s TV, on-line and on demand platforms.
Under the terms of the new agreement, popular programming like True Blood, Hung and Entourage will now be available to Rogers’ customers with matching cable subscriptions as part of Rogers On Demand Online.
In addition, Astral’s Playhouse Disney channel will launch as part of Rogers’ Digital VIP cable package, as well as on RODO and its on demand service. Family Channel, which has until now…
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TORONTO – Bell Canada’s announcement this morning that it will spend $1.3 billion for all of CTV looks like a bid to protect and power a lot of its asset engines with a lot of superb oil and fuel.
The deal comes with $1.7 billion in debt, and factoring in Bell’s 15% ownership of CTVglobemedia, places a total value of $3.2 billion on CTV. The Globe and Mail newspaper has been carved out, as the Thomson family will take majority ownership of the paper.
If approved (and this doesn’t look to ring any Regulatory warning bells) the new company will…
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TORONTO – With nearly 10% of its cable base signed up for its Rogers On Demand On-line service, Rogers said Friday that it will add on-line rentals to its broadband portal starting next month.
At launch, all Canadians with an Internet connection will be able to click the rentals tab to browse, review, preview and rent new release movies at the same time as they become available in the video store for $4.99, or select various library titles for $3.99. With each movie rental, customers have 30 days to start the film and 48 hours to view it as many times as they…
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GATINEAU – Canada’s major cable companies and telcos are squaring off against MTS Allstream and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre over the CRTC’s authority to mandate broadband as an essential service.
Comments filed with the CRTC in late August show that Bell Canada, Telus and all of the large cablecos are, not surprisingly, opposed to any Commission intervention on this matter, while PIAC and MTS firmly believe that the CRTC can make broadband essential.
The issue has become a central theme in an ongoing proceeding on a broad variety of telecom matters, generally referred to as the obligation to…
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TORONTO – Mobilicity is making good on its threat to sue Rogers over the launch of its new low-cost brand Chatr.
The new wireless provider told Cartt.ca that its legal counsel filed complaints against Rogers with various government agencies late last week, including the Competition Bureau, on the grounds that Chatr is in direct breach of Section 78 of the Competition Act which prohibits market leaders from using “fighting brands to discipline or eliminate a competitor.”
COO Stewart Lyons said Wednesday morning that the company will not be issuing any statements on the matter “other than to say we are…
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CULVER CITY, CA and TORONTO – Crackle, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s premium video entertainment network is now available in Canada.
Advertiser supported, Crackle features high-quality original short-form series, full-length and short-form television shows, and motion pictures from the Sony Pictures library. In addition to its website www.crackle.com, content will also be available on Rogers’ On Demand platform, as well as via distribution partners YouTube, Boxee, Dailymotion, and Metacafe.
"Through our expansion into Canada, Crackle continues to build upon its successful distribution and ad network," said Eric Berger, SVP of digital networks for Sony Pictures Television, in a statement Tuesday. "We deliver the…
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EVERY TUESDAY AFTER Labour Day, because it’s a fun analysis of our year and lets us have the weekend off… we re-publish the top stories from the last 12 months.
Why a “Happy New Year” now? Simple. September is the “new year” for broadcasters. The new fall shows are coming out and speaking from a regulatory perspective, the 2010 broadcast year ended August 31st and we are into a new year for them.
(Ed. Note: Not so incidentally, we’re now less than a year away from the analog shut off – which was a popular topic this year – and there’s…
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TORONTO – Round ball has returned.
TSN and TSN2 unveiled their 2010-2011 NBA broadcast schedule of 94 NBA games, including 47 Toronto Raptors match-ups, all available in high definition.
In addition to its regular season broadcast schedule, TSN and TSN2 will have complete coverage of the NBA All-Star Weekend scheduled for February 18 – 20 in Los Angeles, plus the NBA Playoffs and exclusive Canadian coverage of the NBA Finals. TSN also scored the broadcast rights to all Raptors games throughout the post-season.
“There has been an incredible amount of buzz surrounding the NBA this off season and we are thrilled to…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media is officially in the music business. The company said Wednesday that it will begin selling advertising inventory around Warner Music Canada’s premium music video content in Canada.
"Along with our other investments in premium digital video content, this partnership with Warner Music Canada will enable Rogers Digital Media to offer even more premium video content to advertisers," said Claude Galipeau, SVP and for Rogers Digital Media, in the announcement.
The multi-year partnership will see Rogers’ digital distribution arm, Rogers Digital Media, exclusively represent Warner Music Canada’s music video content across a variety of digital properties including Warner Music…
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TORONTO – While not officially kicking its chief rival when it’s down, Rogers offered up a few thoughts of its own on the CRTC’s decision on deferral accounts.
“One problem with the (deferral account disbursement process) is that it went to court, and so there’s about a four year delay between when the (underserved) communities were approved and when they got built”, said SVP of regulatory, Ken Engelhart, in an interview with Cartt.ca. “What the CRTC really should have done was review all of the communities to make sure that they weren’t subsidizing Bell to go into some place…
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