Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. are near the top of this year’s list of the 100 companies in Canada that spend the most on research and development. The list, released annually by Research Infosource, is based on information from “proprietary databases,” the company said in a Nov. 14 press release. Bell was number four for the second year in a row, spending $530.3 million in 2015. That’s compared to the $425.3 million spent by Rogers, which was in the ninth spot, one lower than the previous year. Telus rose two spots to number...
Amazon.com Inc. will be bringing its new automotive-based reality show, The Grand Tour, to more than 200 countries next month, the company announced this week. In a video and post on the company website featuring the stars of the show, best-known from the popular British show Top Gear, the company said the new show premieres in the U.K., U.S., Germany, Austria and Japan Friday, before being available in other regions. “We are excited to announce that the Grand Tour will be able to be streamed from over 200 countries and territories around the world in December,” Kaan...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said in a press release Thursday it’s now making all of its TV channels available on a pick-and-pay basis. The move means the company is “fully meeting the new CRTC...
An industry association representing Canadian distributors and exporters of TV and digital content has been formed, with the intention of helping develop content at home and export it abroad. The Canadian Association of...
OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said Thursday that imposing a tax on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to fund cultural content remains a possible outcome of her sweeping review of Canadian...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said Thursday that subscribers of its infiNET maxTV set-top box will now have access to Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top service (OTT). “SaskTel is...
OTTAWA — With more than six months left in his term as CRTC chairman, Jean-Pierre Blais isn’t ready to start using the word “legacy” in relation to his term as head of the Canadian regulator, but in a speech to a communications conference Wednesday, he gave a glimpse into a self-awareness of his own CRTC epitaph. During a keynote at the Canadian branch of the International Institute of Communications’ (IIC) annual conference in Ottawa, Blais outlined what he called creative and innovative ways the CRTC has tried to reach out to Canadians on issues, including...
OTTAWA — Creating the oft-asked-for level playing field by making foreign digital services subject to Canadian sales tax would hurt smaller companies trying to break into the country’s market, a House of Commons...
An organization representing four-dozen major online-based companies has reached out to president-elect Donald Trump, congratulating him on his victory while proposing digital policy planks for his administration to consider....
Momentum that Canadian telecoms saw in their wireless divisions over the previous two quarters is expected to continue into 2017, according to an analyst note by RBC Capital Markets. The high levels of overall activations reported by wireless operators that began in the second quarter and exceeded analyst expectations were driven by lower churn and...
Rogers Communications Inc. has introduced a new feature that will give customers a better idea of what time technicians are expected to arrive at their homes. Customers will be able to use their phones to track when a...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has sold four reality shows to Discovery Communications Inc., which will be broadcast on Discovery’s channels airing in the United States and Latin America. Blue Ant said in...
The CRTC has named Judith LaRocque its new vice-chairwoman of broadcasting, a year after the position was left open following the departure of Tom Pentefountas. According to an email sent to...
Multi-channel networks (MCNs) have carved out a space in the online video ecosystem in recent years, leading traditional broadcasters to move into MCNs as a relatively low-risk way to reach younger...
The Community Radio Fund of Canada, a national independent not-for-profit organization supporting campus and community radio stations, has appointed a new executive director. Amély Friolet-O’Neil will officially...
The Federal Court of Canada dismissed a copyright lawsuit Thursday involving the sharing of news articles without purchase or consent because the content was used for “proper research” purposes. The case involved the Department of Finance’s use and circulation of two articles in 2013, written by a reporter at subscription-based online news outlet Blacklock’s Reporter, that concerned parties within that department. Blacklock’s said those actions were against its terms and conditions. Sandra Marsden, president of the Canadian Sugar Institute, who was...
Canadian anglophones between the ages of 35 and 49 are, more than other generations, drawn to tablets and TV-enhancing technologies, according to a Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report released Tuesday. In its second...
Corus Entertainment Inc. has launched History Vault, a subscription over-the-top (OTT) service featuring programming from its History channel. The service, which costs $5.49 a month, “features hundreds of hours of...
