BCE Inc. and Bell Aliant Inc. said Friday that a vast majority of the common shares of the latter have been tendered to the former, and that the whole deal should be completed on or around the end of this month. The companies said in joint press release that as of Thursday, which was the deadline for the offer on publicly traded common shares of Bell Aliant not yet owned by BCE, more than 90 per cent of stock sought had been tendered. It said the remaining shares would be purchased through "compulsory acquisition" and that the purchase would close on or about Oct. 31. BCE, which...
Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday its customers can now access TV-everywhere products for BCE Inc.’s TSN and Rogers Communication Inc.’s Sportsnet specialty channels. “Through Sportsnet Now, Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct customers will be given instant access to live, streaming content from all the Sportsnet channels they subscribe to, including Sportsnet Ontario, East, West and Pacific, Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet World,” Shaw said in a press release, adding that viewers in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal can also view regional NHL...
Odyssey Television Network Inc., which operates channels in Canada with Greek-oriented programming, is sponsoring a sports channel from Greece to be authorized for distribution in Canada. OTN's application was posted to the...
Netflix Inc. said Thursday it has reached a deal to premiere four movies that will star and be produced by comedic actor Adam Sandler. The announcement comes just days after Netflix revealed plans to release its first original...
The CRTC on Thursday awarded Quebecor Inc.'s Sun News Network a victory in one of two arbitration cases involving its carriage with broadcaster distributors, though it sided with the service provider in another. In a dispute...
Cineplex Inc. says it will not show movies at the same time they are made available by Netflix Inc. This comes after Netflix said it is releasing its first original movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said Wednesday it has invested $5 million in cash in Hubub Inc., and made commitments for millions of dollars more, to develop and promote the company's website and application that facilitates online discussions. Bell Media said in a press release the investment has given it an equity stake in Hubub and the exclusive rights to monetize the company's service in Canada. It said its broadcasting brands, such as CTV, TSN and The Movie Network, would create and promote "hububs," which it described as "personal interest channels" that...
Newcap Inc. has been denied a request to the CRTC to expand the signal strength of a radio station in Kelowna, B.C., on the grounds it would add another station to the market of Penticton, B.C., about 60 kilometres south. The...
Netflix Inc. has gained more than 100,000 subscribers in France two weeks after launching in the country, according to a newspaper report on Tuesday. French newspaper Le Figaro attributed the figure to anonymous sources and drew...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. is getting rid of its Galaxie brand for audio channels on subscription-TV services, putting all its services under the Stingray brand, and launching a new streaming app, the company said in a press...
Netflix Inc. said Tuesday it would have its first original movie next summer. It said in a press release that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend will premiere on Netflix simultaneously with showings in Imax theatres...
EBay Inc. said Tuesday that its EBay and PayPal divisions will split into two separate companies next year. The companies said in a press release the two divisions would spin off from each other in the second half of 2015, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. "As independent...
Companies associated with Quebecor Inc. were given the go-ahead on Tuesday to add English programming to its French-language pay-per-view service, Canal Indigo. A decision posted on the CRTC's website said the service will...
The CRTC said Monday it will remove all evidence presented by Netflix Inc. and Google Inc., including oral and written presentations, from the Let’s Talk TV process, following the...
The federal government’s pursuit of a consumer-driven broadcasting policy instead of a more comprehensive digital strategy has left the CRTC in a difficult position when it comes to regulating Internet video services, says...
Documents from the CRTC indicate its officials felt that if conventional television broadcasters from the United States had the right to negotiate their carriage by Canadian service providers, they would have "little bargaining power" due to their "marginal viewership" in Canada. "Since Canadian television stations acquire the rights and broadcast the most popular U.S. programs in Canada, simultaneous substitution significantly limits Canadian viewership to U.S. conventional stations," said an April 19, 2013, briefing note from Scott Hutton, the commission's executive director of broadcasting, to CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais. This memo and other documents were attained through an access-to-information request. The CRTC declined to comment further on...
The C.D. Howe Institute released a report on Thursday that said the CRTC's proposal to mandate pick-and-pay television is "deeply misguided" and would be "irrelevant at best" and "harmful at...
Shaw Communications Inc. said Wednesday that Steve Wilson, its executive vice-president of corporate development and chief financial officer, will retire next year. It said in a press release that Wilson, who has been the...
Bell Aliant Inc. president and CEO Karen Sheriff will retire at the end of the year, BCE Inc., which is buying out Bell Aliant, said in a joint press release with its acquisition target on Wednesday. “Taking over in an aggressively competitive environment, she initiated a plan of corporate transformation and strategic priority-setting, and led...
