TORONTO – Aivy Reinfelds has been promoted to vice-president television development and distribution at Rogers Media, taking over from Julie Osborne, who moved on to become associate publisher of another Rogers property, Maclean’s magazine.
The company altered the job somewhat since Osborne’s title was SVP affiliate sales and marketing, meaning Reinfelds will also be responsible for developing new TV concepts as well as his distribution role.
Reinfelds (pictured) begins his new position May 1st and no one has yet been named to take his place where he had been senior director, programming.
www.rogers.com
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TORONTO – Former Rogers Communications executive and current leader of Ontario’s Conservative Party John Tory is stepping back into the telecommunications world – at least briefly. He is giving the luncheon keynote speech on Monday, June 11 at the 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit.
The event, which runs until Wednesday, June 13 at the Toronto Congress Center, includes the participation of the telecommunications industry’s biggest names. Virgin Mobile Canada President and CEO Andrew Black, Motorola President and COO Greg Brown, Videotron President and CEO Robert Depatie, CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein, Mitel Chair Terence Matthews, Nortel CTO John Roese, Competition Bureau…
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TORONTO – The CBC has acquired the broadcast rights, including video streaming, to Toronto FC, Canada’s first Major League Soccer (MSL) club, it was announced Wednesday.
CBC Television will broadcast 14 regular season Toronto FC games, including the expansion franchise’s April 28 home opener against the Kansas City Wizards, while cbcsports.ca will video stream all of the CBC broadcasts live and on-demand.
Toronto FC and MLS highlights will be available on-demand over the Internet as well.
CBC Sports acquires the exclusive rights to the MLS Playoffs, MLS Cup and July 19 MLS All-Star Game in 2007 under the deal,…
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SO FAR, SO GOOD for wireless number portability, says Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association president and CEO Peter Barnes.
There have been few issues the association has had to solve since March 14, the day Canadians could take their phone number with them, no matter which telephony carrier they chose to acquire service.
A more contentious, far less decided matter, is the upcoming Industry Canada wireless spectrum auction. The association’s majority want a free, unfettered auction but certain factions want constraints on the existing players so that newcomers may bid for spectrum and win. The CWTA is even holding a…
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TORONTO – It was a an open secret in media circles, as many have reported, including Cartt.ca, but today it was made official: Rogers Communications has signed a deal to purchase the chain of A-Channel stations and other assets put on the block when CTVglobemedia acquired CHUM Ltd.
In officialspeak: "Rogers Broadcasting, a Rogers Media subsidiary, would acquire certain Canadian conventional and specialty television services from CTVglobemedia Inc. These assets are currently under the control of Mr. John D. McKellar, C.M., Q.C., Trustee under a Voting Trust Agreement in respect of CHUM Limited. CHUM Limited and Mr. McKellar…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Cable has asked the CRTC to consider adding College Sports Television to the list of eligible satellite services for digital distribution.
Owned by CBS, CSTV is a 24-hour network devoted exclusively to broadcasting college sports programming. It televises 35 men’s and women’s college sports, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, soccer, wrestling and volleyball, from every major conference in the United States.
www.cstv.com www.crtc.gc.ca
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THAT SOUND YOU HEARD from Ottawa late Wednesday afternoon was that of Industry Minister Maxime Bernier jangling his keys to the shackles Canada’s incumbent telephone companies have said repeatedly they are burdened with.
The regulations holding back Bell Canada, Telus, Bell Aliant, MTS, SaskTel and the other smaller ILECs are on their way out far sooner than the CRTC perhaps envisioned when it made public its local forbearance decision a year ago tomorrow.
In that decision, the Commission set out a number of conditions that had to be met before any traditional incumbent telco could be granted deregulation. Until…
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OTTAWA – With less than a month before the CRTC hearing into the purchase of CHUM Ltd. by CTV and rumours swirling as to who might emerge as the winning bidder for CHUM’s A-Channels (see below), the NDP says the CRTC has to set up some tough content conditions governing the combined company.
NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus said Friday "that if the CRTC is going to give the green light to this unprecedented merging of television media, clear and binding conditions must be laid down."
Angus is calling for enforceable targets for new prime time drama, for example. “Where…
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TORONTO – Captain Kirk warped into Toronto today to help Rogers Wireless launch wireless video calling, a new service that will turn customers’ mobile handsets into a webcam for face-to-face calling.
Customers will be able to talk and watch their friends, family and business associates in real time and so far, Rogers is the first and only wireless carrier in North America to offer video calling. It’s a new part of the Rogers Vision suite of services that "allows customers on the go to enjoy the kind of hi-speed Internet and multimedia experience previously only possible on a PC,"…
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TORONTO – Julie Osborne, vice-president of affiliate marketing and sales for Rogers Media’s specialty services Sportsnet, G4techTV and the Biography Channel is moving to the Mount Pleasant Road side of the downtown Toronto Rogers campus as associate publisher of Maclean’s magazine.
Her last day is today and her replacement has yet to be announced. She begins her new gig on Monday, April 2.
In a note to clients and friends, Osborne said: "After six years in the Affiliate Group, I am moving to a new position at Rogers…
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