TORONTO – While the concept of network neutrality is a hot button issue among some web denizens, for Rogers Communications senior vice-president, regulatory, Ken Engelhart, it’s basically a fake issue.
This was right after he called the Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) “a bit of a waste of money.” (Ed note: We love RCI’s regulatory chief. We can always count on him to speak his mind.) Engelhart was speaking on the “regulatory blockbuster” panel at the 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit Tuesday at the Toronto Congress Centre.
Engelhart pointed to myriad other “nonsense” issues over the years that…
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TORONTO – We’re just at the very beginning of the mobile broadband revolution in Canada, but expect the market to explode over the next five years, said a number of speakers Monday morning at the 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto.
Carriers around the world are already facing “the commoditization of mobile bandwidth,” said Alcatel-Lucent’s CIO Jim Cacito in his speech to delegates, adding that commoditization comes in the form of all-you-can-eat bandwidth bundles.
It’s still early days Stateside, and such packages are due in Canada soon. (Ed note: Perhaps on or about July 11th, launch day of the…
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TORONTO – “National radio has now posted eight consecutive quarters of positive growth. That’s the longest stretch since Q1 of 2002,” said Patrick Grierson, president of Canadian Broadcast Sales. “What’s noteworthy is that this growth has been steady, stable and sustainable with no volatility. We’re projecting Q4 to remain on this positive pace and result in a 9% annual growth.”
National radio sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2008, ended February 29th, grew 8.7% as compared to Q3 2007.
‘Radio’s resilience is a major factor in this stable growth. Normal quarterly churn is approximately 40%. In Q3, only…
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BANFF – Former CHUM president and CEO Jay Switzer and former Standard Broadcasting president and CEO Gary Slaight are among a group of Canadian broadcast executives who have invested $5 million in GlassBOX Television, which runs digital specialty service Bite TV.
Other executives contributing the new venture and strategic capital to GlassBOX are former Alliance Atlantis Communications executive managing director of international television Ted Riley, former XM Radio Canada president and COO Stephen Tapp, and former QuickPlay executive Raja Khanna.
Khanna was named co-CEO of GlassBOX. Tapp, who also headed Chum Television, will be an advisor to the company…
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SAN FRANCISCO and TORONTO – The highly anticipated iPhone 3G will be for sale in Canada on July 11 announced Rogers Communications and Apple today.
“iPhone 3G combines all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK,” reads the press release.
"We’re excited to be working with Rogers to bring iPhone 3G to Canada," said…
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TORONTO – One of Aesop’s centuries-old fables is a good way to summarize Canadian broadcasters and their desire for a new fee-for-carriage, according to the vice-president and general manager of television services at Rogers Communications.
David Purdy was responding to a Cartt.ca story earlier this week quoting CTVglobemedia executive vice-president Paul Sparkes, who, in response to a recent speech made by RCI vice-chairman Phil Lind, said Canadian cable companies are desperate fear-mongers when it comes to the possibility the CRTC might adopt a fee-for-carriage model for local conventional broadcasters.
The issue was front and centre during April’s hearing into the policies governing…
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QUEBEC CITY – Since Friday night, when Quebec’s floundering broadcast station TQS began stripping its news operations, the TV network has been ignoring its obligation to produce a certain number of hours of news programming, as set out in its CRTC licence.
That doesn’t sit well with CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein.
“We have a lot of problems with your application,” von Finckenstein said Monday at the opening of hearings in Montreal into TQS’s pitch for a new licence containing no news programming obligation at all. “You’re asking us to make an exception, one that would be in violation…
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TORONTO – Rogers Wireless and Research In Motion today introduced the new BlackBerry Pearl 8120 smart phone to customers in Canada that works on a cellular network and within a Wi-Fi bubble.
The new smart phone supports Rogers Home Calling Zone, a UMA (unlicensed mobile access)-based service from Rogers that enables customers to make unlimited voice calls over a wireless Internet connection. Rogers is the first carrier in Canada to offer UMA services with its new Rogers Home Calling Zone.
The new service leverages the dual-mode Wi-Fi(R) and cellular capabilities of the BlackBerry Pearl 8120 smart phone for both…
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TORONTO – Another recent attack on the fee-for-carriage issue by Rogers Communications shows carriers are desperate and have resorted to fear-mongering, said CTVglobemedia executive vice-president Paul Sparkes.
Last week, Rogers vice-chairman Phil Lind used an appearance at a Toronto conference to again urge the CRTC to dismiss broadcasters’ requests for a new fee for carriage of their over-the-air TV stations, calling any such new fee, if the Commission goes that way, to be dismissed as a new tax.
“Rogers is fear mongering,” said Sparkes. “We are seeing the politics of desperation here, and rather obvious and transparent attempts to…
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TORONTO – Dan Cimoroni has been named vice-president, business development and Nelson Millman as executive producer, radio, of the CTV-Rogers Media consortium which will cover the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
Millman will also continue to serve in his current role as vice-president, general manager and program director of Rogers Media’s The Fan 590/Fan Sports Radio Network.
“Dan and Nelson bring a combined 55 years of experience to our Olympic team. Both boast impressive credentials as leaders in their respective fields and have developed strong relationships within the sports and business industries,” said Pelley in a release…
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