Without the digital rights to Canadian hockey teams’ games, there may not be much reason for panic among traditional TV providers with the entry of new over-the-top (OTT) provider Dazn into the Canadian market, according to Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi. Dubbed the “Netflix of sports,” the Perform Group service, which announced its availability in Canada last week, is similarly priced to other offerings from major sports leagues, Yaghi said in a note Monday, but that may not be enough to draw eyes. “In our view, the main focus for the Canadian market is the...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Monday its mobile music-streaming application has surpassed the two-million download mark.
That figure doubled the number of downloads of Stingray Music in 2016, the company said in a press release
“Over 60% of downloads originated in Canada, confirming widespread adoption across the country,” the release added, noting that the app — launched in 2014 — has more than 2,000 channels in 100 genres of music available.
“Although downloads do not tell the whole story behind...
Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau is chastising the CRTC for its May 15 decision involving...
A group of American TV stations seems to be renewing its efforts to put compensation for signals...
The popularity of music streaming platforms among anglophone Canadians has grown over the past year, with 32 per cent reporting using a music streaming service in the past month when surveyed in the spring of 2017. That’s...
Joe Natale, president and CEO of Rogers Communications Inc., reiterated...
A streaming service focused on sports content, including National Football League (NFL) games, is now available in Canada.
The U.K.-based Perform Group’s Dazn is “the only place Canadians can access NFL Game Pass, which includes every live NFL game of the 2017...
The government must protect Canadian culture as it renegotiates the North...
Overall operating revenues for private radio broadcasting across Canada last year fell 3.3 per cent, marking the third consecutive year the sector has experienced such a decline, according to...
The CRTC’s incoming vice-chairwoman of broadcasting, Caroline Simard, has...
The choice of Ian Scott as the new chairman of the CRTC was greeted...
The government should consider dividing the CRTC into separate telecom and broadcast regulators partly to ensure both issues get a fair view, according to a letter from the Internet Society of Canada (ISOC). The letter,...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is being sued for patent infringement by TiVo Inc. and one of its...
The CRTC has turned down a request by the Bell Fund to be allowed to devote...
Rogers Communications Inc. is asking the CRTC to mandate TV providers keep OMNI in the same space on their channel line-ups when the new OMNI Regional service replaces the existing local stations. Rogers told the CRTC in a...
Ken Whyte, the former vice-president of public policy at Rogers Communications Inc., is joining the C.D. Howe Institute as a senior fellow.
“Ken’s achievements have made him one of Canada’s most respected journalists, and he has a wealth of insights in business,...
Cogeco Inc. reported stronger revenues and profits for its fiscal third quarter, the first earnings...
The Canadian TV landscape gets poor marks when it comes to the...
The CRTC has approved the acquisition by Rogers Communications Inc.’s media division of Tillsonburg Broadcasting Company Ltd. (TBCL), which operates two English-language stations in the small Ontario town. The deal, which...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. will offer up virtual reality (VR) videos as part of an ongoing partnership...
Two senior executives at Corus Entertainment Inc. are expected to leave the company by the end of summer, according to an internal note from CEO and president Doug Murphy.
John MacDonald, senior vice-president of women and lifestyle content, and Susan Schaefer, senior...
Canada’s social network usage is projected to grow steadily over the next four years but growth will slow compared to previous years, according to a report by research company eMarketer Inc. The...
The acceleration of artificial intelligence (AI) could contribute to the discovery and growth of Canadian content, according to a mid-year trend report by the Canada Media Fund (CMF). “The progress of AI could support this...
The CRTC approved Tuesday an application by sponsor Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. to add Alaraby Television Network to its list of non-Canadian channels authorized for distribution. Ethnic Channels group said in its...
At the end of this week, following the departure of its vice-chairman of...
Major internet-based companies and organizations are preparing to participate in a Wednesday campaign...
BCE Inc.’s media subsidiary said in a press release Friday that Bell will broadcast part of a concert...
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has made two new appointments to its board of directors.
Michael Schmalz...
As part of its discretionary tangible benefits proposal, Sirius XM Canada...
The CRTC has approved a music TV channel originating from Poland for distribution. Kino Polska Muzyka is sponsored in Canada by Ethnic Channels Group Ltd., according to the CRTC decision Thursday. The service, which is 95 per cent Polish-language and five per cent English-language, is listed as a 24-hour niche service with music video clips of the “best Polish-language popular music from the 1960s to today” while also broadcasting “profiles of Polish-language musical artists and concerts from time to time.”...
BCE Inc.’s media division announced that high-definition signals for its four Toronto radio stations are now available. The company said in a press release dated June 30 that Toronto AM stations Newstalk 1010 and TSN 1050, as...
The encounters with stakeholders that formed part of the rationale for his...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is increasing the data limits of wireless...
The deadline for interventions in a pair of Part 1 applications to the CRTC from Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. has been changed from July 31 to July 14. In late June, the two companies applied for...
