Arris Group Inc. completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility LLC’s “Motorola Home” business from Google Inc., the company said. In a release Wednesday, Arris said it paid Google $2.2 billion US and issued the company 10.6 million Arris shares to complete the deal, which was first announced in December. The deal, the release said, will allow Arris “to transform how service and content providers deliver entrainment and communications” by creating a “global player in video delivery and broadband technology.” Shaw Communications Inc. uses platforms operated by Arris and Motorola in its digital cable operations, predominantly in Western Canada....
Four out of five online Canadians watch YouTube each month, said a new study by Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. (SRG). In an entry on SRG’s blog last month, the Toronto research firm said its most recent Digital Life Canada study found that 80 per cent of “online Canadians” watch YouTube each month. According to the study, which surveyed 1,000 people who use the Internet and are over the age of 12, the average Canadian viewer watched 21 YouTube videos each week. “Their reasons for watching more YouTube content seem to be mainly because there is more and better content in general but also because there is more content catering to various interests as well as how-to videos and tutorials—from cooking to snowboarding—that inform and...
Twitter Inc. launched a new tool that will allow advertisers to analyze users’ Tweets for keywords to better target their ads. In a post on the company’s advertising blog Wednesday, Nipoon Malhotra, Twitter’s product manager for revenue, said the company’s new “keyword targeting in timelines” product will allow...
The CRTC is encouraging Quebecor Media Inc. and Astral Media Inc. to find commercial terms in a content rights dispute after Astral asked the commission to arbitrate a disagreement over the wholesale prices for its pay and specialty and TV content, including The Movie Network and HBO. In a letter...
CBC/Radio-Canada TV programming will now be available live and on-demand on Bell Mobile TV, BCE Inc. division Bell Media said Friday. In a release, Bell said content from CBC’s over-the-air network will now be available on its mobile platform in addition to CBC News Network and Radio-Canada’s Réseau de l’information (RDI) news...
Quebecor Media Inc. division Contenu QMI announced four new appointments in its brands and multiplatform strategies sector on Friday. In a release, Contenu QMI said Suzanne Laverdiere, who has more than 25 years of experience in the communications industry, was appointed to the position of director, drama and documentaries, brands and multiplatform...
The CRTC approved a VMedia application to expand its IPTV business into new areas of Southern Ontario, the commission said. In a decision Thursday, the CRTC said it approved VMedia’s application to serve as a broadcast distributor in the markets of Barrie, Hamilton-Niagara, Kingston, London, Oshawa, Ottawa, Peterborough, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Windsor, Ont. The decision will allow VMedia, which launched IPTV services in the Greater Toronto Area and Kitchener-Waterloo region on March 27, to expand beyond those areas. VMedia partner George Burger said in a telephone interview Thursday that the company could start serving customers in the new service areas immediately. “We’re launching this minute in the sense that we can now take calls from people in Ottawa, from London, from Kingston, from Hamilton, from all over, and we...
Asian Television Network International Ltd. (ATN) is launching two new Sikh and Punjabi channels, ATN said Thursday. In a release, ATN said ATN-SIKH would be Canada’s first 24-hour Sikh spiritual channel and the ATN-BRIT Asia channel would be Canada’s first South Asian youth-oriented Punjabi music channel. The two new channels bring...
Traditional broadcast distribution and telecom operators will “lose ground” to over-the-top content providers and voice over IP services over the next four years, a new report from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said Thursday. The ITU said in its “Trends in Telecommunication 2013”...
Quebec newspaper La Presse, owned by Power Corporation of Canada, launched a new, free iPad app, the company said, following three years of research and a $40-million investment. La Presse said in a release Thursday that readers can sign up for free access to its new digital edition, which will be added to the newspaper's existing print, website,...
A new CRTC “decisions group” will harmonize the look and feel of commission decisions across the broadcasting and telecom sectors and a new alternative dispute resolution and processes group will strengthen its broadcasting dispute resolution team, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in an internal email. In an email Monday, Blais said...
Amanda Cliff, director general of Heritage Canada’s broadcasting and digital communications division, will become the CRTC’s new executive director of communications and external relations, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais told staff in an internal email Monday. Cliff, who will assume the position on April 22, will oversee the...
