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Creative groups lobbying for tax credits on content development
Media | 09/03/2019 5:44 pm EDT
Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal is lobbying both the Alberta and Ontario governments about their tax credit policies on film and television production in the provinces.
The registrations, filed this month, seek to encourage the promotion, or maintenance of, tax benefits...
Helix will keep cord-cutters in Videotron ‘ecosystem,’ CEO says
Media | 08/27/2019 5:52 pm EDT
MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron unveiled its new Helix platform Tuesday, and the company is counting on the combined IPTV, WiFi management and smart home platform to...
OTT subs set to overtake traditional TV by 2020: report
Media | 04/23/2019 4:53 pm EDT
The number of Canadians who opt for over-the-top services is set to surpass the number of Canadians who subscribe to traditional television providers next year, according to a report released...
Content exporters ask consulting panel for CMF envelope they can access, match
Media | 03/12/2019 7:07 pm EDT
A trade association for Canadian-based television and content distribution...
Stingray offers $120M for Music Choice
Media | 08/03/2018 2:00 pm EDT
Stingray Digital Group Inc. is turning from fighting Pennsylvania-based Music Choice to offering to buy...
Reality TV streaming service launching in Canada
Media | 05/02/2018 4:40 pm EDT
Hayu, a streaming service from Comcast Corp.'s NBC Universal focusing on reality TV programming, will...
Rogers bounces back on wireless with 95,000 postpaid ads
Media | 04/20/2018 4:33 pm EDT
Rogers Communications Inc. reported increases in wireless revenue and subscribers in the three months ending March 31, which it said drove its overall revenue up eight per cent over the year to $3.63 billion.
It added a net 95,000 postpaid wireless subscribers in the quarter, which was not only more than the 60,000 in the same quarter of 2017, but its “highest Q1 postpaid net additions in nine years,” Rogers said in its results press release Thursday. It added the...
In telecoms’ year-end, cord-cutting slows, wireline grows
Media | 03/21/2018 12:14 pm EDT
Canada’s publicly-traded telecoms lost fewer TV subscribers in 2017 than...
Videotron ‘full speed’ ahead on IPTV: Brouillette
Media | 03/14/2018 5:27 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is working on deploying its new IPTV service as quickly as possible, Manon...
Alt TV quietly becoming significant for Bell: Barclays
Media | 02/20/2018 2:47 pm EST
BCE Inc.’s Alt TV service is its “underappreciated driver for broadband growth,” Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang said in a research...
TiVo expands patent suit to include Bell
telecom | 01/31/2018 5:49 pm EST
TiVo Corp. is going after a second Canadian telecom for patent infringement, claiming in a lawsuit filed...
‘Technical issue’ hurt Rogers churn during Dec. wireless promos: CEO
telecom | 01/25/2018 4:54 pm EST
Rogers Communications Inc.’s systems had a technical glitch that...
Bell, Telus sign on to Ericsson’s TV platform
Media | 01/19/2018 2:53 pm EST
BCE Inc. said Thursday it has signed a deal with Ericsson AB to use its TV platform, following a similar...
With the iPhone, Freedom like a ‘new business’: Mehr
telecom | 01/11/2018 5:47 pm EST
Shaw Communications Inc.’s wireless brand may see its strongest quarter...
As its TV ad revenue drops, Corus says ad tech is the future
Media | 01/10/2018 6:05 pm EST
Corus Entertainment Inc. executives emphasized their optimism about future...
Bell’s $166M AlarmForce acquisition small but strategic buy: analysts
telecom | 11/07/2017 11:42 am EST
BCE Inc. is making a bigger play for the home-security arena with the $166 million acquisition of security company AlarmForce Industries Inc.
"Leveraging Bell's network and...
Rogers, Shaw indicate different plans for IPTV, internet bundling
Media | 10/20/2017 5:14 pm EDT
On the final day of the CRTC’s broadcast distribution licence hearing,...
Videotron latest to announce X1-based IPTV
Media | 08/29/2017 5:00 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron will launch its IPTV service using the X1 platform from Comcast Corp., the...
BlueSky patent infringement suit dropped
telecom | 08/21/2017 4:08 pm EDT
A Swiss corporation and its subsidiaries have dropped a patent infringement case against Shaw...
Cord-cutting trend slows in first half of year: Boon Dog
telecom | 08/14/2017 2:23 pm EDT
Fewer people cut their TV subscriptions in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, according to new research by research and consulting firm Boon Dog Professional Services...
BDU revenue losses accelerate to 2.1%: CRTC
Media | 07/27/2017 5:10 pm EDT
Canadian TV providers’ revenues dropped 2.1 per cent in 2016 — a marked increase from the 0.1 per cent fall a year earlier, which was the first such decline in a decade.
The CRTC released its financial summaries for the broadcast sector Thursday, which showed that...
