TORONTO – Rogers has rolled out mobile Internet ready netbooks from HP, the first 3.5G embedded laptops in Canada.
The HP Mini 110 netbooks include embedded mobile broadband technology featuring download speeds up to 7.2 Mbps, and connect to the Web over Rogers 3.5G wireless network, eliminating the need to search for WiFi or wired access.
"Just as voice communications have long expanded beyond finding a pay phone or waiting until you get home to make a call, as the Internet evolves from a source of information to an enabler of communication, mobile Internet ready netbooks are the perfect…
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GATINEAU – In back-to-back presentations this morning, the CRTC heard from two of Canada’s largest ISPs, Telus and Cogeco Cable, one of which uses no Internet traffic management techniques (yet) and one which uses them all the time.
Each want the same thing, however: to be left alone to manage their networks how they see fit.
Telus, the big western-based telco, uses no traffic management technology right now on either its retail consumers or wholesale business clients, said senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs Michael Hennessy. But it wants the freedom to be able to deploy them, if needed, in…
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MONTREAL – French sports network RDS HD is now available to Rogers Cable subscribers in New Brunswick and Ontario, the companies announced today.
The channel is now available in free preview, ending October 1st, to all Rogers HDTV customers with an HD box.
"Le Réseau des sports is pleased to announce that French-speaking sports fans from Ontario and New Brunswick can now benefit from the HD experience, as Rogers Cable has added RDS HD to its programming line-up" said Gerry Frappier, RDS’s president and general manager, in a press release.
In order to continue to receive RDS HD following…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable has launched a wireless home networking device called the ‘N gateway’, making it the first cable Internet provider in North America to offer a DOCSIS 3.0 N gateway wireless home networking specifically designed for optimal usage on its high-speed network.
The enhanced gateway combines the modem and wireless router into one device, designed to minimize clutter and make it easier for customers to manage their wireless home network. Consumers are also able to extend their wireless connection further, and will have less signal quality issues, according to the press release.
"We continuously invest in our…
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TORONTO – Canada’s largest South Asian broadcaster, Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN), will launch three new Chinese channels and six new South Asian channels on Rogers Cable this Fall.
The addition of the movie, news and entertainment services from China and India will bring the number of services ATN operates to 23, and will mark its first offering to Mandarin-speaking audiences.
"These nine channels carry world class content that will attract large audiences among the South Asian diaspora and Chinese communities in Canada”, said president and CEO Shan Chandrasekar, in the announcement. “We are extremely pleased with the signed distribution…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications says the CRTC has “betrayed Canadians’ trust” with Monday’s announcement of two new taxes on TV consumers.
"It is difficult to believe the CRTC is mandating these tax transfers – money from the pockets of ten million Canadians to three Canadian broadcasters", said president Peter Bissonnette in a statement released Wednesday.
Like its cable brethren Rogers, Shaw has vowed to fight the new fees “aggressively”, noting that broadcasters have not commited to spending more on local programming with the additional funds.
"Our customers are already heavily subsidizing the broadcasters with a CRTC ordered tax of…
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BELOW ARE A FEW OF what we think are the main talking points we pulled from yesterday’s CRTC releases on the LPIF, individual broadcasters’ one-year license renewals and the public notice on September’s hearing.
• The Regulator is clearly trying to rebrand the fee-for-carriage debate by banishing such language in favour of “value for signal.” The public notice on the hearing contemplates a negotiated new fee between broadcasters and carriers. This looks like a done deal and now it’s just about price. (Ed note: As for that price, TSN made $117 million from BDU subscriber fees in 2008. More…
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GATINEAU – The most immediate impact of the CRTC’s Monday announcements? It looks like A Channel Windsor will get a reprieve.
The Commission today finalized the new $102-million fund that is meant to tide broadcasters over until it figures out how to completely reset the scales of power of the industry it regulates with yet another hearing on the TV business come September.
"Canadians have made it abundantly clear that they value local programming," said CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, in the press release. "We have taken steps to ensure that broadcasters, and particularly those in smaller markets, continue…
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TORONTO, MONTREAL and OTTAWA – Three of Canada’s largest BDUs were quick to express their mutual disappointment with Monday’s CRTC decision, and hinted that it will be the consumer who will be hit the hardest.
Rogers said that the introduction of the “major new consumer TV taxes” should have Canadian consumers “very worried”, and vice-chair Phil Lind predicted that the new fees could cost its customers an additional $50 – $100 per year depending on their cable package.
“Today’s CRTC announcement says that, not withstanding earlier rulings by the CRTC and notwithstanding the lack of support by the Canadian…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable issued the most recent salvo in the (“we have more HD!” – “no, we have more HD”) battle between it and Bell TV.
Rogers today said it has finished the launch of 18 HD channels, giving it “the most variety” of high def services.
“With 34% of Rogers Digital Cable customers subscribing to the high definition television service, and viewership of HD titles on demand doubling in the last year alone, it is clear that HD is the future of TV,” says this morning’s press release.
"If you’ve ever turned on the television and said…
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