TORONTO – MTV announced Tuesday that the first phase of MTV programming is now available for free on the Rogers On Demand service and as a FreeVu on Bell ExpressVu.
Rogers digital cable customers with a digital box can access MTV’s most popular programs for free, including Laguna Beach Season One, Real World: Austin and Viva La Bam. More hit MTV series to be added in the following months, including Jackass, Pimp My Ride, Punk’d, Wild ‘n Out and Wildboyz, with additional titles to be added to the Rogers on Demand library in the new year.
Also today, MTV…
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MONTREAL – TVA Group’s net income since the start of fiscal 2006 is $10.7 million, down 37% over the first half of 2005.
"Our industry continues to be affected by market fragmentation and by a difficult advertising market," said TVA Group president and CEO Pierre Dion. "Despite this challenging situation, however, TVA Network once again enjoyed excellent audience ratings, with the BBM results showing that it posted a 27.4% market share and broadcasted 19 of the 30 most-watched shows. Our specialty channels continue to demonstrate a good progression of their operating income, despite the loss recorded by our new…
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Ted spins things cable’s way During his conference call this week with financial analysts to present the company’s very strong second quarter results, Rogers Communications founder and CEO Ted Rogers lit into Bell (again) for daring to complain about regulation. During the call Rogers grumbled that the distribution rules between cable and satellite are still different – and more favorable to DTH companies when compared to cable.
While a case can be made for that, one can’t be made for what he said next when he insisted that Canadian satellite companies have used those rules to take cable customers…
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MONTREAL – No big money increases. No huge financial hits seems to summarize the year so far for Bell Canada Enterprises.
It’s losing local phone customers (134,000) in the second quarter of 2006, ended June 30th, and adding others in video (19,000 adds in the quarter), wireless (90,000) and high speed Internet (47,000).
However, overall growth was slower in the quarter in all segments. Bell now has 1.75 million video customers (mostly Bell ExpressVu), 5.6 million wireless customers and 2.3 million Internet customers.
BCE’s total revenues of $4.8 billion in the quarter increased 1% over the same period last…
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TORONTO – Nick Kypreos, fast becoming the face of Rogers Sportsnet’s hockey coverage, has signed a new multi-year deal with Rogers Sportsnet to continue as a feature hockey analyst with Hockeycentral and sportsnetnews.
A Sportsnet original, the former NHL winger (known more for his knuckle work than stick work) joined the network when it launched back in October of 1998. Kypreos had stops in Washington, Hartford, New York and Toronto, and has become "a cornerstone of the Hockeycentral brand," says the channel.
There are also rumors of a radio gig at another Rogers media outlet, Toronto’s FAN 590, but…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable will make speeds of 18 Mbps available to its customers in the fourth quarter of this year, the company announced today.
The service, Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Elite, will have a monthly fee of $99.95 and will include 100 GB of storage. Customers of this service will be able to purchase additional bandwidth for a charge of $1.25 per GB.
This new service will be offered in Rogers Cable service areas where the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Extreme service is currently available. Customers may choose to either rent or purchase the modem.
www.rogers.com
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TORONTO – After a year’s absence from Toronto radio, Mix 99.9 announced it has hired "Mad Dog and Billie" as its new Morning Show hosts. Jay "Mad Dog" Michaels and Billie Holiday will take over as the new Mix Morning Show August 8th, 2006.
The pair replace "Humble" Howard Glassman, who was fired from the Standard Radio station over two weeks ago.
The duo’s first shift will coincide with the official first day back from the Mix Summer Vacation, where the station has been running DJ-free since Glassman was let go.
In one of the more ill-fated moves in…
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OTTAWA – With several video distributors now asking to add the satellite radio channels from XM Canada or Sirius Canada to their respective channel lineups, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters has asked the CRTC to take a close look at the applications.
Responding to a request made by Bell Canada earlier this year to add the satellite radio signals to its terrestrial TV channel lineups, the CAB said "the application focuses attention on one of the fundamental principles of the Canadian broadcasting system, i.e. the requirement for a predominance of Canadian services, and that therefore a number of matters…
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TORONTO – With the City of Toronto about ready to begin its launch of free city-wide wireless Internet access, Rogers Communications CEO Ted Rogers sounded off about the project today.
Speaking with financial analysts about the company’s strong second quarter results (see related stories), Rogers doubted the City’s WiFi build-out (where the municipal-owned Toronto Hydro Telecom is installing transmitters on light posts for a free, pan-city service) will make much of a dent in his company’s business.
"The need for Internet is very very important in the rural areas," he added, but "the idea of a public body like…
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TORONTO – "We have no particular interest in the assets that have been publicly announced as being for sale, i.e. the A-Channels," Rogers Media president Tony Viner said this morning, addressing the CHUM Ltd. assets that will be divested, assuming the Bell Globemedia bid for the TV company passes regulatory tests.
As reported, BGM has said it will sell CHUM’s A-Channel mini-broadcast network after it purchases the company but while Viner isn’t interested in the TV assets, he did say he would look at any other assets that came up. "We’ll see if they fit our overall strategy,"…
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