A tepid launch of Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime video streaming service in Canada doesn’t seem likely to pose a challenge to existing players in the Canadian streaming market — for the time being, at least, given Amazon’s global clout could make it a formidable challenger in the future. Amazon’s quiet roll out of the service last month, combined with a small library of content, makes Troy Crandall, an equity specialist at Raymond James Ltd., skeptical that the launch of the streaming service has led to a lot of new subscribers for Amazon Prime in...
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 suggest the opposite is happening north of the border, according to an analyst. “While the U.S. is becoming more vertically integrated, Canada is moving in the other direction,” Jeff Fan, an analyst at Scotiabank, said in a note Monday. The deal, which would see AT&T acquire Time...
In an unexpected move, Rogers Communications Inc. has announced Guy Laurence is no longer CEO of the company and will be replaced by former Telus Corp. CEO Joe Natale, a choice...
Some companies are adding more selection to their cable TV packages by going the theme-pack route in preparation for the mandatory full pick-and-pay rules coming into effect this winter. The CRTC...
The significant number of new postpaid wireless customers reported by service providers in the second quarter of 2016 can partly be explained by the aggressive push toward handset subsidies as new phones enter the market and drive demand, according to analysts. Wireless providers reported...
Though the success of Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Pokémon Go mobile game could be the tip of the iceberg for augmented-reality applications, experts said they don’t expect wireless companies to make any major shifts in...
Traffic on the Internet of Things (IoT) is forecast to skyrocket over the coming years, and though vehicles will be part of that network, there are still a number of challenges, including infrastructure, security and spectrum, that have to be addressed before true “connected” cars can take to Canadian roads. “The big cost is the roadside infrastructure, and nobody has a viable business model for paying for that,” Barrie Kirk, an engineer and executive director of the think tank Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE), said in an email. “You...
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...
Ontario Internet service and television provider VMedia Inc. will expand to Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Alberta in the next two weeks — a move the company says will see its services...
Rogers Communications Inc. will begin offering its Sportsnet channels without a TV subscription for $24.99 per month, the company announced Thursday. Scott Moore, president of Sportsnet and NHL...
As it takes ownership of Wind Mobile, Shaw Communications Inc. will continue positioning Wind as a cheaper option compared to the big three national wireless carriers, according to the company’s chief operating officer....
If industry and regulators spent much of 2014 talking about the future of TV in Canada, 2016 will provide the first glimpse of what that future might look like. “If 2015 was the year for announcing changes, I guess 2016 will be the year for actually making the changes and implementing them, because there are a lot of things that the CRTC had put...
Financial analysts said Thursday that the surprising move by Shaw Communications Inc. to buy Wind Mobile means any potential merger between Shaw and Rogers Communications Inc. won’t happen any...
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...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. CEO Jay Forbes on Monday downplayed the likelihood that the whole company could be sold in the wake of a deal to unload its business communications division, Allstream....
Revenue from telecommunications services in Canada grew 2.4 per cent in 2014, the CRTC said Tuesday, falling short of the six per cent hike in average spending on communications services that year. In the second part of its annual communications monitoring report, the CRTC said telecommunications services revenue was in 2014 was $45.9 billion, up from $44.8 billion in 2013. The first part of the CRTC's communications monitoring report, released last Thursday, said average household spending on communications services in 2014 was $203.04 per month, up six per cent from 2013. The report...
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...
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...
BCE Inc. and Roger Communications Inc. have begun supporting calls and texts over WiFi networks with the latest iPhone. "You can call and text wherever you have a Wi-Fi connection in places like basements, condos and tall...
An emerging Canadian provider of over-the-top (OTT) video content hopes that reaching viewers around the world, and particularly those with very specific interests, translates into keys to success in the fast-changing television...
The practice of sharing passwords so that more than one person or household can access a streaming service has financial ramifications for the industry, according to a new report, though it could also provide new services with a boost in the market, said 3Macs analyst Troy Crandall. “In a way, sharing credentials can sometimes be somewhat of a marketing tool, especially if you’re just starting out,” he said in a phone interview. “Over time, obviously you do have to get a better handle on it.” He added that “it actually can be beneficial for them when...
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...
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. launched a new plan Tuesday that integrates home Internet and wireless data service in one package, which analysts agreed is an indication of the ongoing trend toward...
At some point this summer, Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi streaming service will be made available to customers of other TV and Internet service providers...
GATINEAU, Que. — Wireless incumbents are going to have to play by a different set of rules than smaller carriers when it comes to providing network access to competitors, though one industry...
Having five Canadian teams reach the NHL playoffs for the first time in more than a decade is set to translate into a winning season for Rogers Communications Inc. as it completes the first...
Financial analysts reacting to the CRTC’s new pick-and-pay rules say they don’t expect the decision to have a major impact on the industry, though the broadcasting side of the business is...
The CRTC has dismissed a complaint by BCE Inc. against Rogers Communications Inc.’s GamePlus service, ruling that Rogers could offer the NHL hockey app exclusively to its own customers because the content wasn’t produced primarily for traditional television. The regulator said in the decision that the CRTC...
In June, wireless carriers face a higher-than-usual number of expiring contracts, as a result of the wireless code effectively banning the previously standard three-year agreements. But experts...