The CRTC approved an application by Rangtel Inc. to operate an IPTV broadcast distribution service in the Greater Toronto Area. In a decision Wednesday, the commission said Rangtel will be allowed to offer its IPTV service in the areas of Ajax, Aurora, Brampton, Brock, Burlington, Caledon, Clarington, Halton Hills, King, Markham, Milton, Mississauga,...
The CRTC approved an application from Odyssey Television Network Inc. to add Greek Cinema, a 100 per cent Greek-language niche channel, to the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution in Canada. In a decision Wednesday, the CRTC said Greek Cinema would offer new Greek-language movie releases as well as classics from the 1960s to 1990s....
OTTAWA—Canadian companies are slow to adopt “big data” technologies that can help them extract large amounts of consumer and business information to better improve their corporate strategies and operations, industry experts said. Colin McKay, global public policy manager at Google Inc.’s Canadian...
Broadcast distributors turned down BCE Inc.'s proposed deals to carry its content on online, mobile and video-on-demand platforms, Bell said, as the company accused competitors of coordinating their strategies in the CRTC's merger approval process to get lower distribution rates. In reply comments filed with the CRTC Tuesday for Bell's proposed $3.38 billion purchase of broadcast company Astral Media Inc., Bell said that, in 2012, it provided competing broadcast distributors with...
The CRTC should help existing Canadian specialty channels secure carriage agreements before allowing competing, foreign channels into the country, Brampton, Ont.-based broadcaster Afromedia...
Telesat said it launched its new Anik G1 satellite. In a release, Telesat said the new satellite would be located at 107.3 degrees West and would provide direct-to-home (DTH) TV services in Canada, as well as C-band and Ku-band...
Independent broadcast distributors say BCE Inc. has not addressed the CRTC's concerns about market power resulting from an acquisition of Astral Media Inc. and that BCE's share of all carriage...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and a consortium of consumer groups said they oppose Shaw Communications Inc.’s bid to acquire the remaining share of the TVtropolis specialty channel. In regulatory documents...
Profits for Shaw Communications Inc. reached $182 million in the second quarter of 2013, up from $178 million in the same period of 2012, the company said Friday. In a financial earnings statement, Shaw said consolidated revenue for the three-month period ended Feb. 28, 2013, was $1.25 billion, up 1.6 per cent from $1.23 billion for the same period a year earlier. Earnings per share were steady at 38 cents, Shaw said. Shaw said cable TV customers reached 2,136,707 by Feb. 28 after losing 29,829 subscribers in the second quarter. Internet customers, Shaw said, totalled 1,910,185 by the end...
About half of Canadian households, or 45 per cent, own a gaming console, said a new survey by Media Technology Monitor (MTM), adding that many people use them to watch streaming content on their TVs. The MTM, a joint research project between CBC/Radio-Canada and BBM Analytics, said in polling results released Thursday that the Nintendo Co. Ltd. Wii...
Profits attributable to shareholders for Corus Entertainment Inc. fell to $5.9 million in the second quarter of 2013, down from $31.6 million in the same period a year earlier, the company said Thursday. In a financial earnings report, Corus said revenues were $183.7 million in the second quarter, down from $205.7 million in the same period of 2012. TV revenues, Corus said, were down 12 per cent during the quarter to...
Profits for Astral Media Inc. totalled $41.2 million in the second quarter of 2013, up eight per cent from $38.2 million in the same period a year earlier, the company said Thursday. In a quarterly earnings statement, Astral said consolidated revenues also rose in the second quarter to $237.1 million, from $233.5 million in the same period a year...
Canada's most popular sports specialty channels reported millions of dollars in additional expenses as profits dropped during the 2012 broadcast year, according to new specialty channel data released by the CRTC. The regulator released data for the broadcasting year ended Aug. 31, 2012, showing that BCE Inc.'s TSN...
CBC/Radio-Canada reached a deal with Microsoft Corp.'s Canadian division to distribute Hockey Night in Canada content on Microsoft platforms MSN.ca, Xbox, Windows 8, and Windows 8 mobile phones, a release said. CBC and Microsoft said in a release Wednesday that they launched an new app for live broadcasts of Hockey Night In Canada available for...
Quebecor Media Inc. officials are scheduled to appear on the first day of the CRTC's public hearing to review applications for mandatory carriage under Section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act. The Quebecor officials are scheduled to answer questions from commissioners on April 23 about the company's request for mandatory carriage for its Sun...
