Rogers Sports & Media last week unveiled its winter slate of content for its recently licensed Discovery, HGTV, Food Network, Investigation Discovery (ID) and Magnolia Network specialty channels, launching Jan. 1.
“Through Rogers and Rogers Sports & Media, Canadians won’t miss a beat when it comes to watching new episodes from returning hit series and new titles from North America’s biggest home renovation and culinary stars,” Colette Watson, president of Rogers Sports & Media, said in a statement. “We continue to work with all distribution partners to ensure viewers can watch this top-rated content where and when…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri on Monday defended a $7-per month price hike on the company’s TV set top boxes in front of House’s committee on industry, saying it’s the result of increased investments the company makes to improve software and functionality to the device it considers a premium product.
The cable giant’s head also said the majority of customers are not impacted by the hike on the Ignite boxes first revealed by a CBC/Radio-Canada investigation – stemming from consumer complaints that promises of fixed-rate contracts were allegedly broken – and that customers who were affected,…
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The Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), a rep for independent telecom service providers, announced Wednesday that Alice Bernier is the organization’s director of partner relations.
Bernier will “lead negotiations, finalize and administer master agreements with Canadian and international media and entertainment companies, and oversee group purchasing activities on behalf of the CCSA’s membership,” a press release said.
“With over 20 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, Bernier brings a wealth of expertise from her leadership role at Rogers and her contributions to the growth of various media companies in recent years,” the release added.
Bernier was a former senior…
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Competitors claim similar treatment by Rogers
By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has responded to an allegation of undue preference with respect to a distant interconnection point it wants a small telecom to use for wholesale internet, saying it is up to the network builder, per its tariff, to determine where that traffic handoff will happen and that the CRTC has approved and affirmed the meet-me point in question.
Fibernetics filed a Part 1 last month alleging that Rogers is giving itself an undue preference by forcing the Cambridge, Ont.-based telecom to hook up to an interconnection office half a kilometre…
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By Connie Thiessen
A round of restructuring is underway at Rogers Sports & Media, spanning multiple markets.
More than two dozen staff are impacted across the company’s radio and podcasting divisions, including managerial and administrative positions at some stations.
Among the markets impacted is Vancouver where JACK FM National Music Curator Terry Chan has been released after almost 35 years with the company. Additionally holding the title of Assistant Content Director at JACK 96.9 (CJAX-FM) Vancouver, Chan first joined Rogers in 1990 as an announcer, Music Director and Assistant Program Director at KISS 97.
Alex Carr has also been released by SONIC 104.9 (CKKS-FM) Vancouver. One of the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is asking the CRTC to consider banning itself, Bell and Telus from accessing tariffed aggregated wholesale internet for both last-mile fibre and hybrid fibre-coax (HFC) technologies.
The cable giant is also asking the commission to include a five-year moratorium on competitor access to new speeds produced by investments in cable networks and/or implement a speed cap of 1.5 Gbps on an aggregated wholesale basis (bundled middle- and last-mile).
Applying none of these suggestions would leave cable carriers shouldering the burden of the wholesale regime again, which is offside of the direction from cabinet which calls for equitable application…
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Rogers last week launched Rogers Xfinity, bringing a suite of Comcast technologies to its customers as part of a 10-year partnership with the American cable giant.
Comcast’s next-generation EntertainmentOS simplifies the viewing experience by bringing live sports, entertainment and news, on-demand and streaming apps into one platform, “so customers spend more time watching and less time searching with the award-winning voice remote and integrated interface,” a Rogers press release from April said.
The Xfinity ecosystem includes other technologies, such as next-generation internet gateway technology that allows for higher speeds, better reliability with “Storm-Ready WiFi” technology meant to allow…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers filed a confidential application in May requesting the CRTC lift a standstill and allow it to remove several undisclosed Corus specialty channels primarily related to children’s programming from its television rotation due to underperformance, according to court documents on which Cartt can now report.
The documents in the Ontario Superior Court show that the CRTC had previously ordered a standstill in September 2023, indicating a carriage dispute between the two, and then reaffirmed it on May 30 and August 5, 2024. That means Rogers must continue carrying the channels until either the issue is resolved by the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telecom services retailer Glentel hired external counsel who advised it that Rogers’s Mastercard offering in its over 200 stores and kiosks may be offside of its distribution agreement because the card is not a “service,” according to new Ontario Superior Court documents.
The advice was then used to notify Rogers on Thanksgiving Day that the retailer — owned equally by Rogers and Bell — would cease carrying the credit card, which is offered only with the cable giant’s telecom services. Glentel said it hired its own counsel after Bell alleged the bundle would be offside…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has taken telecom services retailer Glentel to court over its decision to stop carrying the cable giant’s credit card bundle, according to an October 15 complaint in the Ontario Superior Court.
Since the filing of the complaint, the court has ordered Glentel to continue selling Rogers’s Mastercard — offered in a bundle with its wireless or wireline services — until it can make a determination on the merits of the case.
Rogers says in the complaint that it learned over Thanksgiving that Glentel, which is owned equally by Rogers and Bell, would stop carrying the…
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