Rogers aims to improve churn, ‘reset’ enterprise division
Media | 07/20/2017 5:16 pm EDT
Joe Natale, president and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., reiterated...
Videotron facing patent infringement claim from TiVo
Media | 07/17/2017 4:26 pm EDT
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is being sued for patent infringement by TiVo Inc. and one of its...
TV subscriber losses steady, wireless adds at record high in 2016
telecom | 03/16/2017 9:10 pm EDT
Following a year in which cord-cutting increased sharply, the trend seems to have levelled out somewhat in 2016, with Canada’s publicly traded telecoms losing 220,990 TV subscribers, compared to...
Patent infringement claim made against Shaw’s BlueSky TV
Media | 02/28/2017 5:27 pm EST
A Swiss corporation and two of its subsidiaries are alleging that Shaw Communications Inc.’s new IPTV service is infringing on a handful of its patents, according to a statement of claim...
Natale to take Rogers’ top job in July: interim CEO
Media | 01/26/2017 6:56 pm EST
Rogers Communications Inc. incoming president and CEO Joe Natale will take the helm in July, the company announced as it reported fourth-quarter numbers that showed continuing growth in data usage among its wireless...
Freedom to at least quadruple handset offering by mid-2017: Shaw
telecom | 01/12/2017 10:49 pm EST
As Shaw Communications Inc. released its first quarterly earnings report since rebranding its wireless segment to Freedom Mobile, CEO Brad Shaw said the company is looking to have a...
Shaw launches IPTV platform
telecom | 01/11/2017 11:40 pm EST
Shaw Communications Inc. has made its IPTV service, called BlueSky, available in Calgary, and plans to launch it in additional markets “in the coming months.” The IPTV service runs the same X1 platform from Comcast Corp. that Rogers Communications...
FCC asked to pull back ISP privacy rules
telecom | 01/06/2017 5:17 pm EST
A group representing American telecom companies has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider the broadband privacy rules the United States regulator imposed last year. When passed, the FCC said...
Impact of wholesale rates, pick-and-pay will be felt in 2017: Canaccord
Media | 01/05/2017 10:09 pm EST
The initial pinch of the CRTC’s decisions on two important issues in 2016 — wholesale rates and pick-and-pay — will be felt in the new year, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Aravinda Galappatthige. In a Thursday note forecasting the year ahead, Galappatthige said wireline competition, which he noted previously will pressure telecoms in 2017, will be exacerbated by the CRTC’s October decision on wholesale rates. ...
Rogers killing of in-house IPTV good move in long term, analysts say
Media | 12/16/2016 8:33 pm EST
Rogers Communications Inc. has abandoned the development of its own IPTV platform and will instead launch an IPTV service using a platform from Comcast Corp., a plan analysts...
Media companies looking to MCNs to reach younger audiences
Media | 11/11/2016 9:17 pm EST
Multi-channel networks (MCNs) have carved out a space in the online video ecosystem in recent years, leading traditional broadcasters to move into MCNs as a relatively low-risk way to reach younger...
AT&T, Time Warner deal shows VI trending in opposite directions: analyst
Media | 10/24/2016 9:18 pm EDT
A potential merger between AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable Inc. highlights a move by United States-based companies toward vertical integration, just as developments in Canada...
SVOD revenues to double by 2021: Juniper
Media | 07/19/2016 9:28 pm EDT
Subscription video-on-demand service (SVOD) revenues will double by 2021, as broadcasters and TV network providers look to enter the market amid a trend in cord cutting and shaving, according to a new report. Juniper Research...
What does the growth of video-game streaming mean for TV?
Media | 06/17/2016 5:32 pm EDT
Millions of people tuned into live broadcasts of the electronic entertainment expo (E3) this week on Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch.tv. It’s an event whose viewership has soared on the heels of a phenomenon that has been building for years, spawning a lucrative business that’s attracting competitors, inducing acquisitions and could be affecting traditional television. Hundreds of millions of viewers now watch video of both amateurs and professionals playing various games. Video-game live streaming is an industry that “has truly...
Stingray responds to lawsuit, says allegations ‘not material’
Media | 06/08/2016 4:16 pm EDT
A Canadian digital music company has responded to a lawsuit containing allegations that it infringed on the patents held by a U.S.-based digital music distributer. Pennsylvania-based Music Choice, a multi-platform video and music network, filed a complaint for patent infringement in a Texas...
Corus working on programmatic ads for linear TV
Media | 04/20/2016 8:09 pm EDT
Corus Entertainment Inc. said Wednesday that it plans to launch programmatic, or automatic, ad-buying for traditional TV. “Corus will be the first Canadian broadcaster to commit to bringing programmatic TV advertising...