Experts say that while CRTC must somehow respond to the refusal of Netflix Inc. to give the commission information it had been ordered to provide by CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais during a hearing...
Telus Corp. and technology maker Mojio Inc. announced on Tuesday they will team up to provide a connected-car service in Canada before the end of this year. In a joint press release, the companies said the service will use Telus' national wireless network to connect to the Internet and employ a cellular device from Vancouver-based Mojio that connects to vehicle's onboard diagnostic port, which is on most cars manufactured since 1996. When the service launches some time in the coming months, the companies said it will send vehicle diagnostics to user's smartphone, automate trip...
Netflix Inc. will not produce some of the information CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais ordered from it last week. “While Netflix has responded to a number of the CRTC's requests, we are not in a position to produce...
The CRTC has dismissed an undue-preference complaint against BCE Inc. filed by a company that plans to launch an over-the-top (OTT) TV service, though the decision was not unanimous. Leiacomm...
Shaw Communications Inc. has applied to the CRTC for a broadcasting licence for a new national all-news channel. The company said in a press release Monday that the channel would “feature a national newsfeed bookended by...
John Boynton and Shelagh Stoneham, two Rogers Communications Inc. executives who left in the wake of its corporate overhaul this year, have both found other jobs. Boynton, formerly the chief marketing officer at Rogers, is now...
GATINEAU, Que. — During the sometimes-contentious appearance by Netflix Inc. on the last day the CRTC’s two-week hearings on the future of television, CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais repeatedly ordered the U.S....
GATINEAU, Que. — Asian Television Network International Ltd. was one of a number of ethnic broadcasters with Category A third-language channels who on Thursday urged the CRTC, as part...
With Canada's two biggest cable companies on the verge of launching an online streaming service, an Internet analytics company says the market is ripe for a new over-the-top (OTT) service in Canada. Sandvine Inc. issued a press release Thursday with various data about online traffic, including that Netflix...
BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday that its mobile payment application will be made available to iPhone and Android smartphone users in Indonesia in early 2015. The company said in a press release that...
Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence told a CIBC investor conference in Montreal on Wednesday that his company's upcoming over-the-top (OTT) programming service, Shomi, isn't meant to be the ultimate solution for streaming users. "We're not trying to kill Netflix here," he said. "This is a complementary play, rather than an either/or play." Laurence said his goal is to differentiate Shomi — for which Rogers has partnered with Shaw Communications Inc. — from Netflix Inc.'s product and other OTT services by concentrating on quality and, specifically, television content. "There's some misunderstandings about the value proposition because people tend to focus on the volume of titles," he said. "And it's really not...
Mobile online video viewing doubled around the world over the last year and accounted for 27 per cent of all online video viewing in this year's second quarter, Ooyala Inc. said in a report released Monday. The report said...
A report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada shows that, for the first time ever, there was more revenue in this country last year in Internet advertising than television. In a report released Wednesday, the IAB...
GATINEAU, Que. — Independent ISP TekSavvySolutions Inc. told the CRTC Tuesday it is considering becoming a TV distributor, on the same day that it announced a “partnership” with Hastings Cable Vision Ltd., an...
A Minneapolis-St. Paul ABC affiliate is asking the CRTC to remove it from its list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution. An application from Hubbard Broadcasting Inc....
Shaw Communications Inc. on Tuesday announced it is promoting Barbara Williams and giving her two new titles. The company said in a press release that Williams is now president of Shaw Media and executive vice-president of broadcasting. She was previously Shaw Media's senior vice-president of content. Williams, whom Shaw said has 25 years of experience in the media industry, was the company's spokesperson in the recent announcement of its online-streaming venture with Rogers Communications Inc. called Shomi, and spoke on behalf of Shaw during the ongoing CRTC hearings into the future of television. Shaw credited Williams as being instrumental in bringing the Shomi project to fruition, and also in the creation of TV-everywhere applications like GlobalGo and HistoryGo. "Coupled with her extensive list of accomplishments and...
GATINEAU, Que. —Walt Disney Co. on Monday warned the CRTC against a move toward pick-and-pay television. Susan Fox, Disney’s vice-president of government relations, told the commission that having broad distribution...
Google Inc. on Monday announced a new smartphone, known as Android One, it will make available first in India and other developing countries in the near future. Google said in a blog post that the new product represents the...
