Search Results for: rogers

Cable / Telecom News

OPINION: Bridges TV supporters continue bully tactics with bogus claims

PUBLICLY CALLING OUT SOMEONE as a bigot is generally considered a poor way to build a business relationship with them. However, the folks at English language Muslim channel Bridges TV, for whatever reason, believe this is their best chance at gaining carriage in Canada. And, not only have supporters of the channel labeled Rogers Communications, its founder Ted Rogers, and TV vice-president David Purdy as Islamophobic hate-mongers – claims that are wholly absurd – they’re also playing fast and loose with the facts. Following up on a screed released October 18th, several Canadian Muslim groups said that a… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Rogers launches high speed wireless

TORONTO – Saying it makes the company the fastest wireless carrier in Canada, Rogers Wireless today launched high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) technology – its next generation voice and data network. Available for now throughout Ontario’s "Golden Horseshoe", the debut of HSDPA places the company among the first operators in the world to deploy this latest evolution of GSM, the dominant global standard for mobile wireless communications with over two billion users worldwide, says the company. HSDPA is a 3.5G protocol for mobile data transmission that, says the release, "significantly improves data transfer rates, enabling network users to download… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Persona, Rogers, Allstream to team up for a new link to the Rock

ST. JOHN’s – A recent fire that knocked out all phone service for about 150,000 Newfoundland homes for about five hours drove home the point to residents of Canada’s easternmost province that they need another telecom option. Today, the province (whose premier is former Cable Atlantic owner Danny Williams) announced it will spend $15 million on a new fully redundant fibre optic cable link from St. John’s to Halifax, N.S. The provincial government won’t be the only one spending. A consortium consisting of Persona Communications, a national rural cable operator based in St. John’s that provides video and data… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

NET NEUTRALITY: Videotron CEO calls for Internet transmission tariff

OTTAWA – Just like Proctor and Gamble pays Loblaws for a front-and-centre placement in the laundry detergent aisle for Bounce dryer sheets, so should companies like Google or Apple or Amazon have to pay ISPs like Videotron for transmitting their goods to consumers along the Internet backbone. In a speech Tuesday at the Fourth Annual Telecommunications Forum in Ottawa, Dépatie’s speech just might rip the lid off the so-called "net neutrality" debate in Canada. On one side we have sectors of consumers fearing their unfettered access to the Internet will be disrupted (or unduly influenced by who pays the… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Rogers Media: “growth across all divisions”

TORONTO – The radio, TV, publishing and baseball division of Rogers Communications can get a little lost in the much larger cable, Internet, telecom and wireless assets, but Rogers Media is pulling its weight, too, the company said today. In the third quarter, ended September 30th, operating revenue was up 12.2% to $319.3 million while operating profit jumped 17.1% to $39 million. The increases in Media revenues… reflect growth across all of Media’s divisions," says the press release. "These increases include higher advertising revenue in Publishing and Radio, and at Sportsnet where the Toronto Blue Jays games and World… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

At RCI, everything grows, including dividend. Stock splits

TORONTO – Net income tripled, revenue climbed 15%, operating profit jumped 33%, subscribers in all segments are up – these are heady days for Rogers Communications. Consolidated revenue grew to $2.35 billion in the third quarter, ended September 30th, while consolidated operating profit rose to $784 million driving operating profit margin up 460 basis points. Net income in the quarter was $154 million, up from $48.9 million in Q3 2005. For the first nine months, revenue increased 23.4% to $6.6 billion, OP went up 30.2% to $2.1 billion and net income went from $22.1 million over the first three… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

SCTE Ontario board noms open

TORONTO – The Ontario Chapter of SCTE is looking to add additional strong leaders to its board of directors. The chapter has grown substantially since it’s inception in mid-2003. The bylaws require six board members, elected for two-year terms, with three board members replaced each year in order to provide continuity. Laura O’Hare (White Radio), Robin McIntyre (Rogers), and Rob McCann (Clearcable) have reached the end of their two-year term. John Anderson (Telcordia), Boris Eventov (Cogeco) and Bruce Marshall (Mountain Cable) will remain until the end of 2007. All current Ontario members can nominate candidates for the board. Nominees… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Quebec stations remain a challenge for Corus; re-financing charge hits year-end numbers

TORONTO – Corus Radio took a bit of a hit in fiscal 2006, company execs said Thursday while reporting the parent company’s year-end results. "We had another excellent quarter for our television division, driven by strong ratings and subscriber growth for our brands. Our content business continued to post positive results and radio remained strong outside Québec, where we are integrating newly acquired stations," said Corus Entertainment president and CEO John Cassaday. Consolidated revenues for the fourth quarter ended August 31, 2006 were $185 million, up 6% from last year’s Q4. Consolidated segment profit was $44.5 million, up 5% from… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Quebecers must dial 10 as of Saturday; new area code coming

MONTREAL – As if remembering to turn the clock back an hour isn’t enough, many Quebecers also have to remember to dial all 10 digits come Saturday. This marks the end of the four-month transition period implemented to get users out of the habit of dialing only seven digits (Ed note: We even remember the good ol’ days of only having to dial five). The intercept message and automatic call rerouting will be eliminated as well. The Telecommunications Alliance (www.dial10.ca) is issuing its final notice to anyone who has still not started using 10 digits to dial local… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Rogers adds more ethnic channels

TORONTO – Rogers Cable added five specialty channels to its line-up of multicultural programming. These five new channels – Indus Vision (Pakistan), Sahara One (India), Channel One Russia, as well as previously announced TV Chile and Azteca 13 Internacional (Mexico) – will expand the choices available to Rogers Personal TV subscribers, who already have access to Canada’s largest digital cable offering including more than 50 multicultural channels offered in 24 languages. Available today across Ontario, these specialty channels offer diversified programming in their respective languages including Urdu, Hindi, Russian and Spanish. The new channels can be ordered individually, for… Continue Reading