The CRTC on Friday made certain clarifications about the policy implemented early this year to prohibit providers of telecommunications services from requiring 30-days' notice of subscription cancellations. Responding to concerns expressed by some providers, it said the regulation would be modified to explicitly state that the policy only applies to the cancellation of TV services as a whole, not individual channels or particular packages. In a submission on this policy earlier this year, Rogers Communications Inc. said the previous wording of the regulation could mean “consumers...
The CRTC announced Friday that the second of two En Route events leading up to its Discoverability Summit will be held in Montreal on Dec. 3 with discussions focusing on French-language markets. The CRTC announced Tuesday that the first event will be held in Vancouver on Dec. 1, with those discussions focusing on English-language markets. Both events will be live-streamed on the CRTC YouTube channel, the CRTC said. All this is in advance of the CRTC's planned Discoverability Summit at a still undisclosed location in May, being organized in partnership with the National Film Board...
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said Friday that it has partnered with Telus Corp. to create a lab to help develop 5G technology. It said in a press release that the project, called the 5G Living Lab, will design, test and deploy...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media will cut 380 jobs in Toronto and Montreal this month, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. There will be 270 jobs axed in Toronto, with 220 in production, editorial and operations, 45 in...
The full text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, published Thursday by the government of New Zealand, shows that the agreement will place limits on rules around blocking Internet...
Sylvain Lake, Alta., will remain without any dedicated local radio service after the CRTC denied two applications on the grounds they would hurt stations in other communities — in particular, Red Deer, Alta. The CRTC said...
BCE Inc. reported net earnings of $791 million in the three months ending on Sept. 30, up 12.5 per cent from the same time period a year earlier. Its revenues were up 2.9 per cent, from $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion. The company said in a press release the revenue growth increased “on service revenue growth of 2.6 per cent and a 6.2 per cent increase in product revenue, driven by strong organic wireless, wireline residential and media revenue growth.” Average revenue per user among its wireless subscribers was also up, rising 6.1 per cent from a year ago to $65.34 in the third...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Thursday it will launch a new 24-hour specialty channel aimed at millennials next year as part of its partnership with Vice Media Inc. It said in a press release that the new channel, called...
Quebecor Inc.'s third-quarter financial report showed the company is seeing strong gains in the areas of mobile service and its over-the-top streaming service, Club Ilico. The company said in a press release Thursday that...
Navdeep Bains, MP for the Ontario riding of Mississauga-Malton, was named minister of innovation, science and economic development on Wednesday, a post intended to replace what was previously the...
Quebecor Inc. announced Wednesday that its music division will now be headed by Lyne Robitaille, who will become the senior vice-president of newspapers, books and music. It said in a press release that Distribution Select,...
BCE Inc. announced Wednesday that the popularity of its Fibe TV service has made its the largest TV provider in Canada for the first time with more than 2.7 million customers across the country. Bell said in a press release that...
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said Tuesday that it has shut down the Canadian-based video-streaming site Popcorn Time through a court injunction. The MPAA said in a news release Tuesday that it has obtained an...
CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan is asking that the affidavit of John Traversy, outgoing secretary general of the commission, be struck from the record in a Federal Court case — in which he's fighting a finding that he...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Tuesday that its Sportsnet network had its highest viewership ever in October, highlighting that 21.1 million Canadians watched some part of the Major League...
The notion that "content is king" is challenged in a new report that points out that connectivity services take in significantly more revenue than content providers in Canada and have seen more growth in recent decades. The Canadian Media Concentration Research Project, led by Carleton University communications professor Dwayne Winseck, released on Tuesday what it said was the first in a series of reports that analyzes trends in the entire "network media economy" in Canada between 1984 and 2014. It looks at everything from content such as TV, radio, newspapers and...
The CRTC announced Tuesday it is partnering with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) to host two events that will lead to a large summit, in order to start a discussion on discovering content...
Mascon, a small telecom service provider in British Columbia, announced Monday that it is now offering a skinny-basic TV package for $20 a month, getting a head-start on the CRTC requirement that packages for no more than $25 a...
The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) announced Tuesday it is funding five productions that are part of its francophone minority program with $2.6 million. CMF said in a press release that the funding is part of the second...
The idea of a merger between Canada's two biggest cable providers — Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. — is on the radar again, with at least two market analysts saying the conditions are right...