The Ottawa-Gatineau radio market can’t sustain another station, the CRTC said in a Friday decision, and won’t consider an application for a new ethnic station in the area. The decision comes following a consultation launched in November, after the regulator received an application for a licence to operate a commercial ethnic AM station. “Although Ottawa-Gatineau currently benefits from positive economic indicators and a growing ethnic population, its radio revenues are decreasing, with many stations operating at a loss in recent years,” the CRTC said, adding that a new...
More than six dozen civil society organizations and individuals have come out to reiterate support for stronger data encryption in a letter addressed to a quintet of the world’s intelligence...
Activity by a working group tasked with studying the implementation of an audience measurement system via...
Shaw Communications Inc. is asking the CRTC to allow it to take OMNI’s over-the-air (OTA) station out...
The CRTC is asking for comment on renewals of licences held by 10 broadcasters. It said in a notice Thursday that some of the radio stations seeking renewal were previously found to be in non-compliance with their regulatory...
TMN Go, the TV-everywhere service from BCE Inc.’s media division, will begin allowing viewers to download content for offline viewing.
The service will be available to...
The Federal Court has dismissed an application by Re:Sound Music Licensing Co. for a review of tariffs...
More creative groups are stepping up formal efforts to get the CRTC to reverse its licence renewal decision, which they say will negatively affect the production of Canadian content. On Thursday,...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron has named Antoinette Noviello vice-president, corporate comptroller. “Antoinette is now taking charge of all aspects of Videotron's financial and accounting operations, including credit-risk...
A new report indicates that the number of companies operating in the virtual reality space in Canada has grown quickly in the past few years, though they say obstacles to their success include consumer adoption, financing and the maturity of the market overall. A study found that out of 200 companies surveyed that were involved in VR in 2016, 152 were active in VR a year earlier, and only 74 a year before that, while only 15 were active in VR in 2010. “The last few years have seen an explosion in companies engaging with VR, and especially in the number who have hitched their star...
Investel Capital Corp.’s TNW Wireless Inc. has been sold to an American holding and management company, United American Corp., the Florida-based company announced in a Wednesday press release. TNW Wireless, which serves...
Representatives from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance have issued a statement lauding the creation of a coalition by some of the world’s biggest tech companies aimed at tackling terrorist content online. On...
OTTAWA — In a landmark ruling, Canada’s top court dismissed an appeal...
Some of the world’s largest technology and social media companies are forming a coalition to counter terrorism. The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism is being formed with the help of Facebook Inc., Microsoft...
The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) has formalized its complaint against the CRTC’s recent TV licence renewal decision in the form of an appeal to Canadian Heritage asking it to reverse the ruling it says harms the production of Canadian content.
“We appeal to Heritage...
The European Union has fined Alphabet Inc.’s Google 2.4 billion euros — about $3.6 billion in Canadian dollars — for giving itself an “illegal advantage” in its...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron has named Philippe Cloutier its senior vice-president and chief financial...
American companies and organizations took aim at Canadian cultural...
Corus Entertainment Inc. reported increases in both revenues and profit Tuesday, numbers that reflected its purchase of Shaw Communications Inc.’s media division last year. For the three months ended May 31, the...
The CRTC’s vice-chairman of telecom, Peter Menzies, is leaving the CRTC nearly a year before the end of...
Last month’s deluge of Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) members on Parliament Hill for the...
Sam Sniderman has been named global head of commercial affairs and production at Blue Ant Media Inc.,...
OTTAWA — Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that British Columbia has...
Interactive Ontario has added three new directors to its board, the industry trade association said in a press release Wednesday. Joining the board are Sean Skelton, a software engineer at Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Emma Westecott, director of the Game:play lab at OCAD University, and lawyer David Dembroski, who has served as secretary and a member of the executive committee at the organization. They replace Daniel Dales, Valerie Fox and Peter Miller, Interactive Ontario said in the press release. In addition, executive director Christa Dickenson has been named president and CEO...
Early adopters of virtual reality (VR) technology believe VR is poised to change pastimes like social networking and video viewing, though issues...
OTTAWA — Wawatay Native Communications Society will ask for an appeal of...
Snap Inc. has teamed up with Time Warner Inc. to develop programming for the picture- and video-sharing app Snapchat, Time Warner said Monday. In a blog post, Time Warner announced a new “global partnership” that will see...
OTTAWA — A nine-member panel has been charged with vetting potential appointees to the CBC/Radio-Canada...
Alex Maldini is the new vice-president of international sales and acquisitions at Blue Ant Media Inc., the company said in a press release Tuesday.
He will operate out of the company’s London, U.K., office.
“Maldini will oversee Blue Ant International’s sales...
Judith LaRocque has been appointed acting CRTC chairwoman for a four-month...
Now that former chairman Jean-Pierre Blais has departed the CRTC after five years at the helm, he leaves...
More anglophone Canadians are watching movies online, as the popularity of over-the-top (OTT) services continues, according to the latest Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report. The Thursday report by MTM, a project...
