Rogers charges OUTtv using regulatory system to stop it from making commercial decisions
By Ahmad Hathout
LGBTQ+ TV broadcaster and streamer OUTtv is alleging Rogers is violating Wholesale Code rules by shuffling the network into a less popular cable TV package.
The subscription-based service is alleging in a Part 1 application dated March 5 that the cable company is violating section 9 of the code by not putting the network in the “best available” package, negatively impacting its wholesale fee revenue. The complaint alleges that Rogers shuffled the service it must carry out of a “Premier” package and “into a different and…
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Telus and Rogers have reached a distribution agreement for the latter’s new Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, Investigation Discovery, Bravo and Magnolia channels.
Telus announced Wednesday its Optik TV customers are now getting an exclusive free preview of Rogers’s premium lifestyle and entertainment channels until April 14.
Starting April 11, Optik TV customers will be able to add the individual channels to their existing plan for $5 each or choose from two theme packs: Food & Home for $10 per month, which includes Food Network, Magnolia Network and HGTV; or Discovery & Reality, also $10 per month, which includes Bravo, Discovery and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday granted Rogers its request to appeal two decisions of the CRTC that froze its ability to move certain Corus channels in its cable packages.
Rogers had provided notice that it was terminating its carriage agreement with Corus by the end of 2024 and, as part of that, wants to remove Corus’s Slice from certain television packages and replace the media company’s Flavour and Home networks with its own Food Network and HGTV so customers, it says, are not scrambling to find the American programming it…
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The CRTC on Tuesday opened a proceeding to review Rogers Communications’ acquisition of NBA TV (Canada) as part of the cable giant’s larger acquisition of Bell Canada’s 37.5-per-cent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE).
After announcing its proposed $4.7-billion deal with Bell in September, Rogers applied in November for authority to acquire control of Toronto Raptors Network Ltd. (TRNL), licensee of the English-language NBA TV (Canada) discretionary service, according to the CRTC’s broadcasting notice of consultation posted to its website Feb. 18.
The proposed change in ownership and effective control of NBA…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell is laying the blame at the feet of Rogers for why it is not carrying certain channels that utilize American programming rights the cable company obtained in the summer.
The broadcaster alleged to Cartt late last week that it is Rogers that isn’t budging on negotiations with respect to the carriage of Rogers’s Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.) and other channels.
“The assertion that Bell is refusing to carry these channels is incorrect,” a Bell spokesperson told us. “We have offered to carry these channels a la carte and we are open to them making a reasonable offer,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is accusing Bell of refusing to carry channels crafted out of new American rights it acquired in the summer.
The cable giant alleges its Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.) channels are being subject to a double standard by the rival broadcaster: while Bell, the second-largest broadcaster, complains that Rogers wants to push its new USA Network and Oxygen True Crime channels down the dial, the former allegedly doesn’t even want to carry the channels that are intended to replace them.
“Granting Bell’s requested relief is unquestionably not in the public interest and would perpetuate asymmetrical treatment of Bell…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Bureau’s deceptive marketing practices lawsuit against Rogers unfairly singles out the cable company’s “unlimited” wireless plans, cherry-picks out-of-context material, and doesn’t square with the fact that the plans have followed CRTC rules since they launched in the summer of 2019, according to the company’s reply submission to the Competition Tribunal.
The competition watchdog late last year filed a suit alleging Rogers has for years been misleading Canadians with its ‘Infinite’ mobile wireless plans, which it claims gave customers the impression that they were getting unlimited high-speed data when the speed of the data…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has filed an application requesting that the CRTC reverse its decision to expand the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime to internet of things (IoT) and enterprise services.
The market for those services, claims Rogers in its application to review-and-vary posted last week, “is likely one of the most competitive markets for telecommunications services in the country. Beyond Canada’s domestic national and regional , there are literally hundreds of service providers, including global wireless carriers, global and regional IoT/M2M aggregators of MVNOs, and global and regional IoT/M2M solutions providers in the Canadian market.”
The regulator affirmed…
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More details emerge in the previously confidential monthslong battle
By Ahmad Hathout
Corus and Rogers continue to butt heads over the CRTC’s standstill rule, with the former urging the Federal Court of Appeal to affirm it and the latter asking the regulator to lift it so it can shuffle Corus channels it no longer wants out of both its rotation and certain channel slots.
The result of the back and forth has unveiled more details in a carriage dispute that is now nearly two years old.
The latest development sees Corus requesting this month that the Federal Court of Appeal reject a December…
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Rogers announced Wednesday what it says is the first app-only bundle in Canada to bring live TV and streaming together in one plan.
The App TV plan for Rogers Xfinity Internet customers includes 40-plus live and on-demand channels, 20 free ad-supported (FAST) channels and Netflix Standard with ads, all for $25 per month when added to an existing Xfinity Internet package.
The app bundle allows customers to stream live and on-demand channels, including Rogers’s new HGTV, Food Network, Magnolia Network, Discovery, Investigation Discovery and Bravo channels, on the Rogers Xfinity Streaming app. Customers have the…
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