Tom Pentefountas, the CRTC vice-chairman of broadcasting, will wrap up his five-year term with the commission on Nov. 20, he said in an email to staff Monday. Pentefunas was appointed vice-chairman of broadcasting in 2011. “I would like to thank each and every one of you for this great journey, but the time has come for my young family and I to start the next chapter in our lives,” he said in the email. “I was overwhelmed with the professionalism and dedication of staff and continue to marvel at your sense of calling for the work you do. It has inspired and...
Telus Corp. announced Monday it is providing more than $3.2 million in funding for more than 60 new local content projects in Western Canada this year through its Optik Local community programming. It said in a press release that...
Rhapsody International Inc.’s music subscription service, Napster, announced Monday that its subscription service is now available in Canada. It said in a press release that, for a limited...
BlackBerry Ltd. announced Monday it has completed its acquisition of Good Technology Corp. and will begin integrating its software security solutions to its mobile enterprise platform. It said in a press release that the...
Global cloud traffic will be four times higher than what it was in 2014 by 2019, Cisco Systems Inc. said this week, rising to 8.6 zettabytes from 2.1 zettabytes. Cisco said in a press release Wednesday that its fifth annual...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division has asked the CRTC to approve the disaffiliation of two TV stations it owns in British Columbia from CBC/Radio-Canada. Bell Media filed applications with the commission, which appeared online...
CBS Corp. has picked up CBC/Radio-Canada sitcom Mr. D and will be creating a U.S.-based version, according to an online report by Postmedia Network. Postmedia reported that Gerry Dee, the creator and star of the show that is...
The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) said Friday that a fund it manages in partnership with Belgium-based production financing company Wallimage SA has awarded $400,000 to a multimedia project called Riftwood: Heroes. The project was...
Global smartwatch shipments were up 510 per cent in this year's third quarter from a year earlier, with 6.1 million units shipped compared to one million during the same period the previous year,...
The CRTC said in the final installment of its communications monitoring report Thursday that the percentage of households subscribing to TV services fell to 82 per cent in 2014 from 83.7 per cent a year earlier. That makes for the lowest percentage in the past five years, given that the household subscription rate for broadcast-distribution services was 84.2 per cent in 2012, 83.5 per cent in 2011 and 84.5 per cent in 2010, according to the report. The proportion of TV-service subscribers with...
A union representing French-language employees of CBC/Radio-Canada is demanding the resignation of the public broadcaster's CEO, Hubert Lacroix, and its entire board. The Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC) cited last week's federal election that saw the Liberal party led by Justin Trudeau defeat...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has released a new touch-screen device, powered by Android software and suitable for web browsing and video streaming, but it is "not a tablet," according to a company spokesman. Samsung and BCE Inc. said in a joint press release Thursday that the new Galaxy View, with its 18.4-inch...
Juniper Research Ltd. said Thursday that global smartphone shipments in this year's third quarter totalled 342.5 million, representing growth of 8.4 per cent. It said in the press release that Apple Inc.’s iPhones...
Cogeco Cable Inc. announced Wednesday that Tony Ciciretto, CEO of its business unit Cogeco Peer 1, will be stepping down and replaced by chief technology and strategy officer Philippe Jette. “It is with regret that we are...
The CRTC approved Wednesday an application from Corus Entertainment Inc. on behalf of OWN Inc., the Oprah Winfrey Network, to amend certain conditions of its broadcasting licence as well as its terms-of-trade agreement. The regulator said in the announcement that Corus had asked the CRTC to change the description of OWN from a national English-language specialty channel that provides formal and informal educational programming focusing on adult education, to a national English-language specialty channel that provides entertainment dedicated to women. It had also asked that a list of about a...
Worldwide smartphone shipments grew 6.8 per cent from a year earlier in the third quarter to 355.2 million units, up from 332.6 million units in the same period the previous year, according to a new report from International...
The Competition Bureau said Wednesday that it has determined that Rogers Communications Inc.'s 12-year deal that gives it national rights to NHL content in Canada has not "resulted in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition." It said in a press release that it considered the deal's effect on prices TV-service providers...
Apple Inc.'s mobile payment system is coming to Canada but will be, at least initially, limited to holders of credit cards from American Express Co. Apple CEO Tim Cook, during a conference call Tuesday to discuss the...
The European Commission voted Tuesday to set net neutrality rules for the first time in the European Union law. The new law, which was detailed in a fact sheet on the commission’s website, will include no blocking or...
