TORONTO and CALGARY — Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and the Shaw Family Living Trust today announced they have extended the outside date of the proposed $26-billion merger of Rogers and Shaw to Dec. 31, 2022.
The outside date for closing the merger has already been extended twice before by the companies from the original date of March 15, 2022. The closing extension comes as the most recently announced outside date of July 31, 2022 was fast approaching.
The new outside date “may be further extended to January 31, 2023 at the option of Rogers or Shaw, provided Rogers has committed financing…
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TORONTO — Rogers Communications today reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2022, while also announcing the outside date for its proposed merger with Shaw Communications has been extended to Dec. 31, 2022.
In addition, when releasing its results for the second quarter, the company announced the estimated cost of compensating its customers for its recent nationwide network outage is $150 million. These customer credits will be included in Rogers’ third quarter 2022 operating results, according to a press release announcing the company’s Q2 2022 results.
Rogers also plans “to spend more on our wireless and wireline networks…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The House of Commons INDU committee heard from a series of witnesses today about the July 8 Rogers Communications outage that impacted Canadians across the country, including those trying to access emergency services.
Both meetings the committee decided to hold before the end of July were held today back-to-back.
First among the witnesses there were older white men in suits including François-Philippe Champagne, minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. While the soon fired Rogers CTO, Jorge Fernandes was in Portugal, the minister was in Japan when he heard in the middle of the night…
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CALGARY — Shaw Communications announced today the six Calgary-based artists who will create murals celebrating Pride for the Shaw Pride Marches On art walk initiative that will be on display in Central Memorial Park in Calgary’s Beltline starting next month.
Kicking off Friday, Aug. 12, Shaw Pride Marches On “provides a platform to tell 2SLGBTQIA+ stories, celebrate the community, and underscores the importance of human connection and resilience,” reads a press release, noting the initiative is now in its third year.
“The art walk will feature mural concepts chosen by a group of leaders from Calgary’s arts community based on their…
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OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau is seeking to have the Competition Tribunal add more time to the pre-hearing process and hearing on the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications due to Quebecor subsidiary Videotron’s request to participate in it.
The Commissioner of Competition filed a motion today seeking the changes, which would see oral examinations for discovery start on Sept. 19, 2022, instead of Aug. 15, 2022, as currently scheduled.
The commissioner, Matthew Boswell, is further requesting the tribunal include an additional week for oral examinations and another additional week for the hearing. He is requesting the tribunal modify other…
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TORONTO – Jorge Fernandes is no longer Rogers Communications’ chief technology and information officer.
While no official announcement has been made, the company’s leadership page on its website indicates Ron McKenzie (above) was made the company’s chief technology and information officer in July 2022. A Rogers spokesperson confirmed the change happened yesterday.
“Rogers can confirm Jorge Fernandes will be stepping step down from his role as Chief Technology and Information Officer,” reads a statement from the spokesperson. “Effective immediately, Ron McKenzie becomes Chief Technology and Information Officer.”
The change comes nearly two weeks after Rogers networks went down across the country.
Fernandes…
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SAINT JOHN, N.B. — The Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA) today provided more information about two keynote speakers scheduled to make presentations at the organization’s CCSA Connect 2022 conference, happening Sept. 26-28 in Mont-Tremblant, Que.
Shawn Kanungo (above, left) is “a globally recognized innovation strategist who previously spent 12 years at Deloitte working closely with leaders to better plan for the opportunities associated with disruptive innovation and helped hundreds of organizations on their journey to digital transformation,” reads a CCSA email alert.
Kanungo’s presentation Strategy in a World of Disruption on Sept. 27 will examine “how the business world has fundamentally…
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SAN FRANCISCO — Tubi, Fox Entertainment’s free ad-supported streaming service, announced today it is now available to Shaw TV subscribers in western Canada via their set top box.
Starting today, Shaw TV customers “have instant access to live and on-demand content, which includes Tubi’s comprehensive library of award-winning movies and hit television shows alongside Tubi Originals,” a press release says.
Tubi’s original programming currently available includes: Corrective Measures, starring Bruce Willis and Michael Rooker; Titanic 666, starring AnnaLynne McCord and Keesha Sharp; and the recently launched documentary Sins of the Father: The Green River Killer.
“As a result of this partnership, Shaw…
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TORONTO — toober, a Toronto-based live television app*, announced earlier this month it has launched six new channels.
Launched in June, the new channels include Euronews English, Euronews French, RAI Italia, RAI World Premium, RAI News 24 and Universal Vision TV (Spanish, Portuguese and English programming).
toober “aims to fill a gap in the live streaming market by providing subscribers access to all of their favourite channels from around the world at one low price,” a press release says.
The toober app is currently available in Canada on Rogers, Shaw, Videotron, Apple TV and Google TV Playstore. It will launch globally…
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QUEBECOR PRESIDENT AND CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau released a statement yesterday criticizing an opinion piece published in the Globe and Mail last week, which itself criticized the pending merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications generally and the sale of Freedom Mobile to Quebecor as a remedy for competition-related concerns about the merger specifically.
The opinion piece was written by Centre for International Governance Innovation fellow Keldon Bester (who co-founded the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project) and Carleton University PhD candidate and consultant Ben Klass in the wake of the nationwide Rogers outage earlier this month.
Péladeau is calling three…
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