Quebec's electronic gaming industry grew by nine per cent in 2012, Quebec tech industry workforce group TechnoCompétence said. “Despite a flurry of layoffs and studio closures during the year, the industry experienced a 9 per cent growth rate. The expansion in job creation is spectacular when compared to the 0.8 per cent overall job...
Total TV subscriber growth for cable, IPTV, and satellite TV services in Canada slowed to one per cent in the 2011-2012 broadcast year, reaching a total of 11.5 million subscribers, according to new data released by the CRTC. Annual TV subscriber growth in 2012 has fallen by more than half from previous years, when annual...
The CRTC's efforts to revamp its website will focus on consumer access over concerns from industry, Paulette Leclair, the commission’s director of public affairs, said in an interview. Home to the public records for more than two decades' worth of commission decisions and consultations—as well as interventions, tariff notices, letters and other documents—the CRTC’s website is vital to anyone who works in or researches telecom or broadcasting policy. Still, the site is subject to routine criticism from industry users who rely on those documents to inform their...
The Supreme Court's broadcasting decision last December, which quashed the CRTC's value for signal regime and which industry sources say reduced the commission's powers, may be raised during the regulator's upcoming hearing on mandatory carriage. The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in December, called...
Telus Corp. said a competing broadcast distributor refused an advertisement about its TV service, suggesting the move was done for competitive reasons. In a regulatory filing with the CRTC for its consultation on BCE Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Astral Media Inc. for $3.38 billion, Telus said western competitor Shaw Communications Inc. rejected a...
Canadian sports broadcaster Johnny Esaw passed away at his home in Toronto on April 7, CTV said Monday. In a statement, Phil King, president of CTV programming and sports at Bell Media, a division of BCE Inc., said the broadcaster is “deeply saddened” by the passing of Esaw, who died at age 87 and was a “true legend” in sports...
The CRTC approved an application from Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. to change the format of CFEQ-FM Winnipeg from Christian programming to classical music. In a decision Monday, the commission said Golden West submitted the new...
The Banff Centre is encouraging public comments on its radio applications with the CRTC, the local arts and culture organization said Monday. In a release, The Banff Centre referred to applications it filed with the commission to maintain two Banff National Park radio stations that offer local tourism information in both official languages and to launch a new station featuring local stories, news, music and weather. Jeff Melanson, president of The Banff Centre, said in a statement that the new CJXB-FM station would share new art and ideas emerging from the centre. The release said the new station would also provide news and Canadian music content. The Centre noted the other existing stations, French-language CFPF-FM and English CFPE-FM, have been on the air for 17 years and following a...
Five consumer and public interest groups told the CRTC they oppose BCE Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Astral Media Inc. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), which advocates for consumers and acts as counsel for the...
Cogeco Cable Inc. and Quebecor Media Inc. criticized the Competition Bureau's closed-door approval of BCE Inc.'s $3.38-billion acquisition of Astral Media Inc. in advance of a public hearing on the acquisition to be held by Canada's broadcast regulator. Quebecor chief executive Pierre Karl Péladeau said...
Nielsen is bringing its online advertising measurement service to Canada, the consumer research group said. In a release Wednesday, the New York-based ratings company said its Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings product, which is currently available in the U.S. and the U.K., will expand to four new markets “in the coming weeks,” including...
Canadians are avoiding some mobile applications, websites and online services due to privacy concerns, said a new survey commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. In a release Thursday, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said a telephone survey of 1,513 Canadians conducted from Oct. 25 to Nov....
Facebook Inc. launched a new mobile application, called “Home,” that is designed to replace a smartphone’s locked screen and home screen with a Facebook “cover feed” that features photos and status updates from the phone user’s friends. In a release, Facebook said the app, which works on phones running Google Inc.’s Android operating system, is designed to be “a window into...
CBC/Radio-Canada’s new plan to air more branded entertainment during the day will draw advertising and sponsorship dollars to the public broadcaster at the cost of quality daytime programming and producers’ creative talent, said Richard Nielsen, president of Toronto-based Norflicks...
The CRTC approved a request from Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. to add Kapatid TV5 to the list of non-Canadian channels authorized for broadcast distribution in Canada. In a decision Thursday, the CRTC said Philippines-based Kapatid...