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday his government is determined not to tax Internet services such as Netflix and YouTube In a wide-ranging speech in Ottawa to kick off the new parliamentary session, he also mentioned the...
GATINEAU, Que. — Telus Corp. says it is “very concerned” Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. are using the beta-test phase of their recently launched over-the-top...
GATINEAU, Que. — You can’t assume that young people who have never had subscription-TV service will eventually get it, Ken Engelhart, Rogers Communications Inc.’s vice-president of...
The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group on Thursday announced that Heidi Rasmussen has been made general manager of two radio stations in Winnipeg. It said in a press release that Rasmussen would be...
Gold Line Telemanagement Inc. has been granted licences to operate broadcast distribution services for markets in Ontario and British Columbia, the CRTC said Thursday. Postings on commission's website said the company was...
BlackBerry Ltd. on Thursday announced it had acquired Movirtu, a United Kingdom-based maker of technology that creates "virtual identity solutions' for smartphones. BlackBerry said in a press release that Movirtu's technology helps companies manage cellphones in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and...
Heritage Minister Shelly Glover says the government will not allow new taxes or regulations on Internet-based television services. Glover, the federal minister responsible for the CRTC, said so in a statement sent Monday night that responded to a presentation in the CRTC's Let's Talk TV hearings earlier in the day from Kevin Finnerty, Ontario's assistant deputy minister for tourism, culture and sport. Finnerty suggested that new media broadcasting services be regulated and required to contribute to Canadian content. "At the hearings, the Ontario Liberal government made a...
GATINEAU, Que. — BCE Inc. executives asked the CRTC Wednesday to put in place a “local specialty” model for local television stations, which it said are no longer financially sustainable. “The economics of...
Four years after Videotron flipped the switch on a new wireless network, the carrier is launching an LTE network that president and CEO Manon Brouillette says will help the company deliver TV content to its mobile customers....
Viacom Inc. and Sony Corp. said Wednesday they have reached a "landmark agreement" that sees at least 22 Viacom channels being carried on Sony's cloud-based TV service when it launches. The two companies said in a...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s CEO on Tuesday said his competitors underestimate the value of wireless spectrum — something Rogers spent multiple times more money on than any other company in this year’s 700...
GATINEAU, Que. — In the second day of hearings in the CRTC's Let's Talk TV proceeding, a commission member asked Quebecor Inc. why, if over-the-top (OTT) services such as Netflix are such a hot commodity, it doesn't abandon traditional broadcasting in favour of an exclusively online video service. “If the danger is real, why not transfer everything you have on TVA [to OTT]?” Tom Pentefountas, the CRTC’s vice-chairman of broadcasting, asked a panel of Quebecor officials. “Why not give back the licence?” Manon Brouillette, CEO of Quebecor’s Videotron unit, replied that if the company went completely to OTT, it would only boost the migration of customers toward OTT and accelerate the demise of the existing TV system. Quebecor focused...
GATINEAU, Que. — A move by the CRTC to regulate over-the-top (OTT) video platforms could set a precedent for regulators in other countries, a Google Inc. lawyer told the commission on the first...
Twitter Inc. said Monday it is testing a program that allows users on its social network to make purchases with the push of a new button that will be included in tweets. The company said in a blog post that a "small...
A company controlled by former Canwest head Leonard Asper has received approval from the CRTC for an extreme-sports television channel. On Sept. 2, the CRTC said on its website that 2380393 Ontario Inc. has been approved for a...
The CRTC on Friday warned those with and those seeking television broadcast licences about "major changes" that could result from Let's Talk TV proceedings, public hearings for which start Monday. The commission said in an online posting that the review "may result in the adoption of major changes to the...
HBO Canada, which is owned by BCE Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc., said Thursday it has obtained rights to past season libraries of all currently airing HBO shows. “For the first time ever, every episode of every season...
The latest numbers from the CRTC show Canadians are watching more television on more devices, though fewer people are subscribing to TV services and young adults are tuning out. The broadcasting portion of the CRTC's annual...
The CRTC has ordered Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. (ECG) to file quarterly reports containing its program grids for its specialty services that fall under the CRTC's exemption order for the 2014-2015 broadcast year. The...
Rogers Communications Inc.'s launch of a hockey streaming product shows the company wants to "build up its OTT [over-the-top] capabilities" as more TV viewers move away from linear...