CBC/Radio-Canada said Wednesday it is launching a $7.5 million, three-year fund to tackle the lack of diversity in film. The Breaking Barriers Film Fund is an attempt “to make a meaningful difference by...
CRTC commissioner Christopher MacDonald said radio stations must build on their strengths in order to deal with increasing competition in a speech to the Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB)...
Two communities in Ontario’s Hamilton-Niagara region can handle “at least” one radio station, the CRTC said as it issued a call for applications Thursday. The announcement follows a January application filed by Dufferin Communications Inc. to serve Grimsby and Beamsville, Ont., with a commercial radio station. Interveners opposing the call for applications —including BCE Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc., which operate six of the seven radio stations in the Hamilton market and three in St....
TORONTO — The heritage ministry and the CRTC should engage in a more balanced discussion on what to do about taxes in support of cultural content, as both seem to be moving in...
The creation of a new federal agency to handle government funding for Canadian content could help the heritage minister’s goal of boosting exports of domestic cultural products, according to a report sponsored by Rogers...
BCE Inc.’s Bell Media has made available to its online advertisers two new services that it says will enable ”expanded and more accurate targeting against Bell Media audiences.” Advertisers will be able to use...
The CRTC has denied an application for a new radio station in Nova Scotia because its service area would have encroached that of existing stations. It said in a decision Tuesday that Atlantic Broadcasters...
Telus Corp. announced Monday that is making Netflix Inc.’s app available on its Optik 4K set-top box, allowing subscribers to stream Netflix in 4K resolution. “4K is the ultimate way to immerse yourself...
GATINEAU, Que. — Those who innovate shouldn’t be penalized because their competitors can’t keep up, the CRTC heard Friday from representatives of the telecom company...
The CRTC is looking for comment on whether the Brampton, Ont. and St. John’s, N.L. radio markets can support additional stations. It said Friday in separate notices of consultation it has received two applications for new...
Telus Corp. reported strong wireless revenues and subscriber additions Friday, as data helped propel overall revenues up to $3.23 billion. For the three months ended September...
GATINEAU, Que. — The question of whether differential pricing practices (DPPs) can be used for socially beneficial purposes came up on the fourth day of the CRTC’s hearing on DPPs Thursday, where accessibility advocates argued against zero-rating while Telus Corp. representatives said it could be used to promote cultural content. “If you were to impose an outright ban on differential pricing, you would miss out on opportunities to promote Canadian culture,“ said Ann Mainville-Neeson, Telus vice-president of broadcasting policy and regulatory affairs. Like Telus, almost...
DHX Media Ltd. announced Thursday it received approval from the CRTC to allow broadcast advertising on its specialty Family channel, a move that one analyst describes as “clearly...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. will cut about 80 jobs to save about $7 million following a voluntary workforce reduction program “for certain employees who are not in customer-facing roles,” the company announced...
Cogeco Inc. saw a 3.2-per-cent increase in revenue to hit $572 million for the final quarter of fiscal 2016, the company reported Wednesday. In a press release, Cogeco said the growth was driven by its communications...
Quebecor Inc.’s telecommunications services boosted its third quarter, as it posted an $8.3-million loss, the company said in its quarterly financial report Thursday. The loss from the three months ended Sept. 30,...
GATINEAU, Que. — While Rogers Communications Inc. said it generally does not support differential pricing practices (DPP), it suggested Wednesday that the regulator should stay flexible in its approach given potential developments in Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The statement came during the third day of the week-long hearing into differential pricing practices by wireless and Internet service providers (ISP), including zero-rating, or not counting usage of some services against a consumer's data cap. Rogers was the only major company to come out opposed to the...
The CRTC has issued a “working document” to guide discussion in the upcoming public hearing on the renewal of television licences by large ownership groups. “The inclusion of specific proposals in the working...
CBC/Radio-Canada announced that Michel Bissonnette would be taking over as executive vice-president of French services at Radio-Canada. Bissonnette will succeed Louis Lalande, who announced his upcoming retirement...
Quebecor Inc. said Wednesday it was making cuts to its media division to “maintain its lead in news and content production and keep focusing on its flagship brands.” In a press release, the company said...
