TORONTO – The Movie Network launched two additional high-definition channels on Wednesday, MExcess HD and MFun! HD.
Available free of charge to TMN subscribers, the new channels will mirror the programming available on MExcess and MFun!’s respective standard-definition channels.
“With the addition of these new channels, The Movie Network and its classic movie service, Mpix, have five HD channels collectively and boast the most HD movies of any network in Canada,” said Domenic Vivolo, SVP of marketing and sales for Astral, in the announcement.
The channels are available on Rogers and Cogeco Cable immediately. They will launch with Bell TV next week, and…
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TORONTO – WOWtv, billed as Canada’s first 24/7 HD digital channel in Chinese, launched on Rogers Cable Wednesday.
“This milestone marks the beginning of a major chapter in the history of overseas Chinese technological broadcast innovation, and it is made possible by WOWtv, which is a branch of the Canadian Chinese Media Network (CCMN), and Rogers Cable TV,” reads the company’s press release.
The new specialty airs news and entertainment programs and had launched as an SD channel in May.
www.wow1.tv
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VANCOUVER – Rogers must stop referring to itself as “Canada’s most reliable network” by the end of this week, said Justice Christopher Grauer in a written order.
As reported by Cartt.ca, after launching its own HSPA wireless network in partnership with Bell last month, Telus filed a lawsuit to halt the use of Rogers’ marketing claims of being the fastest and most reliable network.
While Rogers has already dropped the “fastest” claim, it steadfastly held on to the “most reliable” title in its advertising. But Justice Grauer has ordered Rogers to drop the reference from its website and all other Internet advertising immediately, and has…
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By Christopher Maule, Professor Emeritus, Carleton University
THE BATTLE BETWEEN CANADIAN BROADCASTERS and cable companies taking place before the CRTC is about the past and the disappearing present and not about the future of traditional television and other forms of video.
If the protagonists and the Commission are to consider the public interest as reflected by how consumers spend their money and time, they need to look for ways to profit from what consumers want instead of struggling over what consumers have been forced to take.
Today, consumers use their Kindle and computers to read books and view pictures, use their iPhones…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications will purchase 1.35 million of its outstanding Class B non-voting shares for cancellation at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $39.5 million.
This represents approximately 0.28% of the Class B shares outstanding at November 30, 2009.
The private purchase was made under an issuer bid exemption order issued by theOntario Securities Commission.
www.rogers.com
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TORONTO – Rogers officially announced their broadband portal on Monday, with the public unveiling of Rogers On Demand On-line.
As Cartt.ca reported last week, any customer with a Rogers account can register to receive select content free of charge via any streaming Internet connection within Canada.
The initial BETA roll out will feature more than 1000 hours of aggregated content from 17 broadcast and production partners and 30 channels. Rogers Cable customers with matching cable TV subscriptions will also be able to access on-line a selection of their own specialty TV programming that they subscribe to at home.
"Rogers On Demand…
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TORONTO – Media companies looking to monetize their content with online subscription models would be advised to look for additional sources of revenue.
According to results from the Q3 edition of Digital Life Canada, Solution Research Group’s quarterly trend survey.
The research benchmarked consumers’ willingness to pay for various types of content online. Only 14% said they would pay for newspapers online; TV shows did better at 22%, and books seemed worthy of payment to 29%. At the top of the list was movies which had the most potential, with 37% indicating a willingness to pay.
Those currently paying for online or…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications continued cutting its workforce this week as news broke on just how many positions have been eliminated by the cable, wireless and media giant of late.
While a number of folks on the media (primarily in magazine publishing) side were let go earlier in the year, Canadian Press reported Thursday that a total of 900 positions have been or are currently being eliminated.
Rogers VP communications Terrie Tweddle confirmed to Cartt.ca that this week’s news is the continuation of what we reported in October and that the number of positions eliminated are primarily in the management…
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GATINEAU – Protect Canadian feature films and drama, expand the reach of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), and create a credit system for Canadian content were a few of the things advocated Friday during the CRTC hearings, which wrapped early.
The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters (CAFDE) urged the CRTC to ensure that more, not less, Canadian drama is commissioned under the new broadcast framework. Canada’s film industry is also in peril because not many homegrown movies are getting shown on the small screen, according to CAFDE president Ted East.
“Of all the sub-genres of drama, we believe…
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TORONTO – Could Rogers and Cogeco be joining forces?
Rogers announced Thursday that it has purchased 3.2 million subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Cable, and 1.62 million subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Inc., in cash purchase prices of $116.6 million and $46.4 million respectively, exluding commissions.
In the announcement, Rogers said that it is acquiring the shares “for investment purposes”, and that it has “no current intention of acquiring ownership of or control or direction” over any additional shares at this time.
The deal means that Rogers now owns 9.79 million subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Cable, or approximately 29.8% of the…
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