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…
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OTTAWA – The Federal Court has shot down a request by Telus challenging the Industry Minister’s authority to set the eligibility requirements for parties participating in next week’s 700 MHz spectrum auction. The telco was also ordered to pay for the costs of pursuing its legal action.
Telus filed an application with the Federal Court last August asking for an order to prohibit Industry Minister James Moore from setting any other eligibility criteria than what is set out in the Radiocommunications Act when issuing licenses for spectrum access. This criteria prevents “large wireless service providers” from bidding for more…
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NEW YORK and VANCOUVER – NBCUniversal is expanding its distribution deal with Telus to add Golf Channel, CNBC and MSNBC to Telus’ digital application Optik on the go App, the companies said Thursday.
With Telus’ Optik on the go, Optik TV customers in B.C. and Alberta will enjoy live, in home streaming of more than 1900 hours of live golf programming across the PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Web.com Tour, LPGA, European Tour and others. On the news front, CNBC provides business news and real-time financial market coverage and business information, while MSNBC offers in-depth analysis, insightful political commentary…
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By Greg O’Brien
AS A YOUNG CANADIAN growing up in Timmins (hometown of NHL legends Frank and Peter Mahovlich, among several others) Saturday night hockey on TV was as regular, or normal, or expected, as church on Sunday. As reliable and loved as our family’s dog.
Hockey Night in Canada wasn’t just a staple. It was as much a part of life as eggs and cereal for breakfast or snow on the ground in the winter. We had a single-dial television in the mid-1970s that caught the few stations we had off-air. I was my dad’s remote control, standing by the…
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TORONTO – Wednesday’s announcement by the federal government to curb domestic wholesale roaming rates was welcomed by at least one new wireless entrant, but panned by an industry analyst who described the move as “too little, too late”.
Wind Mobile chief regulatory officer Simon Lockie said that the decision makes it clear that the government “is taking the realistic and committed actions necessary to create a level playing field for competition in the wireless space”.
“Today's announcement shows that Prime Minister Harper's Government is serious about competition and serious about consumers”, he said in an emailed statement. “Minister Moore has said this…
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PRINCE RUPERT, BC – CityWest is getting out of the cellular business “to focus investments on other product lines” and is referring its wireless customers in Prince Rupert to Telus.
The small telco said its customers can switch their account without cancellation fees, and may trade-in their current device for credit towards any new Telus smartphone. Telus and CityWest will soon offer other features to customers making the switch, such as allowing them to keep their wireless phone number and bundled packages of CityWest wired and Telus wireless services.
Telus, which already has an extensive wireless network in Prince Rupert, said that…
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TORONTO – Telus has rolled out a new mobile portal called Travel Tracker to help customers manage their data usage and costs in real-time while travelling.
When a customer arrives in their destination country, they will receive a free text message informing them of the voice, SMS and data rates in that country, roaming options, and now, a link to the Travel Tracker portal. In addition, Telus will send an immediate text notification to let customers know when their device begins to use data while roaming, and, a summary text message upon return to Canada showing data usage during their…
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ROGERS COMMUNUCATIONS' BLOCKBUSTER NHL deal puts a direct focus on the sheer costs of sports programming for distributors and their customers, the Canadian consumer.
Cartt.ca interviewed several executives across the Canadian television industry (including some distributors who spoke to us on the condition they not be identified) to discuss the impact sports is having on broadcasting in Canada and whether or not the business can survive the spiralling costs of this rich content.
Alyson Townsend, president of the independent cable group Canadian Cable System Alliance, said no one should be surprised by the consistent price increases consumers have paid for cable…
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TORONTO – Telus has teamed up with Ontario's Information and Privacy Commissioner Dr. Ann Cavoukian on a new white paper that explores the challenges associated with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiatives.
More than 27 million Canadians use mobile computing devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets and that number continues to grow. Canadian enterprises outpace their global counterparts in BYOD, though fewer than half (33%) of Canadian organizations have mobile device management policies and practices in place to mitigate the many security and privacy risks associated with BYOD. Further, more than half (58%) of Canadian organizations lose sensitive corporate…
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OTTAWA – Just 11 companies remain in the running to participate in next month’s auction of 700 MHz wireless spectrum.
The latest to withdraw is Toronto’s Catalyst Capital Group, a private equity investment firm which is one of the largest shareholders of the struggling Mobilicity, which is operating under the court’s protection. No reasons were given for its withdrawal, which leaves Bell, Eastlink, Feenix Wireless (Mobilicity founder John Bitove), Globalive (Wind), MTS, Novus Wireless, Rogers, SaskTel, TbayTel, Telus, and Videotron still in the running. See the full list here.
The auction is slated…
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