iHeartMedia Inc.'s free digital radio and music streaming service is now available in Canada, according to a press release from BCE Inc.’s media division. The free app, iHeartRadio, is available on a preview basis ahead of its official launch on Oct. 10. The app “showcases an unparalleled amount of music, news/talk, comedy, and sports content from Bell Media, Canada’s largest radio broadcaster with 105 licensed English and French radio stations, plus more than 100 additional curated streaming music channels to suit every taste,” Bell said in the release Thursday. “iHeartRadio is an enormously successful brand that will represent Bell Media’s radio strategy in Canada, in many incarnations, including must-see live concerts, events, and more,” Randy Lennox, Bell Media’s...
OTTAWA — Raising the level of broadband Internet service for Canadians would go far in levelling the playing field for both media producers and consumers, a House of Commons committee heard Thursday, as it continued its study of the media and local communities. Since beginning its study, the standing committee on Canadian heritage has heard a variety of suggestions on ways in which the government could play a role in the supporting the struggling news media industry — some of which concerned Michael Geist, who holds the Canada research chair in Internet and e-commerce law at...
BCE Inc. is asking the Ontario Superior Court to grant an interim and permanent injunction to stop VMedia Inc. from delivering Bell's CTV channels on its over-the-top (OTT) service. VMedia began offering the...
Canadians rely mostly on word-of-mouth and paid advertising to find TV new shows, according to a new Media Technology Monitor report. In its latest release published Tuesday, the CBC/Radio-Canada research project...
A Conservative Party leadership candidate has tabled legislation with the aim of privatizing CBC/Radio-Canada. On Thursday, Saskatchewan MP Brad Trost introduced a private member’s bill, C-308, “to provide for...
VMedia Inc. is asking an Ontario court to step in and declare that its recently launched over-the-top (OTT) streaming television service is not infringing copyright, as claimed by BCE Inc., which wants the provider to...
The Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) is asking for regulatory action to help support the music industry as it deals with the shift to streaming music services, including the imposition of new rules for both streaming services and Internet Service Providers (ISPs). “We are asking the Quebec government, the federal government, the CRTC, the Copyright Board, and other relevant bodies to put at the top of their...
Users of Reddit Inc.’s website have largely railed against differential pricing in a discussion initated by the CRTC, with an overwhelming number of comments on the social platform expressing...
Rogers Communications Inc. is downsizing its print division, reducing the publication schedules of three magazines and eliminating the print runs of four publications entirely, the company announced Friday. “We...
While CraveTV should have an easier time competing in the over-the-top (OTT) space now that Shomi will cease operation, Netflix Inc.’s offering still leaves doubt about the profitability...
In the wake of the announced shuttering of its streaming service, Shomi, Rogers Communications Inc. is offering some customers six months of free access to Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service. Rogers...
An American film production company is looking to identify 12 Canadians it says infringed its copyright by file-sharing its content. In a statement of claim filed with the federal court on Tuesday, Cell Film Holdings LLC said it...
Facebook Inc.’s platform is by far the dominant social network among Canadian anglophones, with almost all — 92 per cent — of social networkers using the site, according to a new report...
Radio stations from some of Canada’s biggest broadcasters—including Rogers Communications Inc., Cogeco Inc., Newcap Inc., and Corus Entertainment Inc., among...
CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Hubert Lacroix said during the public broadcaster’s annual meeting in Moncton, N.B., that “27 months after launching our 2020 strategy, we are past the disruption...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi had close to 900,000 subscribers at its peak, before the companies decided to shut down the service. “We recently approached 900K subs and even today we are not far off that number, which would likely make Shomi a Top 10 service in North America,” David Asch, senior vice-president and general manager of Shomi said in an emailed statement. The company did not release subscriber information prior to Monday’s announcement. It’s competitors, BCE...
Shomi, the joint Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. over-the-top (OTT) video service, will shut down on Nov. 30, the service...
The CRTC is consulting on whether it should merge the rules for specialty and pay channels into a single set of regulations. It said in a notice of consultation Monday that having two...
Lawyers are asking a Quebec court to allow a class action lawsuit against companies that they allege are violating the province’s consumer protection laws by requiring customers to take the...
The CRTC will consider 11 applications for radio stations in the Edmonton area next week. It will hold a four-day hearing starting Sept. 27, the commission said in a press release Friday. The hearing will consider...
