GATINEAU – The CRTC is considering requests from Videotron and Rogers Cable to add more foreign channels to the list of eligible satellite non-Canadian services that can be carried here on digital.
The commission is calling for comments on the proposed addition of seven services, described below from the cablecos’ proposals.
From Videotron:
* XXL, a service from France, entirely in the French language and offering adult content, mainly erotic films, series, and magazine programs programmed in a four-hour block that is repeated throughout the broadcast day, seven days a week.
From Rogers:
* De Pelicula Channel, a niche…
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NEW YORK – The new CBS comedy series “The Class” will debut on TiVo before it makes its network premiere, becoming the first show to do that.
While other series have pre-launched via a DVD or the Internet, The Class is the first to give viewers a jump on full-length episodes via a personal video recorder.
TiVo subscribers will be able to watch The Class up to a week before it premieres on CBS on Sept. 18. They’ll also be able to get preview clips—but not entire episodes—of three new CBS shows, “Jericho” starring Skeet Ulrich and Gerald McRaney,…
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VANCOUVER – Rogers Sportsnet has signed a multi-year agreement with the Vancouver Canucks to broadcast more games than any other outlet.
The 2006-2007 NHL season will see Sportsnet air 45 Nucks games on Sportsnet Pacific, which is available to viewers in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.
“The Canucks and Sportsnet have been partners since the launch of our channel eight years ago and this new agreement ensures that relationship will continue into the future, to the benefit of the Canucks fans throughout British Columbia,” said Doug Beeforth, President of Rogers Sportsnet, in a statement.
The length of the…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media has applied to start its own pay audio service to compete with Galaxie and Max Trax.
In its application to the CRTC, Rogers proposes to operate a pay audio service with at least 30 channels, available through the digital set-top box, providing commercial-free music in a variety of formats, similar to the existing services.
If approved, and the service is carried by Rogers Cable, the cableco would have to carry a third-party pay audio service because of the affiliation, Rogers noted in its application.
The Rogers Media application did not make a clear case for…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications Inc. has signed a multi-year partnership with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to be its preferred supplier for telecom services, including wireless voice and data, landline telephone, cable television, and Internet access.
RCI already has a lock on the Toronto Blue Jays, and is moving into other major sports by becoming a platinum sponsor of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Marlies, as well as the recently launched Toronto FC soccer club. Rogers will have sponsorship rights within the Air Canada Centre and Maple Leaf Square, a sports and entertainment development next to the ACC…
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TORONTO – By the end of this year, more Canadians will have broadband than cable TV.
That it just one of the points Rogers Communications made in its submission to the CRTC today on the future environment facing the Canadian broadcast system. As instructed by Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda in a speech at the Banff TV Fest, the CRTC is conducting a broad ranging proceeding which is looking for input on the impact that new technologies are having on how Canadians access audio-visual content and the impact that is having and will have on the Canadian broadcasting…
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OTTAWA – The VOIP decision will stand, with a "but".
Today the CRTC re-affirmed its May 2005 decision on voice over Internet protocol. Federal cabinet told the Commission in May of this year to reconsider that decision after all but one of Canada’s ILEC’s filed an appeal.
However, because of the sheer speed in which Canada’s incumbent local exchange carriers are losing customers, the Commission did signal it’s prepared to alter course when it deems necessary and will already re-examine its March 2006 decision on local forbearance.
Specifically, it "declared that competition in local telephone service is…
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TORONTO – Yeah, we know it wasn’t called "Sportsline" anymore, but that’s how Ontario sports fans of a certain age will remember it.
We fondly recall the years in which Jim Tatti (the dignified one with the cool delivery) and Mark Hebscher (the kooky one with the oft-intense delivery) were the co-hosts. It was a fun show highlighting the best of every day at a time when sports wasn’t so, well, big.
Yesterday, CanWest Global cancelled its 11:30 p.m. sports show after 25 years on the air (which had changed its name to "Global Sports" a while back) and let…
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OTTAWA – There’s a regulatory skirmish crawling through the CRTC right now over who gets to program for the diaper and rattle set (think Baby Einstein-type of shows and not as old as Dora the Explorer).
While the potential new viewers spend a lot of time asleep or with their fingers up their noses, pondering the mystery of their blankie, the positions drawn by the parties are as old as Canadian TV regulation. One side (usually a cable company) wants a foreign channel in. The other (usually a programmer) wants it kept out so it can launch its own service in…
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WHO COULD BLAME CANADIAN lawyer Richard Warman for taking a shot with the CRTC last week? What would you do if someone used the web to threaten to kill you, or urge others to do it? Use as many tools as might be at your disposal to protect yourself, I should think.
As you may have read in a number of media reports over the past few days, an Virginia man, Bill White, has called for the Ottawa man’s death (and the death of all Jews, for that matter) and even posted his home address, too, in case someone…
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