Shaw’s FreeRange TV first step in transition to IP-based system
Media | 01/06/2016 9:09 pm EST
Shaw Communications Inc. on Wednesday began publicizing the first phase in a transformation of its television service that it hopes gives consumers reason to choose its TV service over competitors and over the option of having no TV service at all. It announced the availability of an application called FreeRange TV, which...
How do Shaw’s decisions on Canwest, mobile look today?
Media | 12/07/2015 8:30 pm EST
Yesterday's actions can have a profound influence on tomorrow. Such a notion might apply to a couple of decisions Shaw Communications Inc. has made in the last half-decade. The first of those was its 2010 move to spend $2 billion to purchase the broadcasting assets of Canwest Global Communications Corp., which included...
Blue Ant sells content to Asia
Media | 11/27/2015 2:59 pm EST
Blue Ant Media Inc.’s international division announced Friday it has made sales of more than 175 hours of content from its catalogue of factual, factual entertainment, nature and wildlife, lifestyle and documentary series to...
Market has adjusted to 2-year wireless contracts: analyst
Media | 11/10/2015 8:42 pm EST
Third-quarter results indicate the mobile market has adjusted to the higher-priced, two-year contracts that became the norm after the CRTC implemented the wireless code in 2013, says Scotia Capital...
Vertical integration helps Canadian TV sector transition: analyst
Media | 08/18/2015 7:28 pm EDT
The tendency of major players in Canada's television industry to be involved in both content and distribution is helping the sector deal better with issues such as cord cutting and a declining...
Are ‘hybrid’ streaming services the future of TV?
Media | 07/27/2015 9:18 pm EDT
Streaming is often perceived as a competitor to the traditional TV system, but the introduction of a new service in the U.S. raises the possibility that instead of one replacing the other, the two could merge into a new hybrid...
Comcast to launch video-streaming service
telecom | 07/13/2015 7:19 pm EDT
Comcast Corp. is launching an Internet-based video streaming service to be available to subscribers of its Xfinity Internet service. The company said in a blog post Sunday that the service, called Stream, will allow customers to “watch live TV from about a dozen networks — including all the major broadcast nets and HBO — on laptops, tablets and phones in their home.” It added the service also includes on-demand programming, as well as TV-everywhere access and a cloud-based PVR. Stream will cost $15 US a month and launch in Boston later this summer, followed by...
Digital activists push for free wireless Internet for all
telecom | 07/10/2015 6:50 pm EDT
A movement is underway to make wireless Internet access ubiquitous and free in most urban environments, with people's home routers as the source of these public connections. The people behind...
Netflix’ reach to pass U.S. networks next year: analysts
Media | 06/30/2015 5:41 pm EDT
Netflix Inc.'s audience is already on par with two out of the three major U.S. television networks and will be bigger than all three in about a year, U.S. investment analysts said last week. Chase White and Barton Crockett of FBR Capital Markets & Co. said in a note issued June 24 that Nielson Co. does not issue...
Telcos losing advantage over cablecos in TV: analyst
telecom | 06/29/2015 2:50 pm EDT
Cable companies are “poised to level the playing field” against telephone incumbents in the area of TV service as they launch more advanced technological services of their own, Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang...
Comcast, Time Warner deal nixed
Media | 04/24/2015 1:36 pm EDT
Comcast Corp. on Friday confirmed that it is walking away from its proposed $45-billion US buyout of Time Warner Cable Inc. In a statement on Comcast's website, CEO Brian Roberts said: "Today, we move on. Of course, we...
Comcast to launch 2 GB Internet service in May
telecom | 04/02/2015 2:44 pm EDT
Comcast Corp. announced Thursday that it is launching two-gigabit broadband service in Atlanta in May that will reach more than 1.5 million customers. The company said in a press release that the symmetrical 2,000 Mbps connection will be the fastest residential Internet in the Untied States. Comcast’s offering, delivered via a fibre-optic network, will be twice as fast as Google Inc.'s Fibre gigabit service. According to Google’s website, it also intends to roll out a fibre network in Atlanta in the near future. According to a report from the Verge, Comcast intends to expand the footprint of its new fibre-speed tier to 18 million homes by the end of this year. ...
FCC chairman proposes common-carrier net neutrality rules
telecom | 02/04/2015 5:03 pm EST
U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) chairman Tom Wheeler said on Wednesday that he will propose new rules this week to enshrine net neutrality in law and ban paid prioritization and...
YouTube to host own Super Bowl halftime show
telecom | 01/20/2015 3:29 pm EST
For the first time, Google Inc.’s YouTube streaming service is hosting a live Super Bowl halftime show of its own that will stream during the break of the NFL championship game on Feb. 1. Hosted by Harley Morenstein,...
Netflix petitions FCC against Comcast-Time Warner merger
Media | 08/26/2014 4:17 pm EDT
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...
