TORONTO – As reported in April by Cartt.ca, Rogers Cable today officially launched Howard TV – Howard Stern’s on demand channel for digital cable.
"At Rogers, we are always looking to bring the latest on demand content to our customers. We understand Howard’s fans desire to see the King of All Media on their own time and now that it’s available on demand with Personal TV, our customers can watch what they want when they want," said David Purdy, vice-president and general manager, Television for Rogers Cable.
Howard TV is – like the radio show – an eclectic mix…
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TORONTO – Name display is a neat technology that has been available to wireline telephony customers for years and as of today, is now available to Rogers Wireless customers.
A first in North America, says the company, the new wireless service will allow customers of both Rogers Wireless and Fido to see the name of the person calling, even if the person is not in their mobile address book. "Name display is one of the most popular services available on landline phones and Rogers Wireless is proud to be the first wireless company to offer it in North America,"…
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TORONTO – The 30-second ad just isn’t going to cut it for radio in the on-line world.
Canadian Broadcast Sales, a joint partnership with Corus Entertainment and Rogers Media, says that after an informal survey, it is sure that podcasting will be the next big thing for radio – but to be successful, the ad model must be re-created. Podcasting is, after all, an opt-in form of media.
“Some stations are already using podcasts, but because the concept is less than two years old we’re really just starting to understand its potential,” said Patrick Grierson, president of CBS.
“Thirty…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable has added ProSiebenSat 1.Welt to its lineup of digital channels, service owner Ethnic Channels Group announced today.
A free preview of the channel will be available to all Rogers Digital Cable customers in Ontario until July 6th. Rogers Digital Cable customers will be able to purchase ProSiebenSat 1.Welt, for $14.95/month.
ProSiebenSat 1.Welt is a 24-hour-a-day German-language TV channel featuring all German TV programming.
"We’re thrilled to launch ProSiebenSat 1.Welt on Rogers Digital Cable," says Slava Levin, ECGL’s president and CEO. "Our years of experience in the multicultural television and broadcast industry will allow us to…
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TORONTO – Comcast-owned cable channel G4 has acquired CHUM Television’s strange and silly “Ed the Sock’s Night Party!”
The half-hour show will air on G4 (formerly G4techTV, formerly Tech TV), which is available in nearly 60 million U.S. households via cable and satellite. The program airs Wednesdays at 12:30 a.m. ET/PT as part of the channel’s “Midnight Spank” late night programming block.
G4 in Canada, of course, (a partnership between Rogers Media, Shaw Communications and Comcast), will not be airing the show here. The abrasively funny, cigar-chomping, green-haired, politically incorrect toe enclosure will remain on Citytv and other CHUM outlets in…
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OTTAWA – With re-comments re-due today on the CRTC’s reconsideration of its 2005 decision on voice over IP telephony regulation, three of the four largest Canadian MSOs came down on the side of the Commission in a joint submission filed this afternoon.
Last month, the Federal Cabinet told the CRTC it had to re-think the decision it made on VOIP telephony and have a decision – again – within 120 days of the May 7th announcement. The cabinet edict was in response to appeals filed by all but one of Canada’s incumbent telephone companies.
Cogeco Cable, Quebecor Media’s…
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OTTAWA – Cable and satellite companies can now advertise their Internet and voice offerings on CNN, A&E, SpikeTV and other American cable channels, the CRTC has ruled.
The American channels make two minutes per hour available for local ad sales – which is a multi-billion-dollar business for U.S. MSOs. However, Canadian cable companies are not allowed, by regulation, to sell the time here.
Seventy-five percent of the time has to be given – at cost – to Canadian broadcasters, while 25% of the time could be used to promote cable’s video offerings – meaning the cablecos could not advertise…
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TORONTO – The Christian Channel announced that Star Choice has begun to carry the digital channel owned by S-VOX, the same company which owns Vision TV.
Launched in October 2005 as the country’s first nationally licensed digital television service for Christian viewers, as of today the channel will be available to 850,000 Star Choice subscribers coast to coast, starting on June 1. It will be carried on channel 399 and on Star Choice’s "basic" package.
With the addition on the Star Choice platform, The Christian Channel may now be available to small cable companies as well, which get distant…
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ONE OF THE FIRST EVENTS I attended in this industry was a Christmas-timed "convergence party" at a company called Digital Renaissance in the fall of 1997.
This company and other like-thinking enterprises were about to change television as we know it. The revolution was afoot. I remember a bunch of high-ranking Bell Canada people were there, so we mostly took it seriously. There were many breathless chats about how TV as we knew it was over.
Well, as we all now know, that talk wasn’t technically wrong. It was just waaay too soon.
However, Digital Renaissance weathered the explosion…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said Monday that it won’t be moving into the regulation of access to the inside wiring of commercial properties such as hotels and nursing homes.
The potential for such regulation arose from a dispute (what else?) between Bell ExpressVu and Rogers Cable. In February 2005, the DTH company asked for an expedited resolution on its complaint that Rogers was contravening section 10 of the Broadcast Distribution Regulations by not allowing access to its plant inside such buildings.
The Commission instead called for comments on possible regulatory amendments to section 10, which really speaks only to…
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