The CRTC has settled a dispute between BCE Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron over wholesale rates for a French-language sports channel in Quebec, selecting Videotron’s offer for the per-subscriber wholesale rate for the distribution of Bell’s Réseau des sports (RDS) by Videotron. In a decision posted to the CRTC’s website Tuesday, the regulator said that Videotron’s “proposed rate increase is more reasonable than Bell’s, given the decrease in viewership share of the RDS services since 2011. In addition, the Commission considers that Bell has not adequately demonstrated that its proposed rate increase is necessary given the increase in programming expenses.” The two companies looked to the commission for...
The majority of Canadians want to turn to technology to navigate their health care, but only a small percentage actually do so, according to the results of a new Telus Corp.-commissioned study. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents to the Telus Health study said they believed digital health technology would lead to better health care, according to a Tuesday press release that cited the Telus Health study, and 85 per cent of respondents said they were “missing out on digital tools that would allow them to take control of their personal health just as effortlessly as other day-to-day activities.” However, only 15 per cent of respondents reported doing any health-related activities online, while at least 48 per cent indicated they were unaware of already-available...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has announced that Elliott Anderson is its new director of public policy, reseach and communications. Anderson has served in the role on an interim basis since...
ESPN is streaming live coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament on Twitter Inc.’s social media service. The website states the live feed is brought to viewers by Wimbeldon and ESPN. It appears to have been made...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Tuesday that its mobile streaming music app has doubled its user base in the span of a year, reaching one million downloads. Users spend an average of five hours per week listening...
Eleven more set-top box retailers will have to make their case to the Federal Court after being named as defendants in a legal fight against set-top boxes that can be used to circumvent paid TV subscriptions. On June 20, lawyers...
Nielsen Co. says the season premiere of Netflix Inc.’s Orange is the New Black drew 6.7 million viewers in the United States in its first two days. Netflix doesn’t release its audience numbers, but at a client presentation last week Nielsen disclosed ratings data about specific programs, according the Wall Street Journal. Orange is the New Black’s fourth season was released on June 17, and the first episode had 6.7 million viewers in the U.S. between June 17 and June 19, according to Nielsen, while the second episode drew 5.9 million viewers, the newspaper reported....
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says Canada should follow the example of the European Union and countries like New Zealand and Australia in requiring over-the-top (OTT) services to pay...
Facebook Inc. and AT&T Inc. have waded into the CRTC’s review of differential pricing practices, arguing that the commission should allow carriers to offer zero-rated services...
The BBC will launch a new Toronto bureau and a Canadian edition of BBC.com, the British public service broadcaster announced Thursday. The dedicated site will launch later this year, according to a...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Wednesday that it has appointed Anne Martin-Vachon as president of The Shopping Channel, effective August 16. She succeeds Steven Goldsmith, who spent four years at the...
Questions around telecoms’ usage of data caps should be at the centre of the CRTC’s proceeding on differential pricing practices, advocacy groups said in interventions, calling for the...
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) announced Wednesday that it has appointed a new vice-president of communications and marketing. Andrew Addison will report to president and CEO Reynolds Mastin and “provide strategic direction, leading the development and execution of integrated marketing and communications strategies for the...
Minimal exposure to the United Kingdom and Europe will leave the Canadian telecom and media industries relatively unscathed following the U.K.’s vote to exit the European Union last week,...
Heritage Canada’s announcement of an expert advisory panel for its review of Canadian content in a digital age, which includes representatives from a number of broadcasters, was met with both praise and...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has sold several original series to international buyers, the company announced Tuesday. In a press release, the content distribution company said four home sales and renovation series will be distributed in the United States, Latin America, Italy, Israel, Spain, India and the United Arab Emirates. “Our premium lifestyles series have been well-received around the globe by tapping into universal desires, while fulfilling our remit of providing high quality content and service to our clients worldwide,” Solange Attwood, senior vice-president of Blue...
After seven months of vacancy, Canadian Heritage is moving to fill the vice-chair of broadcasting position at the CRTC. Former vice-chair Tom Pentefountas wrapped up his five-year term on Nov. 20. A new posting on...