WiFi hotpots coming to homes near you
telecom | 07/16/2014 9:14 pm EDT
Telecommunications providers are discovering an untapped resource in their quest to provide customers with more opportunities to get online, and that resource is other people's homes. Service providers in the United States...
Dish tells FCC to block mergers on ‘serious competitive concerns’
telecom | 07/10/2014 4:14 pm EDT
On Wednesday Dish Network Corp. expressed its opposition to two major mergers in the U.S. telecom market in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. In the letter, Dish urged the American regulator to put a stop to the deals between Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc., valued at $45.2 billion US, and AT&T...
FCC to examine U.S. Internet traffic management
Media | 06/13/2014 6:28 pm EDT
Tom Wheeler, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, said Friday that his organization is looking into whether Internet service providers are purposely diminishing, for their own benefit, the flow of content from...
Canadian TV packages more flexible than in U.S.: study
Media | 06/06/2014 7:04 pm EDT
A report appearing on the CRTC's website Friday indicated that Canadian television service providers are offering more choice and flexibility than ones in the United States in selected markets....
Verizon says Netflix ‘misleading’ viewers on connection issues
Media | 06/04/2014 7:49 pm EDT
In a blog post on its website Wednesday, Verizon Communications Inc. accused Netflix Inc. of "misleading" consumers about the source of buffering issues that viewers may have experienced. The post from David Young, Verizon's vice-president of regulatory affairs, cited a Twitter posting showing a...
AT&T reaches deal to buy DirecTV
telecom | 05/19/2014 7:54 pm EDT
AT&T announced on Sunday it has reached a deal to buy cable- and satellite-TV provider DirecTV for a total consideration of $67.1 billion US. The direct purchase price of about $48.5 billion US is about a third in cash and two-thirds in stock, AT&T said in a press release. AT&T is also assuming around $20 billion US in debt from DirecTV, AT&T said. DirecTV has almost 40 million video customers in the United States and Latin America, AT&T said. It said in its release that this transaction will result in it holding about 70 million subscribers, combined with its existing...
FCC moves ahead with Internet ‘fast lanes’ proposal
telecom | 05/15/2014 7:46 pm EDT
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved forward Thursday with plans to explicitly allow Internet service providers give select content providers so-called “fast lanes” to end...
OpenMedia joins fight in U.S. over net neutrality
telecom | 05/13/2014 3:56 pm EDT
OpenMedia said Tuesday it is actively fighting a proposal in the United States that would allow content companies to pay service providers for faster access to end users on the Internet, arguing that such a policy would affect the...
Uncertain future for targeted TV ads in Canada
Media | 05/06/2014 6:35 pm EDT
One of television’s strengths as a vehicle for advertising has always been its ability to reach a lot of people with the same message at the same time. The industry has the technological capability to move in a different...
New FCC rules create Internet ‘fast lanes’
Media | 04/24/2014 4:39 pm EDT
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday proposed new net-neutrality rules that would allow Internet service providers to charge content providers for faster and more reliable connections to end users. Under the proposed rules, ISPs would be allowed to charge a “commercially reasonable” fee to...
Apple, Comcast could team up for streaming TV: WSJ
telecom | 03/24/2014 5:39 pm EDT
Apple Inc. and Comcast Corp. are discussing launching a streaming TV service, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. Quoting anonymous sources, WSJ reported the service “would use an Apple set-top box and get special treatment on Comcast's cables to ensure it bypasses congestion on the Web.” It said that “Apple's intention is to allow users to stream live and on-demand TV programming and digital-video recordings stored in the 'cloud,' effectively taking the place of a traditional cable set-top box.” It added that the talks are in the early stages and there are still hurdles to be worked out, such as the relationship Apple would have with Comcast’s customers. WSJ reported that while “Apple would like a separate 'flow' for its...
Netflix CEO attacks ISPs that demand payment for connectivity
Media | 03/21/2014 5:45 pm EDT
Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings said in a blog post on the company’s website Thursday that a stronger sense of net neutrality is needed to prevent situations like the one that has his company...
Netflix to pay Comcast for faster streaming: report
Media | 02/24/2014 9:05 pm EST
Netflix Inc. will pay Comcast Corp. for access to its network in order to be able to provide its streaming video customers with faster speeds and improved reliability, Bloomberg reported Monday, quoting anonymous sources. Based...
Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable
telecom | 02/13/2014 9:32 pm EST
Comcast Corp. is acquiring Time Warner Cable Inc. for $45.2 billion deal US in stock, the companies said in a press release Thursday. The deal combines the two largest cable companies in the United States, Bloomberg said in a...
DirecTV drops Weather Channel in U.S.
Media | 01/14/2014 8:40 pm EST
A fee dispute between U.S. satellite-TV provider DirecTV and the Weather Channel culminated in the latter being taken off of the service on Tuesday. Bloomberg reported David Kenny, CEO of the station’s parent firm, Weather...