Apple Inc.’s iTV will go on sale later this year with a price range of $1,500 US to $2,500 US, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. In a research note obtained by AP, New York-based Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian J. White said the iTV will measure 60 inches diagonally, though it could also come in 50- and 55-inch versions. White did not...
CBC/Radio-Canada signed an agreement with Quebecor Media Inc. broadcast property TVA Sports for French-language coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. CBC said in a release Thursday that, as a result of the new agreement, 46 matches on Radio-Canada and 18 on TVA Sports would be aired live for French-speaking audiences. “In addition, the agreement establishes the TVA Sports network as [the] exclusive French-language broadcaster for the June FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013, FIFA’s prelude tournament between the best national teams from all continents,” the release...
Gregory Taylor, a broadcasting expert and post-doctoral fellow at Ryerson University, says a lack of regulatory guidance during Canada’s switch to over-the-air, digital TV has left Canadians unaware about the real potential of their country’s local broadcasting services. In a phone interview with The Wire...
BlackBerry’s BBM Music service will shut down on June 2, the company said in an email to users Wednesday. The email, posted on forum site Crackberry.com, informed customers that the music service will be “discontinued” in June. “For paying customers, April is the last month that you will be billed,” the email said....
Thunderbird Films Inc. appointed Ivan Fecan as the chairman of its board, the company said Tuesday. In a release, Thunderbird said Fecan, who will also serve as a consultant to the company, has “extensive” experience in the industry. He previous held the positions of vice-president of creative affairs at NBC, head of English Television at...
The Conservative government said there is no new tariff on digital music players, as economics professor Mike Moffatt said he discovered in the government's 2013 federal budget. "I want to clarify that there is no ipod tax," Kathleen Perchaluk, a spokeswoman for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said in an emailed statement Friday....
Netflix Inc. will premiere its fourth season of Arrested Development on May 26, 2013, in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Brazil and the Nordic countries. The online TV service will instantly make available all 15 episodes of the new season about the dysfunctional Bluth family, created by executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz, a release said Thursday. “[W]e are doing something very ambitious that can only be done with Netflix as partners and on their platform. Finally my simple wish for the show is coming true: that it be broadcast every second around the clock to every television, computer or mobile device in existence,” Hurwitz said in a statement. Last year, Netflix announced the new season of Arrested Development would be available in...
Privacy regulators in six European countries said they are preparing to take legal action against Google Inc. over the company’s consolidated online privacy policy launched last year. In a release, French privacy regulator the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) said regulators in...
CBC/Radio-Canada announced the renewal of 21 TV shows and expanded seasons of Republic of Doyle and Murdoch Mysteries as the public broadcaster deals with budget cuts totalling $115 million by 2014-2015. Republic of Doyle will be renewed with an expanded 16 episodes and Murdoch Mysteries with 18 episodes, CBC said in a release Wednesday. It said the...
Cineflix Media Inc. appointed Andrew Akman as its chief operating officer, the company said Wednesday. In a release, Cineflix, a content creator, producer and distributor, said Akman, based in Toronto, would be responsible for overseeing the company’s corporate operations, information technology and post-production, as well partnerships and...
The National Film Board and CBC/Radio-Canada launched Hyperlocal, an online website of six interactive stories about changes in Canada’s neighbourhoods. In a release Wednesday, the Film Board said Hyperlocal, which was commissioned by CBC Canada Writes, the public broadcaster’s literature division, will provide a collection of six personal...
Rogers Communications Inc.'s ownership of Toronto sports teams and control of their broadcasting rights positions the company to profit from team successes, BMO analyst Tim Casey said in a research note. In a note dated March 27, Casey said Rogers' ownership of the teams could help offset the rising costs of acquiring other sports content for...
Telus Corp. will use Ericsson's compression technology to improve HD video quality for its IPTV service, Ericsson said Thursday. In a release, Ericsson said it is supplying Telus with its MPEG-4 AVC HD “compression solution” to improve the efficiency of Telus' Internet-protocol TV service, called Optik TV. The technology, Ericsson...
More than two per cent of Canadian TV subscribers cancelled their subscriptions in the past two years, a report by the Convergence Consulting Group Ltd. said. In a report released this week, Convergence estimated that 178,000 subscribers cancelled their television subscriptions in 2012 and that 250,000 have cancelled since...