The CRTC has directed a Truro, N.S., radio station to broadcast a message about its non-compliance with its licence conditions. The commission said that “considering the serious and repeated...
George Stroumboulopoulos is leaving Hockey Night in Canada after two years of hosting the program, Rogers Communications Inc.’s Sportsnet said in a press release Monday....
Rogers Communications Inc. is now using HD radio technology in broadcasting a number of stations in Toronto and Vancouver. The company said in a press release Monday that the stations include Toronto’s Kiss...
Sportsnet One and TVA Sports are, for the first time, in the top 10 highest-grossing TV channels, according to the CRTC’s latest stats on Canadian programming—and of those top 10, five are sports channels. The commission released its 2015 financial results for specialty, pay, pay-per-view (PPV) and video-on-demand (VOD) television services on Thursday. Among the highlights of the report are the performances of Rogers Communications Inc.’s Sportsnet One and Quebecor Inc.’s TVA Sports, two of the sports channels in the top 10 whose numbers rose dramatically...
The CRTC has approved a proposal by an independent over-the-air (OTA) station that would see it source programming from Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) to fulfill its described-video...
The Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec said the CRTC’s recent decision on local and community TV will harm independent...
Mobile advertising revenue and music streaming activity will see dramatic increases over the next four years, as technological innovation takes hold over traditional methods of media consumption,...
Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service continued to lead peak period network traffic, but the percentage of traffic has declined since late 2015, according to a new Global Internet Phenomena...
The Quebec Superior Court has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Cogeco Inc., determining the suit was abusive under section 51 of Quebec’s code of civil procedure. The City of Quebec had sued Cogeco, its...
The CRTC has approved a reorganization that will see Rogers Communications Inc.’s media division share control of the Viceland TV channel. According to a notice posted Wednesday to the commission’s...
BCE Inc.’s media division announced Wednesday that Karine Moses, Bell’s vice-president of field operations support, would be taking on the position of president of Astral Out of Home. Moses will replace outgoing Luc Quétel as the head of the out-of-home advertising arm that covers more than...
TORONTO — A reasonable person could make the link between the comments that CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais made as a witness during a harassment investigation...
CBC/Radio-Canada is teaming up with Netflix Inc. and Halfire Entertainment to produce a miniseries based on a Margaret Atwood book. Production will begin in Ontario in August, the broadcaster said in a press release Tuesday. CBC will broadcast the six-hour show, called Alias Grace, in Canada, while Netflix will carry it outside the country, it added....
The CRTC has approved four channels originating in the United States aimed at people of South Asian descent for distribution in Canada. It said in a notice Tuesday that the channels are...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. is expanding its portfolio of properties by picking up four of BCE Inc.’s music channels. The Montreal-based music provider will pick up MuchLoud, MuchRetro, MuchVice and Juicebox,...
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the CRTC’s ban on BCE Inc.’s zero-rated mobile-TV plans, a year and a half after the commission ruled the company couldn’t exempt the service from data caps. In a...
MONTREAL — Whether a court decision on BCE Inc.’s appeal of a CRTC decision banning simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl will come in time for next year’s game and ad sales...
A private members’ bill introduced on the last day of Parliament’s session seeks to extend the current copyright terms for authors and composers, from 50 years after their death to 70 years. Peter Van Loan, the Opposition critic for Canadian Heritage, introduced bill C-299 on Friday, according to a press release from the Toronto-area MP's office. The bill would cover the copyright held by “authors of every original literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic work,” the release said. Rules around copyright terms for sound recordings were...
The number of anglophones subscribing to TV service continues to fall, according to a new report by Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio-Canada. In the spring of 2016, 73 per cent subscribed to TV...
Rogers Communications Inc. unveiled its new IPTV service to investors Thursday, according to analysts’ notes, though company spokesman Aaron Lazarus declined to comment Friday. Canaccord Genuity analyst...
Millions of people tuned into live broadcasts of the electronic entertainment expo (E3) this week on Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch.tv. It’s an event whose...
Louis Lalande, CBC/Radio-Canada’s executive vice-president of French services, is stepping down at the end of the year, the public broadcaster said Thursday. CBC president Hubert Lacroix announced...
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has launched and staffed its new radio marketing and advocacy arm, Radio Connect, the organization announced Thursday. The CAB CEO Radio Council said in a press release that...
