TORONTO – Can local television news be profitable? Or is it a public service that should be funded as such?
These were just two of the many questions that were debated at a panel discussion Tuesday evening that examined the role and the state of local television news in Canada, hosted by the Canadian chapter of the Radio and Television News Directors Association at Ryerson University.
CHCH TV news director Mike Katrycz spoke about his station’s move to air back-to-back news shows with a local focus throughout the day, a format change that came about after the station was purchased by Channel Zero…
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TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet has overhauled its website to be more user and advertiser friendly.
The new sportsnet.ca now features widescreen format video (16:9), personalized headlines and improved stats and fantasy tools. This, in turn, will allow advertisers greater opportunities such as “massive” takeover ads, TV sized video pre-roll and integrated multi-platform sponsorship opportunities, the company said in a press release.
www.sportnet.ca
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NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE – You come to a gathering of industry folks and, well, you hear things. Here are a couple of items of note…
**********We’ve been reporting on Rogers Communications planned broadband portal for the better part of a year now and apparently, it is about to come to fruition, with several industry programming sources reporting that November is the launch month.
**********Insight Sports’ World Fishing Network is nearing some big things, Stateside. It is just about to announce carriage on a major American MSO and it will soon open a Denver office, with their affiliate point man Sean…
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TORONTO – In advance of its official television launch, the AUX music channel will stage a live webcast later this week to preview its new programming and on-air hosts.
The webcast will be broadcast on Wednesday, September 23 at 6:30 PM ET at www.aux.tv, and feature a performance by Canadian indie rockers Moneen.
AUX music television says it will be devoted entirely to music and music culture. It debuts October 1st on Rogers Cable channel 107.
www.aux.tv
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TORONTO – Canada may not be the “ideal” mobile nation, but we’ve come a long way in the last two years, technology consultant and blogger Tom Purves told mobile developers at the FITC Mobile conference in Toronto.
The mobile industry in Canada has seen “something like progress” since 2007 he said, and while mobile penetration and affordability are still low, Purves said the availability of “leading” devices and network speed have helped to increase Canada’s international profile.
“In April 2007, Canada had some of the worst data rates in the world”, Purves said in his standing-room only presentation. “And it…
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NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. – While the future of high speed data for cable operators is DOCSIS 3.0 and whatever comes after that, it may not yet be necessary to dive into that cost and upgrade for most CCSA members.
Thanks to an ever-increasing array of new bandwidth-hungry applications (to say nothing of the oldest, biggest, app, analog television), all network operators are finding network management a challenge.
So this morning, Chris Lammers, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Cable Television Laboratories, the cable industry’s R&D consortium, told delegates at Connect 2009, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance annual conference, a bit about…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Cable has been subjecting new pay TV service Super Channel to “an undue disadvantage” in its marketing, the CRTC ruled this morning.
Contrary to section 9 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, which say all channels have to be treated equally, the Commission has directed Rogers to file, by October 19th, written documentation “setting out the steps it will take to ensure that, in future, its marketing of Super Channel does not result in the service being subjected to an undue disadvantage,” reads the decision.
The Regulator, however, said there was insufficient evidence to establish that Rogers has…
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HOLDING A HEARING ON fee-for-carriage one month after a hearing on fee-for-carriage sounds stupid to the extreme, on the face of it, anyway.
However, in a very political move, Heritage Minister James Moore yesterday told the CRTC it must hold a hearing into the issue of fee-for-carriage so that consumers can have a chance to participate in the process and make their voices heard.
Of course, mobs of consumers (more than 12,000 submitted form letters supplied to them by Rogers) are already participating, or have already participated, in BNC 2009-411, and November’s hearing into group licensing and fee-for-carriage is…
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IN A VIRTUALLY unprecedented display of unity, Canada’s biggest broadcasters and BDUs unanimously agreed that the federal government’s decision to step in on the fee-for-carriage issue was a good one.
In a joint statement, CTV, Global and CBC all said that they welcomed the government’s “commitment to consumers” and “new negotiation for value regime”.
"We are in agreement that consumer interests should be front and center when it comes to implementing a new negotiation for value model for local television across the country," said Charlotte Bell, Global’s SVP of regulatory and government affairs, in the statement. "Going forward, we welcome a clear…
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TORONTO – Canada’s two largest cable companies have very different opinions of a nine-year old agreement that had its genesis during a March 2000 dinner in Toronto between Ted Rogers and Jim Shaw – and the dispute has led the country’s two largest cable companies to court.
Rogers Communications is asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for an injunction blocking the $300-million sale of Hamilton’s Mountain Cablevision because Shaw signed a letter that became effective in March of 2001 which says the Calgary-based MSO wouldn’t mess in Rogers’ territory and the big red machine would stay out of the…
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