Consultations on new securities rules from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) would help Canadian startups find additional capital through crowdfunding and give them more power to stop hostile takeovers, tech industry insiders say. In December, the OSC launched a...
Ericsson is in talks to purchase Microsoft Corp.’s MediaRoom IPTV technology, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Bloomberg cited sources with knowledge of the talks, reporting that Cross Research said the deal could total more than $1 billion US and may be announced in the next few weeks. Bloomberg reported that Microsoft intends to deliver television service through its Xbox gaming console. “This would make sense for Ericsson as it provides a more complete offering,” Alexander Peterc, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, told Bloomberg. “Still, the technology started to get hyped about 10 years ago and may have reached its peak already, so I don’t see this as a growth market.” BCE Inc.'s Bell Fibe TV service and Telus Corp.'s Optik TV use the...
Toronto-based White Pine Pictures, which is behind CBC/Radio-Canada’s police drama show Cracked, sold the program to the U.S. and France, White Pine said Wednesday. In a release, White Pine said the rights were acquired by U.S. cable and satellite network ReelzChannel after Cracked averaged about 750,000 viewers in Canada. “The acquisition...
Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber’s private members' bill on CBC transparency, Bill C-461, passed a vote at second reading in the House of Commons with support from the Conservative government. The bill was first tabled by Rathgeber in November and aims to prevent CBC/Radio-Canada from denying access-to-information requests based on an...
Sixteen per cent of anglophone Canadians stream audio content on their smartphones and 14 per cent stream online video, Media Technology Monitor (MTM) said in a new report. In a report called “Streaming Media on Smartphones” released Wednesday, MTM said the number of anglophones who stream audio content on their phones rose 77 per cent in...
The CRTC opened a consultation on whether video sign language services should be available to telephone users who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired. In a notice Wednesday, the commission...
Bell Aliant Inc. cannot spend some of its community TV contributions on Internet programming, the CRTC said. In a decision Wednesday to renew a Bell Aliant broadcast distribution licence, the commission said the company, a 40 per cent-owned subsidiary of BCE Inc., had asked to allocate some of its community television contributions to programming distributed online. According to the CRTC's community television policy, broadcast distributors must operate local community channels with minimum amounts of programming from volunteer community members not employed by the broadcast distributor. The CRTC said Wednesday that Bell Aliant did not provide enough information to ensure its proposal adhered to the commission's community television policy. “While the Commission is not...
The CRTC would effectively change its genre exclusivity policy if it allowed Videotron Ltd. to continue offering its illico Club Unlimited service on TV, Astral Media Inc. said. In a complaint filed with the commission this month, Astral said the Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary’s Club Unlimited video on-demand service, available on set-top boxes,...
The CRTC said it opened a consultation on 10 new broadcasting applications. In a notice of consultation issued Tuesday, the CRTC said it is considering two applications by Hollywood Suites Inc. for two Category B specialty TV channels, as well as applications by Evan Kosinar for two new audio programming channels. It is also consulting on six...
BCE Inc. president and CEO George Cope earned $11.09 million in total compensation in 2012, up 15.4 per cent from $9.62 million a year earlier, BCE said in a securities regulatory filing. Much of the higher pay was due to “short-term incentive” payouts related to the company’s performance, BCE said in a management proxy circular...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) and the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) are opposing BCE Inc.’s requests for more licensing flexibility to air different types of programming on some of its specialty channels. Bell Media, BCE’s media division, applied to the...
Profits for the Asian Television Network International Ltd. (ATN) reached $2.9 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2012, ATN said Monday. In a release, ATN said profits for 2012 fell from $5.3 million the previous year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were also down, the company said, from $7.56 million in 2011 to $4.33...
Only about 60 of 1,200 over-the-air, American TV broadcasters have expressed an interest in auctioning off their 600 MHz spectrum, said the U.S. National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), signalling that mobile operators' access to the spectrum could be limited. Dennis Wharton, a spokesman with the NAB, a Washington...
The CRTC opened a call for applications to fill an FM radio slot in the Vancouver market. In a notice posted on its website Monday, the commission said it received an application from South Fraser Broadcasting Inc. to operate an...
Michel Morin, a former CRTC commissioner, joined TVA as an investigative journalist. The TVA network, owned by Quebecor Media Inc., said in a release Friday that Morin started his carreer as a journalist and will investigate imortant issues in Quebec for the network's news programs. "I returned to journalism because it is a trade that I want...