The Shopping Channel (TSC) has launched an app for Apple Inc.’s Apple TV platform. Rogers Communications Inc., which owns the Mississauga-based retailer, announced the ShopTSC app in a Thursday press release. The...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Wednesday that it has acquired the Festival 4K television channel, which broadcasts live performances, including festivals, concerts and theatre productions, according to the press...
The CRTC has established new funding for local television news in a decision on its local and community TV hearing, though advocates expressed concern that the changes won’t happen quickly...
A federal court judge erred in her determination that allowing a group of five companies to continue selling pre-loaded set-top boxes would pose “irreparable harm” to TV service providers, according to court documents filed this week. Lawyers for Vincent Wesley, of MTLFreeTV.Com and WatchNSaveNow Inc., are looking to appeal the injunction ordered by judge Danièle Tremblay-Lamer on June 1, prohibiting the sale of the boxes loaded with applications that let users access free television content. According to a notice of appeal filed on Monday, BCE...
Another Canadian company is joining the ultra-high-definition field, with Quebecor Inc. announcing its media division was producing its first 4K show. Videotron’s over-the-top (OTT) service Club Illico said in...
When Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said “there will be no Netflix tax,” at the end of her department’s review of cultural institutions, that leaves both the taxation of...
Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. estimates fewer than one million Canadian households are currently subscribers to BCE Inc.’s CraveTV and Rogers Communications Inc.’s and Shaw...
Rogers Communications Inc. is changing tack with its beleaguered OMNI ethnic stations, announcing Tuesday it’s applied for a licence for a national ethnic channel, which it asked the CRTC to...
A trio of major telecom companies have received their first victory in a legal fight against companies selling set-top boxes allowing users to illegally access copyrighted material. On June 1, a federal court judge awarded BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron an injunction against five companies dealing in “pre-loaded” set-top boxes, which came with applications that let users access free television content. According to judge Danièle...
Microsoft Corp. announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement to buy LinkedIn Corp.’s social networking site for $26.2 billion US. The companies said in a press release Monday that LinkedIn...
Shaw Communications Inc. has introduced a TV channel to keep Fort McMurray, Alta., residents informed as they return to the city following an evacuation due to wildfires. The community channel will broadcast, in a 30-minute...
Advertisers will now have access to Rogers Communications Inc.’s linear TV inventory for programmatic, or automated, advertising, Videology Inc. said in a Wednesday press release. The New...
A Canadian digital music company has responded to a lawsuit containing allegations that it infringed on the patents held by a U.S.-based digital music distributer. Pennsylvania-based Music Choice, a multi-platform video and music network, filed a complaint for patent infringement in a Texas...
TORONTO — Executives from Canada’s telecom companies took aim at a new bill by the Quebec government that would force Internet service providers (ISPs) to block some gambling websites...
Current Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. customers are concerned about the future of their bills if the proposed takeover by BCE Inc. is approved, suggest the results of a new poll...
BCE Inc. has selected the New York-based Videology Inc. to provide software for its programmatic, or automated, TV and video advertising operation. According to the release, Videology’s technology will “look at...
The body that regulates the telecommunications market in the European Union released draft guidelines Monday to ensure providers steer clear of zero-rating policies unless justified, a move that comes ahead of a CRTC...
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has signed an agreement with a European partner to manage Canadian rights overseas. In a Friday press release, the French authors’ rights society, Sacem (Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music), said it will be “the first society in Europe assigned to represent the digital rights of a North American music rights organization in pan-European licences.” The agreement means that “SOCAN’s more than 135,000 members will benefit greatly from further improved...
The majority of Canadians doesn’t believe that online media, such as Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service or music streaming services like Spotify AB's, should fall under the...
A new J.D. Power survey has found customers who have a skinny-basic TV package with a pick-and-pay option are more satisfied than TV customers with other types of subscriptions. Satisfaction among skinny-basic customers was 761...
Three Canadian media outlets will be able to display their pages faster on smartphones while using less data after adopting a new platform developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, according news articles by Corus...
According to a new report, 76 per cent of anglophones used the Internet at the same time as they watched television in 2015. “While multitasking has grown immensely over time, incidence has slowed over the past year,”...