BCE Inc.’s advertising division, Astral Out of Home, announced Tuesday it is launching new interactive advertisement panels to be featured in transit shelters in Toronto. It said in a press release that 10 interactive...
BCE Inc. is again turning to the courts over a CRTC decision, this time asking the Federal Court of Appeal for leave to appeal the CRTC’s Wholesale Code. In documents filed Thursday, Bell...
BCE Inc.’s media division has launched a TV-everywhere app for five Discovery Canada channels, and said Discovery GO would soon begin offering 4K content. The company said in a press release Monday that programming from...
Yahoo Inc. said in its third quarter financial results that it incurred a $42 million US loss on its original TV video content. Ken Goldman, chief financial officer for Yahoo, said during an earnings conference call with analysts...
Canadian Netflix Inc. subscribers will be the only ones able to stream Walt Disney Co.'s Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2016. A Netflix representative confirmed in a phone call that the seventh installment, and latest release, in the movie franchise is slated to be available on Netflix eight months after the movie is out of movie theatres in Canada, the only jursdiction where it will be available on the streaming service. In the U.S., premium cable and satellite TV network Starz Inc. will have rights to the movie broadcast the movie, the representative confirmed....
Commissioner Raj Shoan has brought another case against the CRTC to court, asking the Federal Court of Appeal to limit the ability of the CRTC chairman to assign commissioners to panels that make...
The CRTC announced Friday that all telecom service providers (TSPs) that fall under the purview of the Commission for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) will remain CCTS members on an interim basis until final...
Canadians spent 14.1 per cent more on wireless services in 2014 than they did in 2013, while last year also marked the first time there were more Canadian households that relied exclusively on mobile phone service than households...
The Commissioner for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) said Thursday that VOIS! Inc., an Alberta-based telecom provider, has breached its regulatory obligations towards its customers. CCTS said in a press release that after an...
The CRTC denied Thursday a transfer of ownership application submitted by NMTV Inc., a national third-language general interest ethnic specialty channel. The application, which was filed on Aug. 1, requested the commission change NMTV's ownership and licence. It was denied because “a broadcasting licence cannot be issued, amended or renewed if the application is submitted by a non-Canadian,” the CRTC said. The regulator also added in the announcement that “several factors indicate that the licensee’s effective control is exercised by non-Canadians,”...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Thursday in its third quarter results it saw a 40 per cent increase in net income to $464 million, up from $332 million the previous year. It said that there was an increase in revenues for its wireless, cable and media divisions in the three months ending Sept....
Shaw Communications Inc. announced Thursday a 43.8 per cent increase in its fourth quarter profits. It said in its quarterly results that its net income for the three months ending Aug. 31 was up 43.8 per cent to $276 million, up...
Google Inc.’s Youtube announced Wednesday it will launch a new paid video subscription service that will have ad-free original content. It said in a blog post that the service, called Youtube Red, will be available on all...
CRTC announced Wednesday that the Hamilton, Ont. and Burlington, Ont. radio market cannot add any more commercial radio stations, turning away an application filed by Byrnes Communications...
The CRTC has renewed the broadcasting licence for radio station CICR-FM in Parrsboro, N.S., located about two hours north of Halifax, for a shorter 20-month term after finding the station in...
The CRTC granted Radio Humsafar Inc. a broadcasting licence to operate a new ethnic commercial AM radio station in Brampton, Ont. while denying two other applications. The regulator said in the...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi announced Wednesday that it is partnering with Facebook Inc. to show the first episode of a three-part horror TV show on the social media site the same day it...
CBC/Radio-Canada said in a press release that it has secured the broadcasting rights for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the 2024 Olympic Games. CBC will become the official broadcaster for the next five Olympic Games...
Canaccord Genuity analysts Aravinda Galappatthige and Sanford Lee said Tuesday that they expect a Liberal majority government, as elected Monday, to take a “softer pro-wireless new entrant stance.” They said in a research note that the previous Conservative government had “consistently pursued the idea of a fourth national wireless player” through policies such as spectrum caps and set-asides in spectrum auctions, expecting that more competition would lower prices for...
Forty per cent of Canadians are aware of mobile-payment methods, up from 35 per cent a year earlier, but only 10 per cent are using their mobile phones to make payments on a weekly basis, according to survey results released...
OTTAWA — Concern about the equal treatment of all data transmitted over the Internet is going to have to take a backseat with the Internet of Things (IoT), a California-based technology-security expert said at the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference (GTEC) in Ottawa on Tuesday. Tyson Macaulay, chief...