OTTAWA — All of the country’s cultural institutions need a rethink when...
Facebook Inc. said it wants to be a “hostile place” for terrorists, and outlined Thursday a series of steps it’s taking to counteract terrorism on its platforms. These actions include using artificial intelligence to...
OTTAWA — The next chair of the CRTC will have a more explicit focus on...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said in a press release Friday it is expanding its head office in Montreal...
The CRTC said Thursday it won’t give Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron extra time to shut down its...
Alphabet Inc.’s Google Canada lobbied Leslie Church, its former communications head and now chief of staff to Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, on several occasions this year, meetings that are being criticized by Opposition MPs.
The issue came up for the second day in...
OTTAWA — After a year of study and hearing from 131 witnesses, some of...
OTTAWA — A House of Commons committee recommendation to expand the five-per-cent contribution broadcast...
The CRTC has approved five urban radio licences in markets across the country to serve Aboriginal peoples, a decision one Ontario Aboriginal radio station said will result in fewer hours, and less...
The federal government shouldn’t stand idly by, awaiting the looming...
CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais used what may prove to be his final address as head of the telecom regulator to issue recriminations for past practice and predictions for the future of the country’s cultural industries and the CRTC itself.
“I will not apologize for...
CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais did not reapply for his job as CEO of the country’s telecom and broadcast regulator, according to a report by the Canadian Press. The wire service reported Monday that Blais “says he believes...
Canadians rely heaviest on CBC/Radio-Canada and the CRTC to protect...
A new office to support indigenous creators will open its doors, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly announced Monday at the Banff World Media Festival. The Indigenous Screen Office is a collaboration between the Aboriginal Peoples...
Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly acknowledged the “anxiety” members of...
Two Ontario markets with prospective applications for broadcasting licences can’t sustain any new radio stations, the CRTC said Friday. In separate decisions posted online, the regulator said...
BCE Inc.’s media division said Wednesday that it’s entered into an...
Non-traditional TV subscribers, such as those who use over-the-top (OTT) services, are more satisfied than those with traditional pay-TV subscriptions, a new J.D. Power survey suggested. Customers...
Three movie studios have gone through the Canadian court system to identify...
TORONTO — The growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) also presents a chance for telecoms to monetize the data coming from IoT devices, said Michael Cihra, vice-president of IoT and emerging markets at Telus Corp.
“The one area that we also spend some time on now that...
BCE Inc.’s properties have scored the broadcast rights to the National Football League’s Thursday Night Football games, Bell Media announced Wednesday. The regular-season games will air on TSN, CTV Two and RDS as of the...
The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and BCE Inc.’s media division have teamed up to develop virtual and augmented reality projects, the duo said in a Wednesday press release. "We're very excited to...
An additional nine local CTV stations across the country will begin airing an early evening newscast this fall, BCE Inc.’s media division said Wednesday. “Local news is an essential institution that unites communities...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Tuesday its media sales division had signed two deals that “expand reach and deliver brand-safe, premium-content environments to advertisers.” In a press release, the company said the...
TORONTO — Products like new streaming TV services and sports-focused TV-everywhere offerings will help the industry curb piracy, according to Stewart Johnston, president of BCE Inc.’s Bell Media studios and TSN.
Speaking at the Canadian Telecom Summit Tuesday,...
Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly is facing more calls to order the CRTC to review its licence renewal decision, this time from the Bloc Québécois. On Monday, Bloc MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval noted...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron made its bed and now it has to lie in it, according to consumer and digital rights advocates who opposed the company’s request for a delay in complying with the CRTC’s...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s media division will be expanding its CityNews program outside of Toronto...
Radio still factors heavily into the daily lives of anglophone Canadians, with local stations providing some of the most popular content, according to a new Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report. The Thursday report by MTM, a...
Twice-fired CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan has filed his application for judicial review, appealing his second removal from his post as the regional representative for Ontario. In a notice of application filed at the Federal Court...
Allowing customers to only select TV channels à la carte after they’ve taken advantage of one 10-channel small package doesn’t comply with the CRTC’s pick-and-pay rules, BCE Inc. was told....
OTTAWA — Before any right to be forgotten rules are instituted in Canada, there needs to be a fulsome public discussion, Colin McKay, head of public policy and government relations at Alphabet...
The CRTC has called for those holding TV service broadcasting licences that expire at the end of August 2018 to apply for their renewal. In a notice posted Thursday, the commission said licensees...
NorthVu Inc. has abandoned an appeal it filed with MediaTube Corp. in a dispute with BCE Inc. NorthVu filed a notice of discontinuance on May 23 in an appeal the two parties launched in February, against a January Federal Court decision that found Bell did not infringe a patent belonging to the two companies. NorthVu and MediaTube had claimed Bell and its Bell Aliant division used their patent, which allows TV signals to be more efficiently managed by sending only those signals the user selects, in its Fibe TV IPTV offering. The appeal filed by MediaTube continues....