Scott Garvie has replaced Jamie Brown as the chair of the board of directors at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). Garvie, the senior vice-president of business and legal affairs at Shaftesbury Films Inc., has served on the CMPA board of directors for 15 years, the organization said in a press release. “Our industry is facing huge disruption and new challenges, but also, new opportunities,” Garvie stated in the release. He said the upcoming review of Canadian content by Heritage Canada is “a once-in-a-decade opportunity to holistically review and shape federal policy — this is a chance for us to determine which business tools have worked well and don’t require change, modernize the ones that do need to be updated in order to reflect our new realities, and add new tools to our toolkits that will allow our industry to evolve, thrive and prosper in the future.” Cal Shumiatcher was re-elected as treasurer and Brian Hamilton re-elected as secretary of the board, the...
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is recommending giving Canada’s economy a boost by removing foreign ownership rules for telecommunications and broadcasting. In an economic forecast...
The attorney general’s office is arguing that the CRTC chairman has the authority to name panels to decide issues in front of the commission, in response to a court case launched by commissioner Raj Shoan challenging his...
BCE Inc.’s media division is commissioning original, scripted 4K content, the company announced Wednesday. In a press release, Bell Media said CTV would become “the first broadcaster in North America to commit to...
The CRTC has issued a call for radio stations with licences expiring next year to submit their renewal applications. Affected licensees, listed on the commission’s website, must submit their applications by Aug....
TheScore Inc. launched its chatbot for Facebook Inc.’s Messenger on Wednesday, making it one of the first sports media companies to build a messaging bot to update users on sports developments....
OTTAWA — Witnesses in the latest round of hearings in the House of Commons’ Canadian Heritage committee’s study of the media and local communities asked parliamentarians to level the playing field when it comes...
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has launched an application programming interface (API) portal to help foster new music rights management apps. It said the API portal will enable...
The CRTC has named the winners of its prize for excellence in policy research to master’s, doctoral, and post-doctoral researchers at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, and York University. Daniel Mackwood at...
Voltage Pictures LLC is asking federal court to order Rogers Communications Inc. to disclose the identity of an individual who infringed its copyright of five movies. In a motion of disclosure filed in court Wednesday, Voltage said the notice-and-notice provisions of the Copyright Act include “a mechanism for identifying anonymous copyright infringers, such as John Doe no. 1,” and asked the court to compel Rogers to disclose his identity. “Absent this identifying information, which is known only to Rogers, the unlawful distributing of the Voltage...
The CRTC has every right to put measures into place banning simultaneous substation for the Super Bowl, according to new documents filed with the Appeal Court. In separate memoranda of fact and law...
Allarco Entertainment 2008 Inc., which owns Super Channel, is now in creditor protection, the company announced Thursday. It said in a press release that “after consideration of all available alternatives… it is...
A group of Quebec broadcasters say that unless accountability measures are put in place, the increased funding the federal government has slated for CBC/Radio-Canada will be a “blank...
Technological changes to the broadcasting and communications landscape require a similar shift in the regulatory environment, according to authors of a pair of new think-tank reports released Wednesday, both of which call for less...
CBC/Radio-Canada is not the cause of problems facing private broadcasters, CEO Hubert Lacroix said in a speech Tuesday. Speaking at the University of British Columbia, Lacroix said that “at a time when Canadian culture is facing global challenges, some believe the solution is to make public broadcasting smaller.” That includes arguments that CBC’s local websites are making newspapers less profitable, and suggestions by some private broadcasters “that the solution to their declining revenue is to limit what CBC does for Canadians to some sort of ‘status...
The CRTC said Tuesday it will hold a hearing on the implementation of skinny basic TV packages, though it only asked four companies — BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc.,...
The European Union is set to put in place rules forcing streaming services to have a minimum of 20 per cent EU content in their catalogues, according to the Financial Times. The newspaper...
The CRTC is accepting feedback on “standard conditions of licence, expectations and encouragements” for new, consolidated TV licencing categories. Following up on a previously announced decision to...
OTTAWA — CBC/Radio-Canada’s English news division is undertaking aggressive “re-engineering” of its newsrooms, CBC News editor-in-chief...