The federal government will unveil a new consultation process for appointing members to the CBC/Radio-Canada board of directors “in the next few weeks,” Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said Wednesday. According to a transcript of her response to a question by NDP MP Pierre Nantel in the House of Commons, the new process “is open and transparent in order to maintain the independence of the corporation’s board members,” Joly said. A review of the appointment process was a tenet of Joly’s mandate letter from the Prime Minister and she...
Canadian content producers who find audiences internationally are benefitting from over-the-top (OTT) services, according to a report examining the impact of OTT platforms on global video production....
BCE Inc. has filed a new motion petitioning the Federal Court of Appeal to hear its case against the CRTC decision banning simultaneous substitution during the Super Bowl. In a notice of motion...
Canada’s biggest telcos told investors Wednesday that they are seeing growth in wireless data usage on the first of a two-day conference hosted by CIBC World Markets. BCE Inc....
The CRTC has responded to a request by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) that it reconsider its new framework for local and community TV. It told...
Jeffrey Elliott, TableRock Media CEO, is the new chairman of Interactive Ontario, the association announced Tuesday. Elliott, a long-time member of the board of directors, was elected...
VMedia Inc. has rolled out live TV to Canadian users of Roku Inc.’s devices, Roku said in a press release Friday. Canadians can “watch up to 20 live TV channels, including Canadian and US networks such as...
Critics of the CRTC’s recent changes to the certified independent production fund (CIPF) policy pointed to Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany’s victory at the Emmy Awards Sunday night as evidence changes were...
Steve Maich’s role within Rogers Communications Inc.’s media division has been expanded, as he becomes the company’s senior vice-president of digital content and publishing, the...
The CRTC will host a public discussion on differential pricing practices for Internet data plans on Reddit Inc.’s website, the regulator said Monday. The commission said in a notice it will host the discussion forum on the /r/Canada subreddit “to encourage individuals who might not otherwise participate in this proceeding to share their points of view.” The topic will run from 9 a.m. EST on Sept. 26 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 30. A public hearing will be held on Oct. 31 in Gatineau. The commission said it will try to...
After 13 weeks off from the Parliament Hill routine, MPs returned en masse to Ottawa Monday for the start of the House of Commons’ fall session, where the stage is set for forward...
MONTREAL — The key to reaching young viewers is to have content made by them, not just for them, panellists at the Public Broadcasters International conference said Friday. “The...
Television is still the dominant way English-speaking Canadians consume news, with 60 per cent tuning in to a news specialty channel, according to a new Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report....
MONTREAL — As technological change accelerates, CBC/Radio-Canada has to keep pace, according to CEO Hubert Lacroix, who said Thursday “we can’t think of the...
The need for upload speed is growing among Canadian consumers and businesses, though it’s too early to tell whether there’s real demand for symmetrical Internet plans that some companies have begun offering, according to analysts. During the annual BMO Capital Markets’ media and telecom investor’s conference, Telus Corp. said that it has separated itself from the pack by offering symmetrical Internet, or plans where upload speeds are identical to download speeds. “Upload speed is actually critically becoming more and more important whether you want to...
Twitter Inc. has launched apps that allow viewers to access its live-streaming video through Apple Inc.’s Apple TV, Amazon.com Inc.’s Fire TV and Microsoft Corp.’s XBox One. The Xbox and Apple TV apps...
Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence said the government’s ongoing review of Canadian content in a digital age should lead to more focus on promoting and selling content...
The CRTC has approved TerraTerra Communications Inc.’s application to distribute a Portuguese-language channel as a non-Canadian programming service. In a notice posted to its website Wednesday, the regulator said...
Members of the public and cultural stakeholders don’t see eye to eye when it comes to identifying the biggest challenges facing the country’s cultural sector, according to info released...
CRTC commissioner Linda Vennard broke conflict of interest rules by accepting a birthday gift from a stakeholder, the ethics watchdog announced Tuesday. “All public office holders should be...
Netflix Inc. argued that data caps are an “unnecessary constraint on advanced telecommunications capability” in a filing with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)....
The CRTC has approved the Portuguese-language channel TVI Internacional for distribution in Canada. The general-interest service from Lisbon, Portugal broadcasts “a range of programming including news, entertainment,...
Former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan won’t be reinstated while awaiting appeal of the order-in-council that removed him from his position, a Federal Court judge ruled Friday. According to...
