TORONTO – Rogers Broadcasting has received CRTC approval to buy radio stations K-Rock and KIX Country in Kingston, Ontario.
Rogers purchased a minority interest in these stations in 2000, and in December made an offer to purchase the majority interest of independent radio company K-Rock 1057 Inc. who launched K-Rock 105.7 FM (CIKR FM) in 2001 and KIX Country 93.5 FM (CKXC FM) in 2007 in partnership with Rogers.
"With these two radio stations, Rogers will have a strong presence in Kingston", said Paul Ski, CEO of radio for Rogers Media, in the press release. "We look forward to…
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TORONTO – Rogers Wireless and Fido customers can now send and receive updates from the popular messaging service Twitter via SMS text message over their mobile phones.
The feature, which until Tuesday was only available to Bell customers, comes at no additional cost to customers who subscribe to a Rogers text messaging plan.
"Our text messaging partnership with Twitter is the latest way Rogers is helping our customers to connect and stay up-to-date on their wireless device," said John Boynton, senior vice president and CMO of Rogers Wireless, in the press release. "Rogers was first to enable Twitter through a…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – Look Communications is selling its spectrum and broadcast license for $80 million in cash to Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, through their joint venture Inukshuk Wireless Partnership.
Under the agreement, Inukshuk will buy Look’s 92 MHz of contiguous licensed spectrum in Ontario and Quebec covering approximately 18 million people and 1.8 billion MHz/Pops, plus its mobile broadcast license which has been renewed by the CRTC through August 2011.
"We have long believed that our assets held value given the promise of mobile broadband. That promise is becoming a reality for Canadian businesses and consumers, both of…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications plans to buy up 1.3 million of its outstanding Class B non-voting shares for cancellation in a private purchase.
The aggregate purchase price is expected to be approximately $35.21 million for approximately one quarter of the Class B shares outstanding at March 31, 2009.
The private agreement between Rogers and an arm’s-length third party seller was made under an issuer bid exemption order issued by the Ontario Securities Commission.
In the twelve months ended April 30, 2009, Rogers repurchased an aggregate 4 million Class B shares pursuant to issuer bid exemption orders issued by the Ontario…
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GATINEAU – Like CTV beforehand, Canwest – in its second appearance at the CRTC’s OTA licence renewal hearings – focused on obtaining relief from certain of its programming obligations Thursday afternoon in front of the Commission.
There was little tension in the Q&A session, but there were some requests for “changes” to Canwest’s licence obligations – repeated from the Tuesday appearance – and several specific requests for Global Ontario, Global Quebec and CJNT-TV in Montreal, a station focused on ethnic programming.
Again like CTV, Canwest asked for changes to its priority programming conditions. But where CTV asked that the…
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GATINEAU – Looking around the CRTC hearing room Tuesday in Gatineau many of the exact same faces were in the exact same places making the exact same cases as they were 12 months ago.
Last year it was the combined BDU and specialty policy review hearing while this year it’s the license renewals hearing for conventional broadcasters. Same concert hall. Same tune. Same singers. Sung with more urgency though, this time around.
Despite the passage of a year and the new name of the hearing, the central issue is the same: broadcasters want more money for their signals and…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Cable told the CRTC Tuesday morning that offering distant broadcast signals to its customers in a linear format is a poor use of spectrum and that time-shifted viewing of popular programming can be done much more efficiently and in a more consumer-friendly way via its on demand platform.
During questioning on distant signals by commissioners during the “broad sectoral issues” portion of the conventional stations’ license renewal hearing in Gatineau, Rogers Cable’s vice-president of video product management David Purdy told the panel that given its druthers, the cable giant would rather not offer Vancouver’s broadcast stations…
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TORONTO – While Rogers Communications reported its first quarter consolidated revenue grew 5% to reach $2.7 billion, it also saw a 10% drop in its net earnings.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2009, the telecom giant said its wireless, cable and media operations generated a profit of $309 million, down from $344 million for the same period in 2008. Despite a modest growth in sales, Rogers said in a news release that the cost of adding new smart phone customers, combined with weak advertising revenues in its media divisions, contributed to the decline in net income.
Digital cable subscribers grew by 35,000 in…
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The Canadian Broadcast Distribution Association will host a half day seminar called ‘Media Applications for Advanced Wireless’ on May 13 at the Rogers Communication Theatre in Toronto.
The seminar will kick off with a keynote address from Dr. Pierre C. Belanger from the department of communications at the University of Ottawa, an expert in new media and emerging technologies. He will be followed by Anthony Caruso, the director of new broadcast technologies at CBC Technology, who will provide an overview of mobile TV standards and systems.
A panel discussion with select device manufacturers and wireless service providers will follow…
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CALGARY – Shaw is bulking up its video-on-demand (VOD) lineup and offering “value-based rental programs” for its digital boxes “as consumers nest at home during the economic slow-down”.
Shaw says that its VOD business is booming, and accordingly is extending its partnerships with the major film studios to offer VOD releases on the same day they arrive on DVD rental shelves. In fact it added the Mickey Rourke title The Wrestler to its lineup on Tuesday, the same date it was released on DVD and Blu Ray in Canada.
"We are experiencing an increased demand for VOD services, up 74% compared to…
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