On Wednesday the CRTC approved a move by Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron to drop the analog broadcast of TV channel ICI, an ethnic station from Montreal. The channel had originally signed a contract with Videotron for digital-only service, yet when the channel was launched it asked to be broadcast in the Montreal region by analog as well and Videotron was compelled to comply by the conditions of its broadcast licence. Now, the CRTC has amended that licence to exempt Videotron from being compelled to broadcast ICI in analog. Videotron filed an application in January for the exemption, arguing...
Shaw Communications Inc. announced Wednesday that Paul Robertson, president of Shaw Media, has died at 59. Robertson spent more than 30 years in the media industry, according to his LinkedIn page, serving in his current position since 2010 after spending 11 years at Corus Entertainment Inc., including time as president of that company’s...
Netflix Inc. on Tuesday announced a new recommendation feature that works through Facebook Inc.'s social network. The provider of online TV services said in a blog that, after viewing a program, users will be asked it they...
In a little more than a week, the people who make and produce, broadcast and distribute, analyze and report on the Canadian television industry will gather in Gatineau, Que., to spend two weeks talking about its future. The...
The CRTC on Tuesday said it has denied an application for a French-language TV channel that would target viewers aged 50 and older. The applicant was Le Groupe 50+ ltée, which was proposing a specialty Category B service...
Netflix Inc. on Tuesday said it has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the proposed merger between Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. The petition submitted to the American regulator and attached to an online news release said the combination of these two U.S. cable giants would create "the nation's largest onramp to the Internet." Netflix said an Internet service provider of that magnitude would have the leverage to hurt companies, such as itself, that provide online video streaming. "The combined entity would have the incentive and...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. officials say they’re confident the launch of their Shomi over-the-top video service will not eat into their cable business, though industry experts are less convinced. The companies on Tuesday announced they would launch a streaming service containing TV shows...
Online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. has acquired game-streaming site Twitch Interactive Inc., Twitch CEO Emmett Shear announced Monday, with the deal coming in at just less than $1 billion US. Twitch.TV, which allows gamers to...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) said Monday its members have ratified a new three-year collective agreement with the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) and Institute of Communication...
Shaw Communications Inc. is stepping up its lobbying ahead of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV hearing in September, meeting with various MPs in their ridings as well senior public servants in...
In documents submitted to the CRTC this week, BCE Inc. said it does not throttle mobile data traffic, though it’s prepared to if necessary, while Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said it does and...
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting warned Friday that adopting proposals for reform of the television industry such as pick-and-pay, as put forward by the CRTC, could cost the economy tens of thousands of jobs and billions of...
Rogers Communications Inc. has changed the pricing of data used by its Anyplace TV app, writing on its website that as of Aug. 18, standard data charges would apply to customers who use the app while on its wireless network....
Quebecor Inc. subsidiary Videotron has named Hugues Simard as its new senior vice-president and chief financial officer. The company said in a press release Thursday that Simard will be responsible for the “execution...
The CRTC is giving the public another chance to make its views known in the review of the national television industry through an online forum, and it has also narrowed down its priorities for discussion to four general areas. The commission released a new working document Thursday that said it will focus its questioning during the Let's Talk TV hearing that starts Sept. 8 on the following issues: consumer choice in TV service; relationships between service providers and those that provide programming; ways to foster local content; and ways to foster "compelling" Canadian...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Wednesday that Madeline Ziniak will step down as national vice-president of its OMNI Television network in October. The company said in a press release that Ziniak is recognized as a...
Some of the largest software and hardware makers in the world, including Microsoft Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Intel Corp., are choosing sides in a battle over...
BlackBerry Ltd. on Monday announced the creation of a new business unit comprised of what it called its "innovative technology assets." The company said in a press release that its new BlackBerry Technology Solutions (BTS) division would be comprised of its QNX embedded-software operations, Internet-of-Things...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced on Thursday that it has reached an agreement to purchase SmartThings, a maker of a mobile platform that supports Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications and devices. Samsung said in a...
A Vancouver radio station has received a renewal of its broadcast licence for the next five years, though it has been denied its request for relief on certain content requirements in the music it plays. The CRTC said on its website Thursday that CHLG-FM, owned by Newcap Inc., would have its licence renewed from Sept. 1 this year to Aug. 31, 2019. However, it was denied its request for lenience on requirements that at least 15 per cent of its music per week be devoted to one of several non-mainstream "special interest" music categories, and that 40 per cent of those selections,...
The CRTC said Wednesday it will hold a hearing this fall that considers three radio stations it says are in violation of the Broadcasting Act by operating out of British Columbia's Lower Mainland and having their signals...
