Search Results for: shaw

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Shomi debuts to national audience Thursday

TORONTO – Streaming service shomi is officially available to all Canadian Internet users as of Thursday, whether or not they have a paid subscription to a TV service provider. For $8.99 per month, shomi can be streamed on tablet, mobile, online, and to TV screens via Xbox 360, Apple TV and Chromecast.  It's also available on the set-top boxes of Rogers' and Shaw's TV subscribers.  New users get one month free when they subscribe. In addition to Canadian exclusives like Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, and Catastrophe, other big series includes iZombie, Jane The Virgin, Empire, Vikings, Outlander, and Sons of Anarchy. “Today is… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Showcase offers multiplatform pre-release of three big series

TORONTO – Showcase is kicking off its Fall programming schedule early with a multi-platform sampling opportunity for the premiere episodes of three of its big series. The Shaw-owned network said Wednesday that the premiere episode of cyber-thriller Mr. Robot (pictured) is available now on ETCanada.com and Showcase.ca.  Starting August 21, the premieres for the final seasons of Canadian original series Continuum and Lost Girl will join Mr. Robot on 13 media platforms, including Shaw Media digital properties Action-tv.ca, ETCanada.com, MyLifetimeTV.ca, Slice.ca, Showcase.ca, GlobalTV.com, and the Global Go App; on iTunes, … Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Stingray Music to play on for at least the next five years

MONTREAL – Stingray Digital Group has received a five year renewal of its broadcasting licence from the CRTC for its national pay audio service Stingray Music. Under the terms of the renewal, Stingray will contribute each year a minimum of 4% of the annual gross revenues earned by its pay audio programming undertaking to eligible third parties associated with Canadian content development allocated as follows: – 25% to FACTOR; – 25% to MUSICACTION, – 5% to Community Radio Fund of Canada and; – 45% to Stingray Music Rising Star to discover, encourage and promote new Canadian artists. "We are pleased by with the CRTC's… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

ANALYSIS: How spectrum grew in the Canadian wireless market – and what’s left this year

OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS, the Canadian government’s ambitious Canada’s Wireless Policy took great steps from being a strategy to becoming a reality. The amount of spectrum made available to mobile wireless operators (and to fixed wireless operators) increased significantly, as Industry Canada delivered three auctions (700 MHz in March 2014, AWS-3 in March 2015 and 2500 MHz in April 2015) and is getting ready for a fourth one, scheduled in August 2015. August 2015: Industry Canada’s residual auction Industry Canada is holding its third auction in 2015 – a sealed-bid auction for “Residual Spectrum Licences in the 700 MHz and… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Canadian cord-cutting jumps, but still just a fraction of the total market

OTTAWA – Canada’s publicly traded television service providers combined lost almost six times more TV subscribers in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, and almost double what they lost in all of 2014, according to new research released Wednesday. Ottawa-based research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services also found that BCE, Rogers, Shaw/Shaw Direct, Vidéotron, Cogeco, Telus, and MTS (IPTV subscribers only) combined lost approximately 113,700 TV subscribers in their respective fiscal 2015 first and second quarters, up significantly from the 19,200 lost in the same quarters in 2014, and almost double… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

CBC rejects ads criticizing government’s “damage” to the Corp

TORONTO – The CBC is refusing to air two advertisements sponsored by watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting which challenge the government’s budget cuts to the national public broadcaster, saying it could imply endorsement of the group’s campaign. The ads "are intended to hold the Harper government to account for the damage it has done to the CBC”, claims Friends in a statement.  The first ad features person-in-the-street comments from non-actors about why the CBC is important to them, and to Canada.  The second ad, according to Friends, relies on satire to make a point.  In the ad, a… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Corus to shutter Teletoon Retro in favour of Cartoon Network

TORONTO – Corus Entertainment has announced that Teletoon Retro will cease to exist as of September 1st. The company's Cartoon Network Canada will be shifted into its place for those TV providers who don’t already carry that channel, two carrier sources have told Cartt.ca. Both sources asked not to be named as they do not have permission to speak publicly on the matter but have been told by Corus representatives that is the plan. While some had assumed that the channel would be rebranded as a Disney service, since Corus now owns the rights to that programming going forward and will… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

CRTC adds hybrid VOD services to revised exemption order

OTTAWA-GATINEAU — After months of public consultation, the CRTC has put the finishing touches on its regulatory policy concerning so-called hybrid video-on-demand (hybrid VOD or HVOD) services, issuing today a revised exemption order for VOD undertakings that takes effect immediately. In Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-355, the CRTC defines the newly created HVOD service category and outlines the rules that apply to HVOD services, explaining how they will be exempt from having to meet the specific regulatory requirements relating to financial contributions to and library space for Canadian programming that are applicable to traditional licensed VOD services. To qualify for… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

WHOOSH: Wind spectrum sell-off in prairies gets speedy approval by Industry Canada

TORONTO, OTTAWA, WINNIPEG and REGINA — Signalling its exit from the wireless network market in the prairie provinces, and just days after it made the original applications, Wind Mobile’s proposed sell-off of AWS-1 spectrum to Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) and SaskTel was approved by Industry Canada on Friday. In separate announcements, MTS said it will pay $45 million to buy 15 MHz of paired AWS-1 spectrum in Manitoba from Wind Mobile, while SaskTel will acquire six licences of paired AWS-1 spectrum in Saskatchewan for an undisclosed sum. Industry Canada approved the two spectrum licence transfer deals Friday morning, publishing its separate… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Cartt.ca EXCLUSIVE podcast: Heather Conway, EVP English Services, CBC-Radio-Canada.

JOIN BILL ROBERTS (former president and CEO of VisionTV) in an exclusive Cartt.ca podcast with Conway as she talks about CBC host firings, the effect of the CRTC’s Let's Talk TV policies, staff cuts, the future of streaming content, CBC Radio 2, ad sales, NHL hockey and more. To get right to the 32-minute interview done at the CBC headquarters, click here. (Ed note: As a busy executive, Conway doesn’t have a ton of free time for media, so our preamble you’ll read below is taken from a post-podcast interview Roberts did with her to finish… Continue Reading