Wavefront, a wireless commercialization and research centre, is teaming up with the Centre de Recherche Informatique de Montréal to launch Quebec’s first library of mobile devices, Wavefront said Thursday. A release said the Wavefront Device Library will officially open April 9 and will give mobile developers access to more than 1,000 popular mobile devices for testing mobile applications. It said the devices, which include the latest BlackBerry and Apple Inc. smartphones and tablets, will be available for rentals for as little as $10 a day. “For the mobile developer community, easy access to devices dramatically reduces purchasing costs, as well as the time required to test applications across multiple platforms and networks,” the release said....
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) said it supports the Conservative government's creation of the Canada Job Grant initiative in its 2013 federal budget plan. In a release Thursday, the CMPA said it supports the grant program, which would provide $15,000 per-person grants to help workers get into workplaces and develop their skills....
Canadian musicians and music companies should better partner with technology companies to make it easier to find and buy Canadian music online, a new report by Music Canada said. In the report, titled “The Next Big Bang: A New Direction for Music in Canada,” the music industry association said players in the...
The CRTC said it approved a licence to Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. to operate Hindi Music TV. In a decision Friday, the CRTC said the Category B specialty channel would be devoted to airing Hindi-language music and music programming, and could air up to six minutes of local and regional programming...
Legal fights are under way in Ottawa over whether the Conservative government's new copyright bill creates a new right for the collection of online music royalties. In separate legal proceedings involving the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the copyright collective that would...
The CRTC said it approved Bell Aliant Inc.’s request to offer broadcast distribution services Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. In a decision Thursday, the commission said Bell Aliant can expand its broadcast distribution business to the market. Halifax-based Bell Aliant, which BCE Inc. owns through a controlling 44-per cent stake, offers fibre-based Internet protocol TV (IPTV) services in Eastern Canada and Sudbury. In an emailed statement Thursday, Bell Aliant spokeswoman Sarah Levy-MacLeod said the company applied to operate a broadcast distribution business in Sault Ste. Marie as part of its...
The CRTC denied requests from two local radio broadcasters that had asked for eased restrictions on the type of music their stations can play. In two decisions Thursday, the CRTC said it renewed the broadcasting licences of...
The CRTC said it approved a licence to Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. to operate Bollywood Movies TV. In a decision Thursday, the CRTC said the proposed, Category B specialty service would be devoted to airing Hindi-language movies,...
Bell Media reached a deal to extend exclusive rights to cover CFL football games for its TSN and RDS sports specialty stations, the BCE Inc. subsidiary said. In a release Thursday, Bell said the new deal gives TSN and RDS exclusive rights to the CFL pre-season, regular season and playoff games through 2018 on traditional broadcasting and digital media...
BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis launched a new $100-million investment fund to foster innovation in quantum technologies. The fund, called Quantum Valley Investments, said in a release Tuesday that it “will provide...
TVO gave away “close to” 100 of its analog broadcasting towers to communities in Ontario, the Canadian Association for Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) said. In a release Tuesday, CACTUS said nearly...
The CRTC added Esperanza TV to the list of foreign channels that can be carried on TV systems in Canada. In a decision Wednesday, the CRTC said it approved a request by CityWest Cable & Telephone Corp. to allow the distribution of Esperanza, a U.S.-based Spanish-language station, that offers “inspirational and educational programming to the...
The federal Competition Bureau cleared Corus Entertainment Inc.'s plan to acquire full ownership of specialty channels it jointly owns with Astral Media Inc., Corus said Monday. The purchase is related to BCE Inc.'s...
A must carry licence for all-Canadian news channel Sun News Network is necessary as a consolidated media and telecom market makes it more difficult to secure channel carriage, Sun News Network told...
A $100,000 federal government investment in the Golden Triangle Angel Network will help new startup businesses in the Waterloo, Ont., region, Gary Goodyear, the federal minister of state for FedDev Ontario said. In a release Monday, FedDev Ontario said the investment will help the angel network expand as it seeks to establish a base of more than 180 active angel investors through outreach activities and training seminars. The investment will also help the network provide advisory services for entrepreneurs and establish new monitoring as well as reporting systems, the release said. The release said a $50,000 government investment in December 2012 allowed the angel network to attract 70 new members, resulting in about $13 million in new angel investments in local startup businesses....