Federal Court has granted BCE Inc. leave to appeal the CRTC’s decision not to allow simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl, though it declined to delay the implementation of the decision until the court...
GATINEAU — The CRTC shouldn’t take the non-participation in this week’s hearing by content providers who might eventually benefit from zero-rating and other differential pricing practices as non-interest, a...
Ronnie Stanton will leave his current position as vice-president of radio programming for Corus Entertainment Inc.’s Corus Radio Network, though he will continue to consult for the company. Corus spokeswoman Samantha...
The federal government is providing interested parties additional opportunity to comment on its repurposing of 600 MHz spectrum. The department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) posted a notice on its website Monday, asking for input on its “Proposed TV Transition Objectives and...
GATINEAU — On the first day of the CRTC’s hearing on differential pricing practices, a consortium representing small telecoms asked the CRTC to allow but regulate the practice of zero-rating,...
The Competition Bureau has wrapped up a sweep of online reviews and endorsements, as part of an annual initiative it conducts with other consumer protection agencies around the world. It said in a monthly update Monday that this year’s target was “aimed at identifying websites that may use online reviews or endorsements as part of their business model.” “Bureau follow-up action may range from opening an investigation, to issuing a consumer alert, to sending a warning or information letter,” it said, adding that consumers who think they’ve been...
TVA Group Inc. reported a smaller net loss in the third quarter compared to the previous year, as revenues were lifted by the World Cup of Hockey event this fall. In the three-month period ended Sept. 30,...
A BCE Inc. application to sponsor a Spanish-language channel has been approved, the CRTC said Friday. In a notice posted to its website, the CRTC said CincoMas, described as a 24-hour general interest service,...
OTTAWA — While traditionally, government funding has been directed to boost fixed Internet service, perhaps there should be some public assistance for improving wireless coverage, a member of...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. is asking the CRTC to exempt a television service from being offered in a package to meet the commission’s basic TV mandate later this year. The telecom...
Twitter Inc. announced that it is cutting nine per cent of its workforce globally in a restructuring that it estimates will make it profitable next year. The social media company announced the reduction, estimated at more than 300 jobs, in a letter to shareholders regarding its third-quarter earnings Thursday. It said it will take a $10- to $20-million hit, which is “substantially” going to cover severance. “The restructuring, which focuses primarily on reorganizing our sales, partnerships and marketing efforts, is intended to create greater efficiency...
Even though the CRTC is an arms-length organization, there is “a lot this government can do directly to support artists and creators across this country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, in response...
Groupe V Media Inc. has filed a complaint with the CRTC over BCE Inc.’s removal of Groupe V Media’s French-language music channels from its cheapest pre-assembled cable TV packages. According to the Part 1...
The broadcasting sector saw its first overall revenue decrease in the previous decade last year, while traditional TV viewership among youth continued to fall, according to numbers reported by the...
OTTAWA — CBC/Radio-Canada has prioritized a shift to digital platforms to reach all Canadians, but ensuring they are able to access those platforms isn’t part of the public...
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is suggesting Netflix Inc. be taxed, as it calls on the government to take action. Netflix is benefiting from Canadian tax exemptions and a lack of regulation, while the...
TORONTO — A panel of Federal Court of Appeal justices dismissed an application from former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan challenging the authority of chairman Jean-Pierre Blais to name commissioners to panels. Following a...
The CRTC said Monday Steven Harroun is its new chief compliance and enforcement officer, effective Nov. 14. “Steven’s extensive experience at the Commission and as our representative...
A potential merger between AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. highlights a move by United States-based companies toward vertical integration, just as developments in Canada...
The federal government is appealing a Federal Court justice’s ruling that former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan was denied procedural fairness and that set aside an official report finding he had harassed a senior staff member. There were three decisions to be taken into consideration, the attorney general said in a notice of appeal filed Oct. 3 — “the conclusions in the Investigator’s Report, the Secretary General’s recommendations to the Chair, and the Chairperson’s decision” — and judge Russel Zinn, who issued the Sept. 2 decision,...
