OTTAWA – TSN and RDS will now have the right to add a little drama and comedy programming to its schedule thanks to a pair of CRTC decisions rendered Thursday.
The two Bell Globemedia-owned all-sports channels had petitioned the Commission to let them add some beyond-the-niche programming and the request was granted, in part.
While they can air some shows from category 7, “(t)he licensee is required, by condition of licence, to ensure that programming from category 7 comprises no more than 5% of any broadcast week, that all category 7 programming is Canadian, and that all category 7…
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TORONTO – Bell Canada and Starbucks Coffee Canada announced they’ll make wireless Internet service available in Starbucks coffee shops across Canada.
Company-operated Starbucks’ will offer Wi-Fi Internet access beginning with an Ontario rollout this week to 140 store. Rogers has had a similar service in place with Second Cup outlets since February of this year.
Bell says the demand for this service was confirmed by the latest edition of the Bell Canada Consumer Survey, conducted by Ipsos Reid, which said that the number of Canadian wireless Internet users is expected to more than double over the next year -…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC Wednesday extended the commentary process on the cable industry’s request to kill the mandatory carriage requirement of local FM radio stations.
As first reported by www.cartt.ca, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association has asked the CRTC to repeal section 22 of the Broadcast Distribution Regulations which say that Class 1 and 2 cable systems must carry all local FM stations in their market on their cable plant.
The CCTA told the Commission that about 4% of cable subscribers listen to the radio over cable and that its members could better use the plant capacity to…
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HALIFAX – Every fall the fine folks at EastLink play host to dozens of programming and technical suppliers who fly in from Toronto (mostly) to pay the company a visit and pass on a few things to the their employees – and then play a little golf.
This year’s one-day educational forum was entitled: “The Future Is Now” and is designed every year to be both interactive and educational with EastLink learning sessions in the morning and presentations from the programming community after lunch. Continue Reading
HOW COME NO ONE thought of this before?
The amount of programming and the number of people involved in “combatant sports” like Karate or Tae Kwon Do, or wrestling or boxing – or even boxing-style exercise training – is big. The number of fans of those sports just swell the ranks of potential viewers and Canada’s love of hockey fights is legendary. We have The Golf Channel, Speed Channel, the Tennis Channel (U.S. only), The NHL Network and NFL Network. Funny how there hasn’t been a boxing or martial arts channel….
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GRAVENHURST, Ont. – The final day of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance annual general meeting last Thursday was both informative and thirst-quenching.
While the first day was all about a trade show and golf, as reported by www.cartt.ca, day two was education-focused.
After hearing in the morning from lawyer Purdy Crawford on the value of leadership and American Cable Association president Matthew Polka on what’s up Stateside, Canadian Digital Television president and high definition missionary Michael McEwen outlined recent progress in HD deployment.
Most of his figures were out of the U.S.
Ninety percent…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media’s Jack FM Toronto dropped its entire roster of on-air talent in a purge last week that does not indicate the station is moving towards a format flip.
That’s according to 92.5 program director Pat Cardinal, who chatted with www.cartt.ca last week. He insisted the station is not flipping and will not revert to all-Christmas music, as some stations in the market have done for the past few years.
The hosts let go “are all fine broadcasters,” said Cardinal, who added the station is just going in a new direction. Many of the Jack formats in…
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TORONTO – With preliminary numbers in for the third quarter, Rogers Communications issued a press release today adjusting its subscriber results for the rest of the year, upwards, of course.
“Rogers is adjusting its 2005 full year guidance for total wireless voice and data net subscriber additions, including postpaid and prepaid retail subscribers, to approximately 600,000 to 650,000, increased from a range of 450,000 to 500,000. Additionally, high speed Internet net subscriber additions are expected to be approximately 165,000 to 195,000, increased from a range of 140,000 to 170,000,” reads the release.
Even basic cable subs went from a…
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TORONTO – Rogers Telecom Inc. announced today that it has acquired most of the Group Telecom assets in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia from Bell Canada, finishing a transaction announced on May 2, 2005.
The transaction – which was originally signed by Call-Net (Sprint Canada) is part of Call-Net’s acquisition of the 360networks Corporation (360/GT) customer base in Eastern Canada from Bell Canada, originally announced on November 22, 2004.
Specifically, Rogers Telecom has completed the transaction to acquire approximately 3,300 route kilometres of multi-stranded local and regional fibre, switching infrastructure, incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) co-locations and point-of-presence (POP)…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable and Warner Bros. announced today that the studio’s films are now available on the video on demand platform.
“The addition of this major Hollywood studio means the availability of movies such as Million Dollar Baby, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, Constantine, and Alexander,” says the press release.
VOD is a key competitive advantage for Rogers since its satellite competitors can not offer the service and Rogers has been aggressive in adding content to its VOD servers. "Since launching our On Demand services in 2002, the library of titles has rapidly increased to over 2000 titles,”…
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