TORONTO – National radio sales fell 13.9% in the third quarter of 2009, according to data from Canadian Broadcast Sales (CBS).
Over 82% of the shortfall occurred in four major categories – the Government sector was down by 54%; alcoholic beverages dropped by 32.5%; the financial services category was down 25%; and telecommunications dipped 20%. The retail and restaurant categories captured almost 30% of the total revenue spent.
“On the bright side, the consumer economy appears to be showing positive signs in these trying economic times,” said CBS president Patrick Grierson, in the press release. “National Retail increased revenue share to…
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OTTAWA – The Penthouse Channel will be joining the Rogers Cable lineup after completing a multi-year distribution agreement.
Currently available to Shaw Cable customers, the adult programming network is distributed in Canada by Ottawa-based Ten Broadcasting.
“We are pleased that Rogers chose to carry this top international and well-known and respected domestic brand in adult TV programming, said Ten Broadcasting president and CEO Stuart Duncan, in the announcement. “This carriage agreement comes with additional carriage not only for the channel but with enhanced distribution of the Penthouse brand potentially across many Rogers distribution platforms.”
www.tenbroadcasting.com
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications will purchase 930,000 of its outstanding class B non-voting shares for cancellation in a private purchase for an aggregate purchase price of $25,956,300.
This represents approximately 0.18% of the class B shares outstanding at June 4, 2009. The private purchase was made under an issuer bid exemption order issued by the Ontario Securities Commission.
The shares purchased under this transaction will be included in calculating the number of class B shares that Rogers may purchase through its outstanding normal course issuer bid.
www.rogers.com
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TORONTO – GlassBOX Television will launch its cross-platform AUX music channel as a new digital channel on Rogers Cable beginning this Fall.
AUX, which calls itself “Canada’s music discovery destination”, launched last November as a video-rich web destination. The carriage deal will allow its music-themed journalism, current affairs, news, charts, videos, films and documentaries to come to television.
"We are delighted to be launching AUX on Rogers as a key next step in our strategy to bring our unique brand of music television to audiences across Canada," said Raja Khanna, Co-CEO of GlassBOX and founder and president of AUX, in the…
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EDMONTON – Allarco Entertainment, owners of Canadian pay-TV service Super Channel, filed for protection from its creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on Tuesday, Cartt.ca has learned.
According to documents filed with the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, the company has liabilities of $139 million and assets of $68 million.
In those documents – as well as a letter sent to its affected program suppliers – Allarco president and COO Malcolm Knox said the company plans to reorganize and continue broadcasting. He blamed the poor economy and a lack of BDU promotion follow-through for the young broadcaster’s…
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TORONTO – New wireless entrants are most likely to fail if they “look and smell like an incumbent,” one of the new Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licensees warned his fellow competitors during the final panel session at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday afternoon.
Top executives from Globalive Communications, DAVE Wireless and Public Mobile came together for a discussion about the challenges they will face as their companies prepare to launch new wireless offerings by the end of 2009 or early in 2010. Although not as volatile as the incumbent-heavy “regulatory blockbuster” session held on Tuesday, the AWS session…
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TORONTO – Mobile advertising should be part of marketers’ media buy now – “not next year, not in six months, the opportunity is now” – said Phil Barrett, vice-president of digital and mobile for Toronto-based marketing communications agency B-Street Communications.
Barrett made his comments during a panel discussion on mobile marketing, advertising and commerce at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re not suggesting you forget about online and TV and other media, but our point of view is that mobile is now about 10% of our marketing business… and we’re seeing great click-through rates on mobile advertising,”…
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TORONTO – On the day his Research In Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie had his NHL franchise bid rejected, RIM president and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis was waxing nostalgic about the company’s humble beginnings 25 years ago, during a keynote address at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday.
Founded in 1984 when Lazaridis was still a university student, RIM recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Blackberry device (and then about eight hours later, unveiled the latest BlackBerry, the Tour)
“What seems to really register with me is this industry has been around for quite a while,” Lazaridis said. “We’ve been…
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TORONTO – Perhaps befitting an acronym that doesn’t refer to any actual technology, but more a state of mind, LTE is still a good two years away from deployment, Rogers Communications CEO Nadir Mohamed said Monday morning.
In the opening keynote speech to delegates of the Canadian Telecom Summit, Mohamed noted that early LTE adopter Verizon is making noises about delaying its push to the fourth generation assumed wireless standard, which simply means: “long-term-evolution”.
“We need faster speeds over HSPA,” (high speed packet access) added the CEO, noting there is still plenty of work to do with the existing…
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TORONTO – It isn’t too often you hear a cableco or telco admit to using a heavy fist when it comes to protecting and maintaining their walled gardens, but at least one cable executive offered up a sort-of “mea culpa” during a session on new media and convergence at the Canadian Telecom Summit held today at the Toronto Congress Centre.
“We’re really moving from a tyranny of broadcasters to a republic of users where people will decide when they want to watch their content, and ultimately, where they want to watch their content,” said David Purdy, vice-president and general…
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