BCE Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service CraveTV will be the new launching pad for Showtime programming in Canada, the company announced Monday. In a press release, Crave said new and returning shows will debut on the OTT...
Anglophone millennials spend more than 30 hours a week on the Internet, and about four-fifths of that generation watch TV online, according the latest report from Media Technology Monitor, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada. The...
Shudder, an over-the-top (OTT) service focusing on the horror genre, has launched in Canada, a year after it became available in the United States. According to a press release, the AMC Networks Inc.-owned...
OTTAWA — CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais defended the rationale and timing of the regulator’s controversial decision to change the eligibility requirements to access certified independent...
OTTAWA — On the same day that a new report was released arguing the CRTC’s role and authority should be reduced in response to technological change, CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais defended the relevance of the commission in the digital age in front of a Parliamentary committee. “The Internet and its wide range of applications and opportunities has changed the landscape and yet Ottawa’s digital policy and legal framework has failed to keep up,” the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) report said. “Regulating how much Canadian content is shown...
Corus Entertainment Inc. reported Wednesday a 99 per cent increase in revenues for the fourth quarter, despite a decline in radio revenues. The three-month period, which...
Corus Entertainment Inc. is adding to its culinary line up with the Cooking Channel, a new 24-hour, food-focused network launching in Canada on Dec. 12. The Cooking Channel — which will be a rebrand of...
SoundCloud has opened its subscription service, SoundCloud Go, to Canadian customers, the audio platform announced Wednesday. In a post on the company’s blog, SoundCloud said the service, which allows listeners to...
It could be mid-2017 before former Telus Corp. head Joe Natale takes over as CEO at Rogers Communications Inc., according to financial analysts, some of whom said Tuesday that...
Ontario’s French-language public broadcaster has teamed up with an American partner to distribute its educational programs in the United States, Groupe Média TFO said in a press release Monday. The...
Canadian multi-platform network (MPN) BroadbandTV Corp. (BBTV) has signed a deal to manage the Hispanic content of Univision Communications Inc. The Vancouver-based media company will provide the management services for...
In an unexpected move, Rogers Communications Inc. has announced Guy Laurence is no longer CEO of the company and will be replaced by former Telus Corp. CEO Joe Natale, a choice...
Ann Cavoukian, executive director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University, is founding an international privacy organization, according to a press release Monday. The International Council on...
VMedia Inc. said in a court document it has removed BCE Inc.’s CTV channels from its over-the-top (OTT) skinny basic service pending the resolution of a legal dispute between the two companies, as a “sign of good faith.” Earlier this month, Bell asked the Ontario Superior Court to grant an interim and permanent injunction to stop VMedia from carrying CTV and CTV Two on the service. Bell argued at the time that by offering the OTT service over the Internet, “VMedia is acting outside the ambit of its BDU licence, and instead operating as a...
Twitter Inc. will partner with Buzzfeed Inc. to provide live coverage of the United States presidential election next month. The Nov. 8 election night special will be streamed exclusively on Twitter, the companies...
The Sudbury, Ont. radio market can’t sustain any more stations, the CRTC said yesterday, citing high unemployment, no projected population growth in the next few years, and below-average profitability of the city’s...
The breach of millions of Yahoo Inc. email accounts revealed in late September could affect the acquisition of the company by Verizon Communications Inc., Reuters reported. The news service quoted Verizon...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Friday it has purchased more than 600 hours of exclusive music and documentary content from EuroArts Music International GmbH, making it...
The CRTC has approved a new Native FM radio station in Campbell River, British Columbia, the regulator said in a decision Friday. The station will operate at the 100.7 FM band and will broadcast each week 106 hours of musical content and 20 hours of “community news, sports, weather, traffic and other community information in the English and Comox languages.” The broadcast licence application was filed by the non-profit Aupe Cultural Enhancement Society, the CRTC said....
BCE Inc. hasn’t demonstrated enough evidence that a court should postpone the implementation of the CRTC’s decision to eliminate simultaneous substitution for the National Football League's (NFL) Super Bowl,...