The CRTC said Tuesday it will consult on its policies regarding certified independent production funds. It said the primary objective of the consultation would be “that these funds contribute to the development of a robust...
A telecom-market analyst says incumbent telecommunications-service providers would benefit under a Liberal government. Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan said in a research note released the Friday before Monday's election:...
Yellow Pages Ltd. announced Monday that data from its online digital platform that provides information on Canadian businesses will be directly linked and offered on Apple Inc.’s Apple Maps. It said in a press release that data provided will include information of about 1.8 million Canadian business' addresses, phone numbers, website URLs, hours of operation, photos, ratings and reviews. “We are pleased to bring our YP.ca local business listings data to Apple Maps,” Matthieu Houle, vice-president of digital media at Yellow Pages, said in the release. “This is...
Amid reports that text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will not be released before Monday's federal election, the office for International Trade Minister Ed Fast says Canada is pressing its partners in the trade pact for the immediate finalization and release of the agreement. "There are 11 other TPP...
An undue-preference complaint against a music streaming service offered by Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron has Rogers Communications Inc. arguing that zero-rating the service is a net-neutrality...
The Supreme Court on Thursday denied BCE Inc.'s appeal of damages it was ordered to pay Quebecor Inc. subsidiaries for the hacking of Bell's satellite-TV service a decade or more ago and the lost revenue that resulted...
Most French-speaking Canadians watch some English television and film, and most of those do so at least once a week, according to a newly released survey. CBC/Radio-Canada's Media Technology Monitor said in a report released...
Telus Corp. on Thursday said customers of its Internet of Things commercial vehicle-tracking service can now access a data-based insurance product helps them save costs and encourage safe driving. Telus said in a press release...
Netflix Inc. reported 30 per cent annual growth in quarterly revenue on Wednesday, though its net profit in the third quarter was half of what it was at the same time in 2014. The over-the-top (OTT) streaming company said in a...
The Competition Bureau said Wednesday it has reached a deal with BCE Inc. in which the company will pay a fine of $1.25 million for urging employees to make positive online reviews about Bell apps. The bureau added in a press...
In the past 18 months, Ottawa-based TV app-maker You.i TV has grown from 20 employees to 130, and the company expects that kind of expansion to continue in the next year, according to Matt Nelson, You.i TV’s director of marketing. “Basically, anyone who has a channel, anyone who has a...
The Canada Media Fund and the Australian government, through the Screen Australia agency, are investing $800,000 into an initiative for digital interactive projects. “With 50 film and television co-productions between Canada and Australia, it’s a natural fit to build on this relationship and create an incentive for interactive digital media co-production,” CMF president Valerie Creighton said in a joint press release Wednesday. Mike Cowap, investment manager at Screen Australia, said in the release that the Canada-Australia Interactive Digital Media Incentive “is...
DHX Media Ltd. announced last week it has appointed Michael Serafini as vice-president of programing at its DHX Television division, which oversees a stable of kids' channels under its Family brand. Serafini was most recently...
In full election platforms released last week, the NDP is promising to implement changes to Canadian privacy law and look into Internet of Things (IoT) privacy, the Conservatives are pledging funding for rural broadband and...
Bloomberg TV Canada will debut on Nov. 16, the Canadian broadcaster that will be operating the channel said Tuesday. Channel Zero Inc. added in a press release that it has hired Pamela Ritchie — who was an on-air...
DHX Media Ltd. said Tuesday that it has reached deals with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that will see two of its main children's shows air on Australia's public broadcaster. DHX, a Canadian content producer and...
Sports fans are an ideal market to sell 4K content to in its early stages, say analysts, though at least one expert says this quality of video has not yet achieved "must-have" status. Richard Grunberg, associate professor of media at Ryerson University, said in a phone interview that most consumers see the transition from regular high definition (HD) to 4K as a less dramatic change than the move from standard definition to HD. He added that content producers are already creating content in 4K, making them ready for when the 4K market goes mainstream. A few years ago, when the...
Online information leaker WikiLeaks published on Friday what it said were parts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that reveal provisions for Internet service providers to block access to content...
RNC Media Inc. is asking the CRTC to relieve it of a licence condition for its radio station CHLX-FM in Gatineau, Que., that requires it to pay $8,000 a year toward the development of Canadian...
