TORONTO – A coalition of Canadian academics and consumer groups are asking the country’s biggest telecommunications service providers to divulge the extent to which they pass on their customers’ private information to government agencies when asked.
Spearheaded by Toronto-based researcher Dr. Christopher Parsons, the organization sent letters to 16 different companies this week, including Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw, Telus and Videotron, asking them to respond to questions on their data retention and sharing policies. The telcos were asked to respond or commit to responding by March 3, 2014.
“Specifically, we are asking how, when, and why your company discloses information to…
Continue Reading
OAKVILLE, ON – Cisco Canada has awarded $10,000 to four Sheridan College students for devising an innovative application to be used during the Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games (TORONTO 2015).
The winning team, all students from Sheridan’s post graduate certificate program in interactive multimedia, was announced after an all-day ‘Idea-A-Thon’ event held last week at Sheridan’s Oakville campus. Team ‘Fantastic Four’, consisting of students Chau Le, Yee Ting Lee, Leena Salem and Jason Smith, beat out eight other student groups with their idea for a Pan-Ambassadors geo-tracking application that will enable non-English-speaking visitors to TORONTO 2015 to connect in…
Continue Reading
A UNIQUE 30-SECOND spot began airing across most Canadian TV channels last week trumpeting how much Canadians love television, while promoting a new iOS and Google app which, it appears, will let some individual Canadians get on TV on February 6th.
While the whole industry has so far been pretty tight-lipped about the initiative, the ad and the app have been put together by the Television Bureau of Canada and its member companies. The raison d’etre of TVB (whose members count most of the channels available to Canadians, except for Corus Entertainment’s, Quebecor’s TVA and its…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – HBO Canada is offering another free sampling opportunity for three of its “buzzworthy series” following their broadcast premieres.
The channel said that the first episodes from HBO’s new dramedy Looking, the second season of Cinemax’s Banshee, and Season 3 of HBO’s Golden Globe Award-winning series Girls are available now on HBOCanada.com, TMN GO, Movie Central On Demand, and via on-demand platforms of participating television providers.
All new HBO programming airs day-and-date with HBO in the U.S. In Eastern Canada, episodes are available on TMN GO, HBOCanada.com, and HBO Canada OnDemand. In Western Canada, episodes will be available…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – While Shaw Communications reported a 4.3% increase in first quarter profits, it also lost close to 30,000 cable customers for the period ended November 30, 2013.
In a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon, CEO Brad Shaw blamed the customer loss on promotional activities staged by an “aggressive competitor”.
“We have a 98% overlap of IPTV within our market with Telus. I think when you look (at) North America, we have the biggest overlap from a competitive point of view”, he said. “If we wanted to go out this quarter and get 80,000 revenue generating units, we could certainly do…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Showcase is harnessing video game advertising, event marketing, and the fear of contagions to spread the word on its new sci-fi series Helix.
The four-week campaign, targeting adults 25-54 with a special focus on Toronto, Kitchener, London and Ottawa, is anchored by one of the two key taglines – “The Truth will Spread” and “Play God. Pay The Price”. Banner ads are appearing in high profile video games such as Need for Speed Shift, Fight Night, Madden NFL, NBA Jam and NHL. In addition to promoted tweets and trends leading into the launch of the series, display banners…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – Shaw has added the A&E app to its TV Everywhere content library Shaw Go.
The new app gives Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct customers who subscribe to A&E instant access to programming like Duck Dynasty, Storage Wars and Rodeo Girls including behind-the-scenes interviews and footage never before shown on television.
The A&E app is available now for all iOS, Android and Kindle devices, and is also available online.
"The launch of the A&E app is another step in our continued dedication to providing our customers choice in how and where they wish to access their favourite programs and content," said…
Continue Reading
SEVERAL SOURCES have told Cartt.ca over the past number of weeks that Rogers Communications has grabbed the over-the-top bull by the horns and has been signing a massive number of content deals and at least one significant partnership agreement (if not more) in an effort to battle back against Netflix in Canada by launching a new, national, OTT video portal.
Our multiple sources (all of whom requested anonymity for business reasons) have told Cartt.ca that Rogers is spending over $100 million buying all the video content windows available from as many rights holders (such as Disney/ABC, Warner Bros., 20th Century…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – ichannel, bpm:tv and The Pet Network owner Stornoway Communications has hired Allan Schwebel and Gary Sappleton as content distribution consultant and director of marketing, respectively.
Schwebel will serve as primary liaison between Stornoway and its distribution partners in negotiating carriage agreements and supporting strategic planning initiatives to enhance subscriber growth opportunities. Previously VP of affiliate sales and marketing for CHUM Television and EVP/GM for CHUM Satellite Services Limited, Schwebel has, since 2010, provided content distribution, regulatory and sales support for independent broadcasters including BBC Kids, Knowledge Network, Hollywood Suite and GUSTO.
As director of marketing, Sappleton will be responsible…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Corus Entertainment said Monday that it officially closed its acquisition of Historia, Séries+ and the remaining 50% of Teletoon Canada Inc. on January 1, 2014.
After receiving the CRTC’s blessing on the deal late last month, Corus now owns 100% of Historia, Séries+ and Teletoon Canada (which includes Teletoon, Télétoon, Teletoon Retro, Télétoon Rétro and Cartoon Network). Last April, Corus also consolidated its ownership of ABC Spark and divested its 20% interest in Food Network Canada to corporate cousin Shaw Communications.
Corus said that the net cash consideration for these assets is $481 million Cdn. and was paid…
Continue Reading