Amazon.com Inc. has launched a stand-alone music streaming service in the United States. While it has offered music streaming for its Prime customers since 2014, the new Amazon Music Unlimited is available to...
OTTAWA — Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said Wednesday three areas have stood out so far in its Innovation Agenda consultations—talent, the need to work on emerging technologies, and investments in...
Corus Entertainment Inc. is making seven of its news talk radio stations available for free internationally on Apple Inc.’s Apple Music streaming service. The company said in...
The CRTC has approved two separate applications to operate English-language radio stations in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador. On Friday, the commission said on its website it approved an application to operate an FM radio...
iHeartMedia Inc.'s free digital radio and music streaming service is now available in Canada, according to a press release from BCE Inc.’s media division. The free app, iHeartRadio, is available on a preview basis...
OTTAWA — Raising the level of broadband Internet service for Canadians would go far in levelling the playing field for both media producers and consumers, a House of Commons committee...
BCE Inc. is asking the Ontario Superior Court to grant an interim and permanent injunction to stop VMedia Inc. from delivering Bell's CTV channels on its over-the-top (OTT) service. VMedia began offering the...
Canadians rely mostly on word-of-mouth and paid advertising to find TV new shows, according to a new Media Technology Monitor report. In its latest release published Tuesday, the CBC/Radio-Canada research project said it found that 38 per cent of Canadians said finding new TV content was easy, with 27 per cent primarily looking to recommendations from friends and 17 per cent getting their info from radio and TV commercials. “As the media landscape becomes more and more complex—new platforms, new formats, new viewing habits—it can be difficult for producers to...
A Conservative Party leadership candidate has tabled legislation with the aim of privatizing CBC/Radio-Canada. On Thursday, Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost introduced a private member’s bill, C-308, “to provide for...
VMedia Inc. is asking an Ontario court to step in and declare that its recently launched over-the-top (OTT) streaming television service is not infringing copyright, as claimed by BCE Inc., which wants the provider to...
The Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) is asking for regulatory action to help support the music industry as it deals with the...
Users of Reddit Inc.’s website have largely railed against differential pricing in a discussion initated by the CRTC, with an overwhelming number of comments on the social platform expressing...
Rogers Communications Inc. is downsizing its print division, reducing the publication schedules of three magazines and eliminating the print runs of four publications entirely, the company announced Friday. “We are going where our audiences are, and doubling-down on digital to grow our consumer magazine brands,” Rick Brace, Rogers Media president, said in a press release. “We have already made significant investments in creating content and making it available on digital platforms, including Texture, Sportsnet NOW, and Rogers NHL GameCentre LIVE, and...
While CraveTV should have an easier time competing in the over-the-top (OTT) space now that Shomi will cease operation, Netflix Inc.’s offering still leaves doubt about the profitability...
In the wake of the announced shuttering of its streaming service, Shomi, Rogers Communications Inc. is offering some customers six months of free access to Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service. Rogers...
An American film production company is looking to identify 12 Canadians it says infringed its copyright by file-sharing its content. In a statement of claim filed with the federal court on Tuesday, Cell Film Holdings LLC said it...
Facebook Inc.’s platform is by far the dominant social network among Canadian anglophones, with almost all — 92 per cent — of social networkers using the site, according to a new report...
Radio stations from some of Canada’s biggest broadcasters—including Rogers Communications Inc., Cogeco Inc., Newcap Inc., and Corus Entertainment Inc., among...
CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Hubert Lacroix said during the public broadcaster’s annual meeting in Moncton, N.B., that “27 months after launching our 2020 strategy, we are past the disruption...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi had close to 900,000 subscribers at its peak, before the companies decided to shut down the service. “We recently approached...
Shomi, the joint Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. over-the-top (OTT) video service, will shut down on Nov. 30, the service...
The CRTC is consulting on whether it should merge the rules for specialty and pay channels into a single set of regulations. It said in a notice of consultation Monday that having two distinct designations for the channels is “no longer particularly meaningful” in today’s regulatory context and asked for comment on a set of proposed rules for both types of channels. “The Commission considers that the differences between the current regulations for pay and specialty services are relatively minor and that creating a single set of regulations for both types of...
