TORONTO – A coalition of some of Canada’s biggest TV service providers have teamed up on a campaign to tell their side of the story on the contentious issue of fee for carriage.
Bell, Bell Aliant, Cogeco, EastLink, Rogers and Telus have joined forces on ‘Stop the TV Tax’ which they say is designed to ensure “that Canadians hear the whole story”.
"Cable and satellite subscribers have united to stop the broadcasters’ costly proposal because it amounts to a tax, pure and simple”, said Rogers vice chair Phil Lind, in a statement. “This tax will hit viewers for stations that have always…
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CTAM CANANDA has scheduled its annual CTAM Summit dinner at The Cable Center in Denver on October 26, 2009.
The Cable Center chronicles the story of where cable has been, and provides the tools and knowledge to support where it’s going. The dinner will include a tour of the Cable Center’s Hall of Fame where the late Ted Rogers was inducted as an honouree in 2002. Such an honour is bestowed annually to those who have contributed significantly to the growth and development of one or more components of cable’s diverse industry and to the people, communities, organizations, and institutions it…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications is helping customers to stay connected with friends and family in Asia-Pacific, while assisting with contributions towards relief efforts in the area.
Rogers Wireless and Fido customers are being encouraged to help those in the affected regions by donating $5.00 to the Canadian Red Cross International Disaster Relief Fund by sending the text message ‘HELP’ to short code 733. The company will match up to $20,000 on behalf of customers who donate.
In addition, digital cable customers in Ontario can now access Filipino channels GMA Pinoy TV (channel 870) and Filipino TV (channel 869) for free until further…
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MONTREAL – Astral Media Radio is offering mobile downloads of ringtones, wallpaper, and exclusive content produced by its hosts through a dedicated Internet site.
Called 61215 The Mobile Superstore, or La boutique mobile 61215 in the Quebec markets where AMR operates, the downloads are compatible with Bell, Rogers and Telus devices.
The site will also offer unique opportunities for advertisers looking for a new local media, the company said in a press release.
www.61215.ca
www.astralmedia.com
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TORONTO and HALIFAX – Neatly coinciding with national small business month, both Rogers and Bell Aliant have launched new services aimed squarely at small and medium-sized businesses.
Rogers unveiled its Business Phone, which offers features like line hunting, to ensure that calls are routed to open lines when the first line is busy, as well as business on-line manager, which allows business owners to manage their phone features from a single website.
The Rocket Hub connects to the mobile Internet over Rogers 7.2 Mpbs HSPA network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet to allow multiple devices to share one Internet connection and its UMTS network for voice. It…
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GATINEAU – The fact that Globalive Wireless has altered its governance structure to mitigate CRTC concerns is just distracting everyone from the fact that its purse strings are tightly held outside of Canada.
And that means it can’t be a Canadian telecom operator, the three Canadian wireless incumbents told the Commission this morning.
During the final day into a hearing that began last week over the proposed structure of Globalive Wireless (which intends to come to market before year-end under the Wind brand name), representatives from Bell Canada, Telus and Rogers each played different verses of the same tune: Globalive…
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EDMONTON – Perhaps recognizing that calling for a boycott of an important supplier is not the best thing for its pay channels, Super Channel has distanced itself from a group calling for consumers to dump Rogers Cable.
In its own press release sent out late Wednesday, Super Channel tried to smooth over some of the relationship issues it has with Rogers Cable that were surely exacerbated Tuesday when a release from “The Friends of Super Channel”, signed former employee Nic Wry, went out calling for the boycott while also calling the big cableco a weasel.
“Although much of the content…
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OTTAWA – Adult specialty channel Penthouse TV will be launching on Rogers Cable next month.
Offered by Ten Broadcasting, Penthouse TV features the a selection of choice adult movies from the world’s leading studios and producers, including exclusive Canadian content, the company said in a press release Wednesday.
www.tenbroadcasting.comwww.rogers.com
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EDMONTON – Using some of the most inflammatory language we’ve seen in a press release (invoking both a rodent and the seal hunt), supporters of pay TV service Super Channel are calling for people to boycott Rogers Cable.
The must-carry pay channel is currently operating under creditor protection and the Allard-family-owned service recently won a victory at the CRTC, where the Regulator said Rogers wasn’t marketing the new service fairly, as we reported nearly two weeks ago.
Super Channel also has a civil case pending against Rogers.
But the press release, issued Tuesday evening by “The Friends of Super Channel”…
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THE BIG BROADCASTERS and BDUs fought this, but by September 14th, those companies had to file their aggregate financial data from their 2008 fiscal years with the Commission.
On the weekend, the CRTC posted the figures on its web site and since the industry it currently roiling over the continuing fee-for-carriage debate, we looked at the numbers largely through that prism.
After spending several hours examining a lot of the data, I can tell you the most lucrative place to work is Bell TV – which paid its 1,398 employees an average salary of $90,136 – or CTV, whose average…
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