CBC/Radio-Canada says that its Montreal headquarters will stay at its current downtown location. Three years ago, the public broadcaster issued a request for proposals for the site, and it said earlier this March...
Net neutrality advocates welcomed the CRTC’s launch of a new consultation on “differential pricing practices” for both wireline and wireless data plans Wednesday, a process that will see a public hearing kick off...
CBC/Radio-Canada has applied to the CRTC to continue broadcasting ads on its ICI Musique and Radio 2 networks and stations, according to a notice posted by the regulator Wednesday. The...
Netflix Inc. has teamed up with Univision Communications Inc. in its first deal to bring original programming from the company’s over-the-top (OTT) service to traditional TV in the United States. In...
OTTAWA — It wasn’t a hard sell for David Graham to recruit Liberal colleagues for a new Parliament Hill research body. “[I said] ‘I want to talk about digital issues. Who’s with me?’” Graham, Liberal MP for Laurentides-Labelle, recalled during an interview. “There’s an immense interest, so it wasn’t difficult at all to get started.” That interest led to the January formation of the digital infrastructure caucus, a subset of roughly 40 Liberal members of Parliament and staff, chaired by Graham, with a shared goal of taking...
The number of anglophone Canadians with smartphones reached 77 per cent in the fall of 2015, up from 73 per cent in the spring of that year, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor, a project...
Industry association ThinkTV has released a new study that says story-driven, visually complex and brand-focused advertisements are better-suited to television than other platforms. ThinkTV, an...
If communications providers stick to principles of transparency and openness, zero-rated and sponsored data services can stay out of regulatory and consumer trouble, according to a report released...
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has purchased Seattle-based music technology company MediaNet. The organization said the move will improve its ability to match music to its right holder and help increase revenue for rights holders, especially those whose...
Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. is going private in a move it plans to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2016, the company announced Friday. “SiriusXM and certain Canadian shareholders will form a new company to acquire shares of Sirius XM Canada not already owned by them pursuant to a plan of arrangement,” it said in a press release. The company will continue to operate under Canadian control, it added, with Toronto-based Slaight Communications Inc. and Obelysk Inc. owning 67 per cent of the voting shares. Cannacord Genuity analyst Aravinda Galappatthige said in a research note Monday that “the structure satisfies the Canadian ownership requirement.” The deal is subject to CRTC approval, he noted. Sirius XM Holdings Inc., the company’s U.S. division, will have 33...
The office of the privacy commissioner is asking for input on “how Canadians can meaningfully exercise their right to consent to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information.” A Wednesday press...
The CRTC will issue a notice of consultation on how telecom companies carried out its skinny basic TV package rules later this month. Spokeswoman Patricia Valladao said in an email Friday the commission had asked TV providers, as...
A collection of radio stations are gearing up for a campaign for easy access to FM radio on smartphones in Canada. Similar to a campaign in the United States, Free Radio on My Phone is looking for collaboration with carriers to...
Quebecor Inc. reported a five-per-cent increase to revenue in the first quarter of 2016, bringing in $975.4 million compared to $929 million the same period a year earlier. According to quarterly earnings...
Canadians will now be able to use Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay service with Visa, MasterCard and debit cards, according to a Tuesday press release from payment processing company Moneris Solutions Corp. Previously, the service...
Former Quebec deputy premier Nathalie Normandeau is suing Cogeco Inc.’s media division for wrongful dismissal, according to media reports. Radio-Canada reported Monday that Normandeau has filed a lawsuit...
Amazon.com Inc. has launched Amazon Video Direct, a new “self-service program” that will allow video creators to distribute their content to Amazon customers. The company said in a...
OTTAWA — A panel discussion on net neutrality Friday dug into whether zero-rating can help or harm market competition, with Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory affairs at Telus Corp. taking issue with the...
OTTAWA — The results of the sweeping review of Canadian content in a digital age announced by Heritage Canada last week could take 10 years to materialize, University of Ottawa law professor Jeremy deBeer said Thursday during a panel discussion at the New Developments in Communications Law and Policy conference. “I think [Heritage Minister Mélanie] Joly is on the right track when she says everything’s on the table, because you have to take that sort of...
