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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MONCTON – Ted Rogers love of launching new products on Canada Day continues.
While last year’s launches and announcements were a little larger, this time Rogers Cable will begin offering residential telephone service to residents of Greater Moncton, Fredericton and Saint John starting July 1, 2006.
What will likely catch the most attention down east is that the company announced the whole province of New Brunswick will be a local calling zone. Rogers customers will not be required to dial "1" before the number, so calling from Moncton to Edmundston will be a local call.
"Not only are we opening…
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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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TORONTO – John H. Clappison has been added to the board of directors at Rogers Communications.
Ted Rogers, president and CEO, and Alan Horn, chair announced the appointment on Monday.
Clappison is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and has had an extensive and successful business career. He was most recently the Greater Toronto Area Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers and sits on a number of corporate boards. Clappison is also active in the community with the Shaw Festival and St. Michael’s Hospital.
He will also become a member of the Audit Committee of RCI.
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GATINEAU – The CRTC on Friday announced that it’s renewing the transitional digital radio licences for another 12 months for some 73 stations in large centres across Canada.
The commission is extending the licence terms from Sept. 1, 2006 to Aug. 31, 2007, to buy time while it develops its new commercial radio policy, following its extensive public hearing held last month in Gatineau, and while it makes changes to its transitional digital radio policy, introduced in 1995.
The licences allow existing stations to operate a digital audio broadcasting signal. Of the 73 licences, 20 are not yet on…
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TORONTO – There’s no business like show business, as meteorologist Harold Hosein has found out. The 17-year veteran weatherman on Toronto’s Citytv told The Sun that he was fired with no reason last weekend.
A Citytv spokesperson told cartt.ca in an email that “Harold is no longer with us. He has decided to move on. He is launching a new business venture in the fall.”
According to the Sun report, Hosein has no plans to start his own business. "I didn’t leave, I was pushed out," he is quoted as saying.
The 66-year-old was apparently shoved aside…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable is launching the Rogers Yahoo! portable Internet service for wireless access in 20 cities across Canada.
The service is plug and play, requiring a specially designed modem to be connected to a computer and a power source. It uses wireless technology to transmit signals to and from the special modem, without phone or cable lines.
It offers download speeds of up to 1.5 mbps, and upload speeds of 256 kbps, which is up to 25 times faster than dial-up Internet service, Rogers says.
It uses a non line-of-sight wireless broadband network currently available in Greater Vancouver…
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TORONTO – Sports broadcaster James Cybulski will be joining TSN as a Toronto reporter on SportsCentre, starting July 1. He’ll be covering major sports stories in city, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays, and Argonauts, as well as national and international sporting events.
Cybulski had spent the past eight years as a reporter at The Score. He’s also worked at several Ottawa area radio stations, hosted a weekly show about the Ottawa Senators on Rogers Television, and was the public address announcer at Ottawa 67’s games. He’s covered two Olympic Games, three IIHF World Junior Championships, four…
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TORONTO – JACK FM in Toronto will be participating in the city’s annual Pride Parade this Sunday as a “major” radio sponsor of the 2006 Pride celebrations.
The station will have its special events vehicle, mascot, and representatives in the parade. It will also have a booth on Church Street in the heart of the gay village with JACK reps handing out free limited edition JACK slinkies to the first 5,000 people to visit the booth featuring a rainbow logo, the international symbol of gay support.
“We’re proud to support the gay community and show our support of Pride…
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EVERY VOICE OVER IP CALL that is routed through the PSTN is a lost opportunity, says Dr. Baruch Sterman, CEO of Kayote Networks, a company which can provide and operate a complete VOIP system for any size broadband operator.
Cable companies and other VOIP companies should be peering, he says, working together to make sure that calls placed on a cable system, for example, are routed over IP from cable company to cable company. Not only will it save money, but it will boost the feature set.
Every call that hits the PSTN will have features VOIP providers would…
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