The Urban Alliance on Race Relations (UARR) and the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) have written to Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to ask her to look into allegations of racism at the CRTC that surfaced this summer. In a Sept. 6 letter, the groups asked that “a transparent and accountable thirdparty process be initiated to investigate and address allegations of systemic and overt racism within the Commission.” Those allegations emerged in court documents related to the dismissal of former Ontario...
GATINEAU — On the final day of a two-day hearing, consumer groups told a CRTC panel that the regulator should set standards for how companies present information about their skinny-basic packages, while CRTC commissioner...
Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink unveiled its new TV Everywhere offering Thursday, Eastlink Stream, offering a one-stop-shop for television subscribers to access content from multiple networks and over-the-top (OTT)...
GATINEAU — A CRTC panel pressed Canada's largest TV service providers on whether they were doing enough to bring attention to new skinny-basic services, raising concerns that higher-tier...
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has given Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. its approval for its proposal to take the company private. In a Tuesday press release, Mark Redmond, Sirius XM Canada president...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA)’s Toronto branch is asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to “call on the CRTC to revisit” its decision to lower the requirements to access Canadian content funding. In late August, the CRTC updated its policy for certified independent production funds (CIPFs), lowering a requirement governing how many Canadians must work on a production for it to get funding. ACTRA was among the groups who criticised the change. “The...
OTTAWA — Last week’s decision from a Federal Court judge setting aside an investigation and decision that former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan committed workplace harassment should weigh heavily in his favour for...
As the CRTC is set to look into the implementation of its skinny basic TV package rules by industry, telecoms are arguing the proceeding is largely premature, given that the commission’s skinny...
A group representing community TV stakeholders solidified its discontent with June’s policy framework with a letter to the CRTC asking it to reconsider its decision to give companies the ability to move funds away from...
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed BCE Inc.’s appeal of the CRTC’s move to ban simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl, deciding that the case, which was launched before...
GATINEAU — As of June 30, about 177,000 TV subscribers had a skinny basic package, according to information given to media at a CRTC technical briefing Friday. That was four months after the CRTC mandated that TV providers...
A Federal Court judge has overturned a 2015 CRTC decision that former commissioner Raj Shoan harassed a senior staff member, ruling he was denied procedural fairness in the investigation leading up to the decision. In...
The CRTC has admitted it made an error in a recent decision by attributing an argument made by Rogers Communication Inc.’s group of funds to the Canada Media Fund (CMF). In a press release Thursday, the...
A CRTC decision to deny an application by VMedia Inc. to carry U.S. shopping channel QVC will be scrutinized by a judge after the independent provider was granted leave to appeal the decision in federal court. VMedia is...
CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais has responded to criticism by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) of its recent decision on Canadian Independent Production Funds (CIPFs), saying the organization had a chance to comment during the consultation process and should have taken that opportunity. Last week, the CRTC lowered the requirement governing how many Canadians must work on a production for it to get funding, allowing productions with fewer...
Rogers Communications Inc. is defending its proposal for a new national OMNI channel with mandatory carriage, arguing that the plan it submitted to the CRTC was the best option out of the multiple alternatives it considered....
The end of August also marked the final day CBC/Radio-Canada could broadcast national advertising on its Radio 2 and ICI Musique stations, following a CRTC decision denying a request to extend their ability to air ads for another...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. has responded to a patent infringement lawsuit filed by competitor Music Choice and filed its own suit against Music Choice alleging illegal business activities. In June, Music Choice, a...
Telecom service providers should look towards improving video quality across their networks if they want to increase customer loyalty, according to a new joint report from Huawei Technologies Co....
Josée Girard, CBC/Radio-Canada’s vice-president of people and culture, is leaving the public broadcaster after a year in the job, and will be replaced by Monique Marcotte, currently the department’s executive director of strategy and planning. In a memo to staff Monday, CBC president Hubert Lacroix said Girard was leaving for a job with mining company Rio Tinto, where she had previously worked, as of Sept. 2. “Some very positive progress occurred over the past year during Josée’s leadership to strengthen our corporate culture, talent...
By lowering the requirements for obtaining Canadian content funding, the CRTC is pushing Canadian content creators to the curb, according to opponents of the regulator’s move last week to rejig...
BCE Inc. customers can now take advantage of the “world’s first fully wireless [Internet protocol TV] service,” the company said Monday. In a press release, Bell said a wireless 4K Whole Home PVR was...