CBC/Radio-Canada said Thursday that Tara Ellis is its new executive director of scripted content. The public broadcaster said in a press release that Ellis will be in charge of teams producing comedies, dramas, kids' programming and digital originals. Ellis was most recently senior director of original drama content...
The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada is investigating two letters Conservative MP Parm Gill sent the CRTC while serving as a parliamentary secretary. In 2013, the...
Netflix Inc. has raised pricing for new Canadian customers signing up for its standard package by $1, to $9.99 a month, according to its website. The increase applies to the package that includes high-definition content and...
Internet advocacy group OpenMedia released a “report card” Thursday ranking the federal parties’ digital policies ahead of the election, in which the NDP received an overall grade of...
Danielle May-Cuconato will become secretary general of the CRTC on Nov. 16. John Traversy announced his retirement from the position Tuesday. CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in an email to staff Wednesday that May-Cuconato...
BCE Inc.’s media division said Wednesday that the deadline for its Executive Producer Accelerator Lab is Nov. 6. The company said the 2016 edition of the annual program, which “provides...
A newly released survey shows 46 per cent of Canadian small businesses polled are using cloud-based services, and most of those that do are seeing benefits. Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. said in a press release Wednesday that a survey it commissioned found 86 per cent of small businesses that use cloud services have improved their business processes, and 47 per cent have "experienced unexpected positive business changes by moving to the cloud." The report noted that 55 per cent of cloud users were using the services mostly for employee communication and collaboration, and...
CRTC secretary general John Traversy will retire on Dec. 11 after 27 years with the commission, he said in an email to staff Tuesday. “Over the years, I had the opportunity to work on countless files in both the...
The Green Party supports reversing recent years' cuts to CBC/Radio-Canada and boosting its funding further, though the party doesn’t oppose the public broadcaster's attempt to find alternative sources of funding,...
Details about provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that could affect Canada’s media and telecom industries remained scant Monday as the government announced the conclusion...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holdings Corp. announced Monday it has started construction of a new data centre in Saskatoon. It said in the press release that the data entre has met the Tier III certification requirements from...
Following Corus Entertainment Inc.’s announcement at MIPCOM, the global entertainment content conference, it said in a press release Monday that it has signed deals to distribute its original content to two U.S. broadcasters. Corus said that Walt Disney Co.’s ABC Family has secured the rights to Cheer Stars, and Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. has secured the rights to Masters of Flip. “We’re thrilled to be teaming up with these top-rated U.S. networks to introduce Corus’ original series to new audiences,” John MacDonald, executive vice-president of...
DHX Media Inc. announced Monday it has signed a deal with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. for the rights to the new TV show, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series. It said in a press release that the show, which is based...
Quebecor Inc.’s Groupe Média announced Monday it has launched an initiative to help Google Inc.’s YouTube content creators maximize their impact and visibility. It said in a...
Prices for TV subscriptions in the coming pick-and-pay era will be one of the main factors determining how over-the-top (OTT) video services are affected, say experts, noting that competitive pricing...
Rogers Communications Inc. on Monday announced it is moving forward with two different kinds of technology — 4K video and gigabit-speed Internet — though one commentator says the success of either of these initiatives...
Pelmorex Media Inc. has sold its Weather Network commercial services division to European weather forecasting company MeteoGroup, the companies said in a press release. The division has provided weather information “to many...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media has parted ways with more senior employees, a spokesman confirmed Friday. Bell Media's Scott Henderson said in an email: "I can confirm there have been some director-level departures at Bell...
BCE Inc.’s media division said in a press release Thursday it has named Dany Meloul as its vice-president of programming for French-language TV. The company said Meloul would be “at the helm of all activities...
Telus Corp. announced Thursday it will be providing its fibre-optic network to connect and power a simulated smart home in Edmonton. It said in the press release that it has partnered with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Ericsson AB and Alcatel-Lucent to provide the technology for the 560-square-foot home, which resembles a...
The CRTC said Thursday it has approved an application from Kosiner Venture Capital Inc. to launch new TV audio channels, opening the door to competition in a market in which Stingray Digital Group Inc. currently holds a monopoly. The commission gave the OK to an application Kosiner made late last year seeking permission to provide an initial package of 45 music channels through TV-service providers, with that number gradually increasing to as much as 60 over the licence term. The CRTC granted Kosiner a licence that expires Aug. 31, 2022. Company owner Evan Kosiner said Thursday that the channels should be launched by the start of 2016. He added that discussions are taking place with a partner that would result in a well-known brand for the audio service. "It's a brand that...
