THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS are the most valuable, most talked about, most loved sports team in English Canada.
Launching a TV channel that’s all Leafs, all the time, was a no-brainer for team brass back in 2001. But without any games, LeafsTV left a little something to be desired, say viewers, and says executive producer and vice-president programming John Shannon (right).
That changes this season (and was supposed to last year, but for the NHL lockout) as LeafsTV will have a total of 21 Toronto Maple Leaf games – eight pre-season matchups and 13 regular season tilts – to…
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OTTAWA – With the hearings on the new pay television applicants scheduled for next month, the two major associations have weighed in with their comments.
While expressing no opinion on the merits of the applications, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters told the CRTC in its submission that since the applications force it to consider altering its policy of licensing just one Canadian specialty or pay service per genre – or in this case, per region – that a separate hearing needs to be held.
As reported by www.cartt.ca, four new applicants will face the Commission October 24th…
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MONTREAL and TORONTO – Quebecor-owned MSO Videotron will join the quadruple play club in 2006 by adding wireless service on the Rogers Wireless network.
The two companies today announced the signing of a strategic relationship agreement that will enable the Quebec cable company to offer consumers television, broadband Internet, cable telephony and Videotron branded mobile wireless services.
Videotron will operate as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or MVNO, utilizing wireless voice and data services provided by Rogers Wireless across its GSM/GPRS network. This is the same arrangement Virgin Mobile Canada has with Bell Mobility.
The company plans to launch…
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GATINEAU – This sounds something like the Spike TV debate.
In January this year Discovery Wings changed its name to The Military Channel and significantly altered its programming. Soon after, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association asked for a change in the eligible satellite list to reflect the switch.
The CCTA has submitted that the Commission’s current authorization to distribute Discovery Wings extends to The Military Channel. The U.S. channel is owned by Discovery Communications.
On Monday, however, the CRTC issued a call for comments on the CCTA’s request to alter the list. The channel remains on the digital…
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BURLINGTON – Cable technology distributor White Radio announced today that Laura O’Hare has been hired as national product development manager for the company’s communications division.
O’Hare has extensive cable industry experience. Most recently, she was manager of the engineering technology integration lab at Rogers Cable. Her responsibilities there included national lab testing activities as well as integration and verification of technology. The positions that she held at Rogers – manager, engineering technology verification and support and technical specialist, outside plant engineering – “will be of significant value in the understanding of her customers requirements now and in the future,”…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – Rogers Communications and Bell Canada today said they will jointly build and manage a Canada-wide wireless broadband network.
The network is expected to initially reach more than two-thirds of Canadians in less than three years. The companies will pool their wireless broadband spectrum holdings into a joint venture, Inukshuk Internet Inc., which will build and operate the network. Once built, Canada will have one of the most robust and extensive wireless broadband networks in the world.
Normally enemies on many competitive fronts, Bell and Rogers decided to get together on this project to split the…
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REGINA – NFL Network, the 24/7 all National Football League channel, was launched this week by Access Communications.
Access customers in Regina with a digital cable package will automatically receive NFL Network on channel 98 at no additional cost.
This is in addition to the three Rogers Sportsnet regional channels and 40 commercial-free music channels the co-operative’s digital customers already enjoy at no charge, says the company’s release.
"Sports fans are a passionate group – especially football fans. When NFL Network launched in the U.S. in 2003, we immediately heard from our customers that this was a channel they…
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TORONTO – The Ontario Hockey League, along with Rogers Cable and Cogeco Cable today announced the 2005-06 broadcast schedule of games for the OHL Action Pak.
The schedule includes an unprecedented 439 game broadcasts through the 2005-06 regular season schedule. Additional broadcasts will be announced during the 2006 OHL Playoffs.
The OHL Action Pak on Rogers and Cogeco was introduced last November and offers Digital Cable subscribers throughout Ontario and New Brunswick with more Ontario Hockey League game coverage than ever before.
In addition to the OHL Action Pak, live OHL broadcasts of local games can be seen live…
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TORONTO – 680News reporter Scott Simpson is moving to Halifax as a key on-air host for Rogers Media’s newest radio stations.
He’ll be a drive-time guy in Halifax, according to some on-air 680 banter this morning, where it was announced he’s leaving. Rogers is opening three new radio stations this fall in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Known for his often off-beat stories on the station, Simpson joined Rogers’ 680News in early 1994 while a student at Ryerson University’s Radio & Television Arts program, says his bio on the station’s web site.
“He eschews sesquipedalian verbiage with a…
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TORONTO – Sonic hit the shelves this week, a new music magazine developed by Max Trax, Galaxie and Toronto-based ad agency ZiG. It’s a free bilingual consumer publication “for music lovers with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to constantly expand their music collection,” says the press release. Sonic (Volume I, Issue I, at right) will be distributed to all Canadian cable and satellite providers beginning the week of September 12.
The 20-page premiere issue features rock icons U2 on the cover, as well as articles looking at seven genres of music found throughout the…
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