CBC/Radio-Canada was granted permission to operate a French-language FM radio station in Winnipeg, Man. In a decision Monday, the CRTC said it approved an application from the public broadcaster to replace AM French-language station CKSB St. Boniface, or La Première Chaîne, with FM rebroadcasting transmitter CKSB-10-FM Winnipeg. The CRTC said in the decision that CKSB FM would operate at the 88.1 MHz FM...
Varietas Media Group Tamil and Hindi News, two new Category B services, were approved by the CRTC on Monday. In one decision, the commission said it approved an application from numbered company 2329785 Ontario Inc., owned by Pras Kayilasanathan, to operate Varietas Media Group Tamil, a service for Tamil Canadians. The CRTC said the company would...
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) should “quickly” approve crowdfunding exemptions to help the province’s digital media companies, not-for-profit organization Interactive Ontario said. In a release on March 14, Interactive Ontario said it supports the exemptions as a means to increase the available...
The Quebec government will look at more government contracts with open source software and platforms, Quebec Treasury Board President Stéphane Bédard said. In an interview with Les Affaires published Feb. 28, Bédard, a cabinet member of the governing Parti Québécois, said the provincial government is looking at...
Early sales of BlackBerry’s new Z10 smartphone appear to have beat investor expectations in three countries though early indications suggest lower presale levels in the United States, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue said in a research note. “Numerous data points suggest [February quarter] BlackBerry Z10 sell-through is stronger than Street expectations,” Sue said in a note to clients Thursday. “However, Z10 returns are higher than ‘normal’ and AT&T [Inc.] pre-orders remain inconclusive.” Sue said BlackBerry reported early...
Corus Entertainment Inc.’s OWN specialty channel must do a better job of fulfilling its educational mandate or risk losing its broadcast licence, the CRTC said. In a decision Friday, the CRTC said OWN Inc., a Corus channel that operates OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, must diversify its educational programming and reduce the amount of content it...
Higher NHL audience ratings resulting from a shortened NHL season could lead broadcasters to generate better advertising revenues during the NHL playoffs this spring despite viewers’ lingering...
Vivendi SA’s Universal Music and Sony Corp. announced the launch of a new Vevo TV online service offering music videos, concerts and interviews from artists around the world. The 24-hour service, announced Tuesday, will be accessible through Vevo.com, Apple Inc.’s iOS platform, Google Inc.’s Android, Roku Inc.’s streaming...
A channel dedicated to Canadian film is a “terrific” idea though Canadians should not have to take on the risk or the $775-million cost of supporting it, said George Burger, a partner at VMedia, an IPTV provider in Ontario. In an interview with Macleans published on its website Thursday, Burger said Starlight,...
Pierre Karl Péladeau, the 14-year president and CEO of Québecor Media Inc., will relinquish his role as the company’s chief executive and be replaced by Robert Dépatie, now serving as head of Québecor’s telecom subsidiary Videotron Ltd. In a release Thursday, Québecor said...
The CRTC denied a request from RNC Media Inc. to convert French-language Montreal jazz and blues station CKLX-FM to a spoken word format. In a decision Thursday, the CRTC said RNC requested to change its licence conditions and delete requirements for minimum amounts of jazz and blues, popular music, and special interest music. RNC argued CKLX is...
Telus Corp. added more subscribers to its TV, Internet and wireless services than any other Canadian company in the 2012 fiscal year as cable companies faced accelerated TV subscriber losses, according to data compiled by The Wire Report. The Wire Report compiled subscriber figures for Canada's largest, publicly traded...
The number of people in Canada who do not have a subscription or over-the-air TV service has doubled over past three years, Media Technology Monitor (MTM) said in new survey results. The survey said nearly 10 per cent of anglophones and four per cent of francophones in Canada don't subscribe to a TV service or receive...
Blue Ant Media Inc. is calling on the CRTC to revise its regulatory framework for independent broadcasters and to give them more flexibility to compete against vertically integrated players on a more “fair and equitable” basis. In a regulatory filing with the CRTC last month, Blue Ant proposed a 12-point plan for regulatory changes to help independent broadcasters compete in a consolidated media environment, including extending the Cancon spending rules of the commission’s licensing regime for large broadcasting groups, imposing new linkage rules for TV carriage that would push more independent channels onto “basic” packages, and eliminating broadcasting...
