OTTAWA — Consumers who want to sign up for CraveTV or shomi without first being Bell or Rogers/Shaw customers could be the potential beneficiaries of applications filed with the CRTC on Friday by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC).
PIAC-CAC submitted two applications to the CRTC, challenging the tied selling of the two online streaming services linked to the consumption of the service providers’ other telecom or broadcasting services.
In the application regarding CraveTV, PIAC-CAC are challenging whether Bell can restrict access to its subscription video-on-demand service to customers who already have a TV…
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THERE WAS TOO MUCH symbolism to ignore with the choice of London, Ont., as the place where CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais chose to begin dismantling simultaneous substitution and to shift the ground under Canadian TV companies, forcing the vertically integrated behemoths to ask themselves this question: “Why do we need to own media companies?”
Blais spoke in London a week ago to make three announcements, two of which were decisions from the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV hearing held in September 2014.
London is generally acknowledged as the first city in Canada to get cable over 60 years…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications is offering residents of Thunder Bay, ON free access to its Shaw Go WiFi network now through February 22, 2015.
Shaw Go WiFi is offering carrier-grade Internet connectivity at over 800 hotspots across the city, allowing users to access content on the go using their portable connected devices while avoiding potentially expensive cellular data charges. Residents who are not Shaw customers can connect to the network for free on their laptop and mobile devices by selecting "ShawGuest" on the list of available WiFi hotspots at participating locations and following the steps to register their devices. Registration…
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OTTAWA – Prime Time in Ottawa is serving up an opportunity for delegates to dine with some top industry executives.
The new ‘Lunch With’ feature allows registered conference delegates to reserve their spot at a table of eight and break bread with:
– Helen Asimakis, Senior Director, Drama, CBC;
– Wendy Bernfeld, Founder, Managing Director, Rights Stuff;
– Sarah Jane Flynn, Senior Director, Original Factual Production, Shaw Media;
– Tom Hastings, Director, Independent Production, Bell Media;
– John MacDonald, VP Television, Head of Women’s and Family Networks, Corus Entertainment;
– Karen Miller, Vice President, Worldwide Programming Strategy, Acquisitions & Co-Productions, Disney Channels Worldwide; or
– Liz Wise,…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has signed on as the newest long-term national partner for the Canada Games.
The three-games national partnership will see Shaw become the official telecommunications provider and a major partner for the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, BC, the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, and the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer, AB.
Shaw will provide cash and in-kind support, and will leverage its Internet and telecommunications services to keep the Canada Games connected. The Calgary-based company will also provide spectators and athletes with complementary guest access to its Shaw Go WiFi network throughout…
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TORONTO – Rogers is gearing up to deliver live pay-per-view coverage of the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup and will extend access to that coverage to Bell, MTS, SaskTel, Shaw/Shaw Direct and Telus subscribers.
The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup kicks off on February 13 at 5:00 PM ET/2:00 PM PT with Sri Lanka vs. New Zealand, and continues through to the final match on March 28. Canadian fans without a pay-per-view subscription can catch Pakistan as it meets defending champion India on February 14 at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT on OMNI.2.
As the exclusive national distributor, Rogers will offer all 49 matches…
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TORONTO – Netflix subscriptions look to have peaked a little in Canada, while Canadians are taking a peek at shomi, according to new research released today by Toronto’s Solutions Research Group.
As part of its ongoing Digital Life Canada syndicated study, the company found that:
Netflix use is steady at 35% of Canadian online households (see below), which means it’s being used in about 4 million of the 11.5million Internet households in Canada. The penetration number stayed relatively flat through the latter half of 2014.
Netflix continues to garner exceptional satisfaction scores with an impressive 55% of paying subscribers saying it’s ‘excellent’…
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WE HATE THE WORD predictions. Research companies are good at that, but nobody can really predict the future. However, we do like making educated guesses – and now that we’re a month into 2015, we feel we can make some of those with better data than what we could have done before Christmas, when “prediction” articles are so fashionable.
So, here are a few of our prognostications…
Cord cutting will grow. Subscription TV providers used last year’s Deloitte TMT predictions and some middling overall results to show that cord-cutting is not happening – at least not at…
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TORONTO – While there’s no question over-the-top video services such as Netflix have become a “phenomenon” in Canada, the same can’t be said about subscription music streaming services, which have not been taken up to the same degree by consumers.
However, that may be about to change, according to digital media experts who spoke at the Digital Media at the Crossroads conference held on the University of Toronto’s downtown campus on Saturday.
Mark Allen, director of research and analysis for the CBC, outlined some recent trends in digital media in Canada, citing research from Numeris and the CBC’s own Media Technology…
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SAN FRANCISCO – Rdio has launched its free Internet radio and on-demand subscription service in 24 new markets across Central America, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific, the music streaming service announced Thursday.
As part of the expansion, Rdio said that it is partnering with mobile phone network provider Digicel in the new markets and in an additional seven regions to create a unique offering designed to customize the streaming experience. Shaw is an investor in Rdio's holding company Pulser Media plus is its marketing, content and promotional partner in Canada.
As Rdio’s sales and marketing arm in each region, Digicel…
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