By Ahmad Hathout
The News Forum allegedly entered into an affiliation agreement with Rogers knowing that the CRTC may grant it mandatory distribution, so it is inappropriate for the national news service to now ask the regulator to revisit the terms of that 2021 agreement after it was granted must-offer status, Rogers argues.
The ad-based service “understood the commercial implications of the Affiliation Agreement and was aware of the regulatory environment under which that Agreement would operate, and agreed to a period,” Rogers said in its April 14 response to The News Forum’s application to the CRTC…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday set a date for next month to hear an appeal challenging the CRTC’s decision to choose Quebecor’s rate to access Rogers’s wireless network.
The hearing will begin at 9:30 am on May 28 in Ottawa and will centre on Rogers’s contention that the regulator, in July 2023, chose a rate to access its wireless network during final offer arbitration that was “materially lower” than the rate it proposed, running offside of the “just and reasonable” provision of the Telecommunications Act.
The result, Rogers argues, is that the lower rate will not allow…
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Rogers announced Monday that, starting tonight, select NHL playoff games will be available in multiview mode, allowing Xfinity users to watch two games side-by-side on their televisions.
The free preview will start with the Colorado/Dallas (9:30 pm EST) and Edmonton/Los Angeles (10 pm EST) games. Tuesday will feature New Jersey/Carolina (6 pm EST), Ottawa/Toronto (7:30 pm EST), Florida/Tampa Bay (8:30 pm EST) and Minnesota/Las Vegas (11 pm EST). Wednesday will continue the Colorado/Dallas and Edmonton/Los Angeles series at the same times. Thursday will dish Florida/Tampa Bay (6:30 pm EST), Toronto/Ottawa (7 pm EST), Minnesota/Vegas (9 pm EST), and Winnipeg/St. Louis…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers says if OUTtv wants to be placed in a cable package with broader distribution, it must come to the negotiating table instead of asking the CRTC to intervene in what it says are squarely commercial matters.
Otherwise, the LGBTQ+ streamer is currently slotted in the best available theme pack that Rogers offers, which the cable giant argues is precisely what is contemplated for services that are designated as “must offer.”
Rogers is responding to an application by OUTtv that alleges the cable giant is violating Wholesale Code rules after it pushed the service out of its eastern Canadian…
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No details yet as to what the alleged breaches are
By Ahmad Hathout
Videotron is suing Rogers for $91 million over alleged breaches of contract in the sale of Freedom Mobile.
The six-page notice of action, which mentions only the claimed breaches without detail, was filed in Ontario Superior Court last Thursday — the two-year anniversary of the closing of Rogers’s acquisition of Shaw and Videotron’s purchase of Freedom.
Videotron is asking the court to order Rogers to “perform their obligations under the Share Purchase Agreement dated August 12, 2022,” which lays out the terms for Videotron buying the outstanding shares of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers announced Friday it has finalized an agreement to sell for $7 billion a 49.9 per cent stake in a portion of its wireless traffic transport infrastructure through a subsidiary to pay down debt.
The investors will be led by American asset manager Blackstone and include the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. Blackstone will also hold a 20 per cent voting stake.
Rogers, which will hold the rest of the shares including voting control, will continue to have full…
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Prior to announcing its new 12-year, $11B NHL media rights deal on Wednesday, Rogers Communications last week filed a number of trademark applications with the federal government’s Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO).
The trademarks include “Canada, It’s Our Game”, “It’s Our Game” and “This Is Our Game”. Rogers’s applications were filed March 27 and 28.
In each trademark application, Rogers’s statement of the goods and services associated with the respective trademarks included “Promotion of goods and services of others through sponsorship of sports…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers says it has been forced to plow millions of dollars to carry Corus channels it no longer sees as useful, and asked for assurances that, if it wins its case at the Federal Court of Appeal, it will be made whole.
The cable giant allegedly asked Corus in December whether it will reimburse Rogers if it wins its case challenging how the CRTC is applying the standstill rule to both parties in a commercial dispute wherein Rogers wants to remove at least one Corus service and move two others down the dial on cable.
Corus allegedly didn’t respond…
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Rogers and the National Hockey League announced Wednesday an $11-billion, 12-year agreement for the national media rights to NHL games on all platforms in Canada through the 2037-38 season.
Worth more than double the current $5.2-billion, 12-year media rights deal the two organizations signed in 2013, the new agreement will start with the 2026-27 NHL season.
The deal was first reported on Monday by Sportico.com, based on information from sources familiar with the details, the sports news website said.
Under the new agreement, NHL fans in Canada will have access…
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Rogers says the complaint is ‘completely without merit’
By Ahmad Hathout
A national news channel is alleging Rogers is unjustly keeping it from distribution to a broader cable audience, but the cable giant is calling the complaint meritless.
The News Forum, which was granted mandatory distribution on cable in 2022, alleges that, unlike its competitors, it has been denied equal access by being excluded from Rogers’s legacy or grandfathered cable packages.
Before it received mandatory distribution under the Broadcasting Act’s 9.1(1)(h) rule, the independent news service negotiated its current distribution agreement with Rogers as an exempt undertaking the year before. But while it…
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