GATINEAU – The CRTC has approved requests to show VOD and PPV programs that include commercials if they were already aired on Canadian TV and the show is offered for free to subscribers.
The commission will amend the licence for the Bell ExpressVu’s Vu! on-demand and pay-per-view services, and Cogeco’s VOD service, to allow this limited use of advertising.
Bell ExpressVu said the amendment would allow it to compete equally with other Canadian VOD services and evolving PPV media. Cogeco said it would be in the public interest.
Rogers Cable supported the move in its intervention to the commission,…
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"REGULATORY APPROVAL" are the two stock words every media sale announcement made in Canada has attached to it. As in: "Agreement XYZ will close after the required regulatory approval."
Wednesday’s big buy is no different as it will have to pass under the Competition Bureau’s and CRTC’s magnifying glasses, smudged and cracked as they appear to be sometimes. In the official release, Bell Globemedia and CTV CEO Ivan Fecan said: "With regulatory approval, we intend to serve Canadian audiences with both CTV and Citytv stations."
This time, though, that particular sentence means regulatory approval will only be able to come…
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TORONTO – All the newfangled communications technology in the world can’t get around a shovel through a fibre line.
Many Rogers Wireless Blackberry users were without service for about three hours Wednesday after a fibre cut to an Allstream line. Allstream connects Research In Motion to Rogers Wireless Blackberry subscribers and their devices. (Ed note: We’re a little surprised there isn’t better redundancy built into this part of an important system in order to get around such problems more easily.)
Rogers has about 200,000 Blackberry subscribers in Ontario and it’s not clear how many were affected. The disruption did…
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OTTAWA – Saying it needs to enhance its prospects among potential viewers and BDUs, Catholic TV channel Salt and Light wants to change to an English specialty service.
The category 2 digital channel targets Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Filipino, English and French-speaking audiences. Its conditions of license say that no more than 20% of its programming can be English or French.
The application requests Salt and Light be able to air 60% English with the rest dedicated to French and third language programming, which will also include Cantonese shows.
"The licensee indicates that reducing the amount of third-language…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable is now offering Baby TV in Canada on demand.
Baby TV On Demand is an assortment of educational programs (usually eight minutes or so in length, befitting short attention spans) dedicated to babies and their parents. Rogers customers with a digital box can access Baby TV On Demand, under the "Kids" folder, on channel 100 in Ontario and New Brunswick.
"Baby TV offers parents programming for their babies and toddlers up to age three. Created in collaboration with child psychologists and development experts, Baby TV is designed to inspire, excite and promote learning," says the…
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TORONTO – The 25-54 demographic – which spans from Boomers to Gen Xers and Gen-Y and other trendy demo divisional names – continues to grow in dominance, now capturing 63% of all national radio advertising dollars, says Canadian Broadcast sales.
In the third quarter, ended May 31st, the adults 25-54 demo alone represented almost 50% of spending, an increase of 1.2 share points over the previous year. Adding distinct categories for women 25-54 (8.7%) and men 25-54 (4.7%) brings the total age group spend to 63%.
"While the 25-54 age group is not truly a homogenous target group, radio’s…
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TORONTO – The number of soccer fans in Canada are gaining on the number of hockey fans, if the World Cup Final ratings are any indication.
While game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals drew 4.7 million viewers to CBC this spring, viewership of the final game of the World Cup peaked at 4 million viewers, CTV announced today.
"When Italy’s Fabio Grosso lined up his historic penalty kick, a record 4 million Canadians were watching in anticipation," says the press release. "When his Cup-winning goal lifted Italy into the history books, it capped the most watched World Cup…
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ONE UNINTENDED HAZARD of deregulation is that all other news outlets will be under-reporting the size of the Canadian cable industry this morning.
On Wednesday, the CRTC released the Canadian broadcast distribution industry’s statistical and financial summaries. But the report doesn’t include all distributors.
From 2004 to 2005, revenues, as well as number of subscribers, remained more or less constant for Class 1 cable carriers. However, with growing investments in voice over IP, for example – as evidenced in Shaw Communications’ third quarter report that said capex will rise at a good clip for the next 24 months…
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TORONTO – With every single game live and in high definition, the World Cup has been drawing big ratings for Canadian broadcasters Rogers Sportsnet and TSN.
As reported by Cartt.ca, the two sports networks got together to ensure coverage would be as deep as possible.
After two rounds of play, the networks’ live and encore broadcasts combined have attracted a record average audience of 550,000 viewers, eclipsing by 77% the previous benchmark recorded in France 1998 (310,000 viewers for the first two rounds).
The following ratings success stories can also be reported for live game broadcasts:
* TSN’s and…
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AS MORE AND MORE TV channels and data applications come on stream, there’s less and less bandwidth available on cable plants.
That’s where switched broadcast, or switched digital video, comes in. While the process is invisible to consumers, it can save up to 60% of a cable company’s bandwidth. Basically, it holds back channels that aren’t being watched from the network.
So, while two neighbors might watch the same TV stream of the British Open since the broadcast channel will nearly always be on, the Pet Network and other smaller channels will be held off the cable plant until…
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