By Etan Vlessing
AS ROGERS SPORTS AND MEDIA unveiled its 2022-23 slate of original programming to Canadian advertisers and agencies, a major focus was showcasing online offerings as the line between traditional linear TV and digital streaming platforms increasingly blurs.
The company’s strategy to engage marketers increasingly shifting ad dollars online is simple: Begin with tried-and-true content, whether scripted franchises like American Idol and America’s Got Talent on Citytv, or National Hockey League and Major League Baseball games with Canadian teams and passionate fan bases on Sportsnet. Then scramble to connect marketers and viewers across each and every platform and device…
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OTTAWA — The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) will be celebrating an important milestone this weekend — June 12 marks CPAC’s 30 years of providing viewers with unfiltered coverage of Canadian Parliament, politics and public affairs.
“Created for Canadians in 1992 by a consortium of cable companies to preserve an independent editorial voice for Canada’s democratic process, CPAC quickly became Canadians’ go-to resource for commercial free, gavel-to-gavel coverage of parliamentary proceedings,” reads a press release highlighting CPAC’s upcoming 30th anniversary.
Over the years, the channel’s coverage has grown to include House of Commons and Senate committee meetings, Supreme Court of Canada…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s big broadcasters secured a temporary website blocking order from the Federal Court against the unlicensed live streaming of National Hockey League games – the first of its kind – as one Canadian team remains in the playoffs.
The late May order builds on a previous precedent, in which the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal ruled and upheld, respectively, that broadcasters can submit a list of copyright infringing websites they wish to block from Canadian viewing on the Internet (the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal). That determination stemmed from a…
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OTTAWA – The federal government today announced it is investing $55 million in UBF funding to help bring high-speed Internet to nearly 11,000 homes in rural, remote and Indigenous communities in New Brunswick.
The projects, to be completed by Rogers and Xplornet, will benefit nearly 250 communities. (For a complete list, please click here.)
“To date, the Government of Canada has already invested more than $43 million in New Brunswick to connect over 10,000 homes throughout the province,” a press release says.
Details about the projects will be released over the next several months.
For more, please click here.
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Shaw says Freedom was built to be easily separated from Shaw
ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS AND Shaw Communications today filed their responses to the Competition Bureau’s application to the Competition Tribunal for an order blocking their proposed merger, with Rogers calling Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell’s position “unreasonable”.
In an application to the Competition Tribunal, filed last month, the commissioner indicated he is seeking to prevent the Rogers and Shaw merger due to concern over the impact he alleges it will have on wireless competition in the country.
Rogers, however, says the commissioner’s analysis “is flawed and incomplete.”
“Contrary to the Commissioner’s allegations, the…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced today Xumo, a free, ad-supported streaming TV provider owned by Comcast, is now available on Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream.
The service offers “more than 100 channels for customers to enjoy,” a press release explains, adding that it gives “customers more choice and unparalleled access to the most integrated free content of any other major provider in Canada.”
Ignite TV and Ignite SmartStream users can say “free to me” into their voice remotes to discover free content and can access Xumo channels through the main app menu. Users can also say Xumo into the remote…
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TORONTO – toober, a Toronto-based live television app*, announced today it has launched 13 new channels, all of which are available immediately to all subscribers.
The channels, launched in May, include: Afriwood Blockbuster, Agrotendencia (Costa Rica), Azteca Clic (Mexico) Azteca Cinema (Mexico), Dancehall Channel (Jamaica), INTI (Ecuador), Kiddiwinks (South Africa), M&E TV (Trinidad), MTM (Mercy and Truth Ministries TV, Jamaica), Sports Connect (South Africa), True African TV (South Africa), TTT (Trinidad) and UCL (Paraguay, Un Canal Latinamericano).
“toober aims to fill a gap in the live streaming market by providing subscribers access to all of their favourite channels from around the…
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TORONTO – Rogers Sports and Media today announced partnerships with eight Canadian charities and small businesses as part of its inclusion and diversity initiative All In.
This includes partnerships with Breakfast Club of Canada, Dollar A Day Foundation, Egale Canada, POV, Raven Reads, Révolutionnaire, UnitedWeCurl and Women’s Para Hockey of Canada.
The All In program launched last year with the intention of providing free advertising and creative services to Canadian charities and small businesses.
Over the next two years, Rogers Sports and Media will provide the eight organizations announced today “with creative services and advertising to showcase their invaluable work,” a…
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By Etan Vlessing
TORONTO – For the CBC, original Canadian scripted and unscripted series are not new revenue streams – they are a core business.
That is what emerged earlier today as the pubcaster held its virtual 2022-23 upfront presentation and looked, as in past years, to stand out in a hyper-competitive TV landscape where foot-loose viewers and marketers are pivoting to the streaming space.
The CBC is betting two words stood out from its pitch to domestic advertisers and will be heard far less often from its market competitors during this year’s upfront presentations: Canadian and diverse.
Barb Williams, executive vice-president of…
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OTTAWA – Last week, the CRTC posted a part one application from several service providers who came together to ask the Commission to review the wholesale roaming tariff rates of the country’s national wireless carriers (Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and Telus Communications), calling them “manifestly unjust and unreasonable”.
“This application deals with the flagrant overcharging for wholesale roaming – an essential service that stands as one of the central pillars of the Commission’s policy framework for ensuring sustainable competition in the provision of mobile wireless services in Canada,” reads the application, which was filed by regional competitors Bragg Communications Inc….
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