Wind Mobile's offer of free wireless service to customers of Mobilicity, with unlimited data, text and calls for six months, could be an offensive move to help clear away competition for set-aside spectrum in the upcoming AWS-3 auction, analysts say. A offer on Wind's website says Mobilicity customers can get free service from Wind that features no data caps plus unlimited in-province calling and unlimited cross-Canada texting for six months if they sign up before Jan. 26. A free SIM card is also part of the offer, which Wind spokesman Robert Sauer said usually costs $25 for those...
As the new year approaches, Canadian wireless carriers of all sizes await a CRTC decision on domestic roaming that could, in the words of one analyst, “disrupt” the industry with...
It seems all eyes are on the two newest services in the Canadian TV industry. This fall, the country’s biggest telecom and media companies launched streaming services meant to compete with...
Small Internet service providers looking to provide TV service should hold off on investment because of the uncertain future of the broadcast television market, according to 3Macs analyst Troy Crandall. At the recent CRTC...
Canada’s largest media companies take it as a given that the current market for advertising on traditional broadcast media is weak, but experts say broadcasting is shifting to a new normal as online advertising becomes the...
When Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence wore a leather jacket to the announcement of his company's latest project —a $100 million joint venture with Vice Media Inc. —the unconventional outfit emphasized how the new partnership was aimed at appealing to a younger demographic. The project, targeting those in the 18-34 age range, will “address the dramatic shift in Canada's media landscape, as young people increasingly consume news and entertainment from their mobile and digital devices,” Rogers said in a press release Thursday. Under the deal, Vice will...
While the announcement that Rogers Communications Inc. and Netflix Inc. are working together on an original TV series marked an unprecedented collaboration between the two rivals, it’s a logical...
Cogeco Cable Inc. wants the CRTC to set up regulated access to established wireless carriers’ networks, president and CEO Louis Audet said during a conference call with media Thursday....
Cogeco Cable Inc. said Tuesday it will hold a conference call with journalists on Thursday to discuss "the future of mobile services in Canada." Cogeco has indicated an interest in launching wireless service, and it is...
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....
Much has been made this week about the practice of levying extra fees for the privilege of getting a physical bill for telecommunications services, and some industry watchers are downplaying the...
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...
More than eight months after its implementation and more than a year after it was announced, effects of CRTC's wireless code include higher prices and slower growth in mobile-service subscribers,...
Telecommunications companies increased prices most, proportionally, over the last year for those subscribing to the lowest-end wireless, broadband-Internet and home-phone plans, according to a report...
MONTREAL —Videotron’s new iPad application, which allows users to access live TV, free and paid video-on-demand (VOD) content and programming stored on a personal video recorder (PVR), in addition to a recommendation function and integrated social networking, is a sign of where "TV-everywhere" strategies are heading, said Alan Breznick, a media, telecom and technology analyst at research group Heavy Reading. “I think this is a sign of what’s to come, and we’ll definitely see more social media integrated, we’ll definitely see more...
Analysts say a new advertising campaign by Wind Mobile that aims to pick up customers from Mobilicity and Public Mobile may be successful as the new-entrant carrier tries to capitalize on the woes of...
Rogers Communications Inc. shelled out billions in this year’s 700 MHz spectrum auction for what was once “second-class” spectrum and what could now be the most coveted wireless real...
In the year since big Internet providers like Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. reintroduced unlimited-bandwidth Internet plans, customer demand has kept them in place. Whether that means bandwidth caps are on their way out...
Rogers Communications Inc. spent more than expected in the government’s 700 MHz spectrum auction, while Videotron, owned by Quebecor Inc., expanded its network across the country for a relatively low price, analysts said on Thursday. The results of the 700 MHz wireless auction, released on Wednesday, showed...
The long-anticipated 700 MHz spectrum auction begins Tuesday, Jan 14. Among the rules set out by Industry Canada, each of the three incumbents, Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and BCE Inc., are each only allowed to acquire one of the four prime blocks of spectrum in each of 14 designated regions across the country, which leaves at least one block open to another bidder. There are three other blocks of spectrum available nationally that are considered less functional and, while they could be of use in certain circumstances, are expected be less sought after and, as a consequence, go for less money than the prime blocks. The following are edited excerpts from interviews The Wire Report conducted with telecommunications industry analysts in the days leading up to this auction. Here’s what they said about the following aspects of...
Former Toronto Maple Leafs enforcer Tie Domi picked up a new gig this year, as pitchman for voice-over-IP provider Comwave Networks Inc. in which he urges customers to “stand up to the big guys” by switching home-phone services. The cheaper home-phone offerings provided by companies like Comwave—which advertises its rates as low...
Seven months after VimpelCom Ltd. filed an application to change control of Wind Mobile, Industry Canada still hasn't released a decision. VimpelCom, an international mobile operator based in Amsterdam, filed application last October with an expectation that the agreement would be approved within 45 days, and before an...
As the cliché goes, there is success in persistence. For Absolute Software Corp., it's in “persistent,” unerasable software. A Canadian company based in Vancouver, Absolute sells software that allows companies and consumers to locate lost or stolen mobile devices and laptops....
Shaw Communications Inc. is focused on improving customer service, leveraging its new WiFi network, and selling more Internet service subscriptions to retain customers in its battle with Telus Corp....