Almost half of anglophone Canadians aged 18 or older own a tablet, according to a report released Tuesday from Media Technology Monitor. Tablet penetration has grown to 45 per cent of Anglos from 34 per cent in the same period...
Kevin Chan has been appointed Facebook Inc.'s head of public policy in Canada. Company spokeswoman Meg Sinclair said in an email to The Hill Times that Chan will be based in Ottawa and have an "ongoing dialogue with...
BCE Inc.'s TSN said Monday that it will debut its expanded format of five national broadcast feeds on Aug. 25. The sports specialty channel announced in May that its national broadcast channels would expand from two to five,...
The CRTC approved an ownership structure change for three channels owned by independent broadcaster Channel Zero Inc. Friday, and renewed its licences for Category B film channels Movieola and...
In 1985, a Los Angeles Times article explained that U.S. TV providers were planning to compete with “the burgeoning home-video business” that had “savaged” them by launching...
The CRTC has granted a category B broadcasting licence to Starlight, a Canadian movie channel. The CRTC said the channel would “include Canadian feature films, Canadian feature documentaries, Canadian made-for-TV movies,...
Tracey Pearce is taking over for the recently departed Catherine MacLeod as the senior vice-president of specialty and pay channels at BCE Inc.’s media division, the company announced Thursday....
BCE Inc. reported higher profits and strong revenue growth at its wireless division in its second quarter report, released Thursday, but blamed the CRTC’s wireless code for a slowdown in wireless subscriber additions. The company reported $606 million in net earnings attributable to shareholders in the second quarter of 2014, up 6.1 per cent from the same period last year. Wireless operating revenues increased 5.5 per cent to $1.52 billion in the second quarter, up from $1.44 billion in...
The federal government and the European Union have reached “a complete text” on a free trade agreement, the department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada said. This will allow for “translation and final legal review to commence” on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement...
Musicians and recording companies are seeking significantly more money from broadcasters and online streaming services in Canada for use of their recordings, according to applications filed with the Copyright Board of Canada....
Shaw Communications Inc.’s media division will launch a new specialty channel on Sept. 1 that it described as a "contemporary lifestyle network." The company said in a press release Friday that the channel, named...
Catherine MacLeod, the senior vice-president of specialty channels and Bell Media production, has resigned from BCE Inc.’s media subsidiary, according to an internal note to staff. MacLeod’s departure, which the note...
Unifor said in a press release Thursday it is “very pleased” with the conditions of the CRTC’s renewal of Rogers Communications Inc.’s television broadcasting licences. Thursday, the CRTC approved a number of licence renewals for stations owned by Rogers. Unifor, which was founded last year from the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) unions, said in a release that aspects of the decision “will require Rogers to enhance its commitments to original local programming broadcast from its national chain of City stations.”...
The CRTC said on Thursday it approved a number of licence renewals for stations owned by Rogers Communications Inc. and determined that Rogers qualified for a group-based approach to the licensing of its stations, giving the...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Thursday that it has signed a 10-year broadcast deal with wrestling promoter and entertainment company WWE that will make Rogers the exclusive distributor for the company’s pay-per-view...
Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Dion announced a corporate reorganization Thursday as his company posted a $50.4 million net less before income taxes in its second quarter, down from a profit of $67.9 million before income taxes in the...
Quebecor Media Inc. announced Wednesday that Benoit Robert will join the company on Aug. 19 as president and CEO of its sports and entertainment group. The company said in a news release that Robert,...
Canada’s biggest television providers are divided over the future of audience measurement via the next generation of set-top boxes. As part of their submissions in the CRTC’s ongoing Let’s Talk TV consultation,...
Users of Netflix Inc.’s Canadian feed who feel like watching a few episodes of 30 Rock, Louie or Les Revenants will find themselves out of luck. But in a world where Canadians know these shows...
Rogers Communications Inc. has cut "several hundred middle management positions" and reduced the number of people working at the level of vice-president and above by 15 per cent, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday....
The CRTC has approved a broadcast licence for a French-language FM radio station in Ottawa that will play Christian music. The commission said on its website that it has approved the application made...
Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Netflix Inc. must pay Canadian songwriters and publishers for music videos viewed on their services, the Copyright Board of Canada ruled on Friday. The board certified two tariffs from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) that cover both official music videos and user-generated content on the Internet viewed online from 2007 to 2013. Websites such as YouTube, owned by Google, and Facebook, where users can view official music videos and upload their own, as well as Netflix, which allows users to stream content covered by SOCAN...