BCE Inc. has “unclean hands” in its effort to have the Wholesale Code overturned by the federal Appeal Court while simultaneously applying to have removed certain conditions of...
A parliamentary secretary has apologized after sending a letter of support for BCE Inc.’s licence renewal application, the Canadian Press reported Thursday. Kate Young, Liberal representative for a London, Ont....
The CRTC announced changes to its policies governing certified independent production funds Thursday, aimed at fostering a “robust Canadian production sector” with the “flexibility necessary to operate in an...
Messaging service WhatsApp is entangling itself more closely with owner Facebook Inc. by giving the social media giant access to users' phone numbers. In a Thursday blog post on its website, WhatsApp said “by connecting your phone number with Facebook’s systems, Facebook can offer better...
A Canadian company is suing Snapchat Inc. alleging it is infringing on its patented technology. Vancouver-based Investel Capital Corp. filed a statement of claim in federal court Wednesday claiming that the social media giant...
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 company behind Ashley Madison, a website aimed at adulterous interactions that suffered a massive customer data breach last year, had “inadequate security safeguards and policies,” according to an investigation conducted by the federal privacy commissioner’s office. In a report released Tuesday on a joint investigation with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Avid Life Media Inc. — now renamed Ruby...
The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were the most-watched Summer Games in Canadian history, CBC/Radio-Canada said Tuesday of the two-week event that wrapped up Sunday night. In a...
Cogeco Inc. said Monday it appointed Luc Noiseux as the company’s new senior vice president and chief technology and strategy officer. Noiseux, whose appointment was effective Monday, joined the company...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi has had more than 143 million video plays since Aug. 20, 2015, the over-the-top service (OTT) announced Monday in a press release marking...
Netflix Inc. and CBC/Radio-Canada are partnering with Northwood Entertainment for a new TV series based on the classic Canadian novel Anne of Green Gables. The show will be broadcast in Canada on the CBC...
Paul Johnson has been named as the Competition Bureau’s leader of economic analysis, where he will play a key role in merger reviews, the competition commissioner said Monday. In a Monday press release, Johnson, who earned a PhD in economics from the University of Montreal, was announced as the bureau’s new T.D. MacDonald Chair in Industrial Economics. The role will see Johnson providing “advice directly to the Commissioner on economic matters relating to the Bureau’s high profile cases, including litigation and advocacy, over the two-year term of his...
Twitter Inc.’s Canadian division announced Monday it had hired Jennifer Hollett as the company’s new head of news and government. Hollett, who began her new role Monday, stepped into the...
Confusion over what qualifies as watching TV online has led Media Technology Monitor to revise some previously reported data about over-the-top (OTT) services. In a Thursday report,...
Burgeoning Ottawa-based TV app maker You.i TV has hired its first chief operating officer, the company announced this week. In a Tuesday press release, the company said Dan Beer’s appointment was made “in order to fuel the company’s continued rapid growth and...
The CRTC has made official a long-announced policy to ban simultaneous substitution from next year’s broadcast of the Super Bowl. In a distribution order posted Friday, the regulator removed...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s proposal for a new national ethnic programming service is neither innovative nor appropriate in today’s TV environment aimed at providing consumers more...
The first 10 days of Olympic coverage were watched by about 30.4 million Canadians “across all networks and platforms,” CBC/Radio-Canada said Tuesday. The ongoing Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,...
Media-distribution company Entertainment One Ltd. has acquired the rest of digital studio Secret Location, completing an investment dating back to 2014. The company said in a Wednesday press release that Secret Location, which eOne describes as a content studio for emerging platforms, continued to see success since it first purchased a stake...
The CRTC has approved an application from Stornoway Communications LP to revoke the licence of its iChannel offering, the regulator said Tuesday. Stornoway applied in June to voluntarily revoke the licence...
While digital and mobile options for watching the Summer Olympics are gaining in popularity and engagement, television continues to own the podium for the Canadian outlet broadcasting the two-week multi-sport tournament happening now in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In an April press release marking 100 days until the start of the Games, CBC/Radio-Canada, which holds the Canadian broadcasting rights for the event, said its coverage would be “the most digitally-accessible Games experience in Canadian history, available across more platforms than ever before.” Greg Stremlaw,...
The head of Cogeco Inc.’s Canadian division is retiring after more than 17 years with the company, the company announced Friday. Louise St-Pierre, Cogeco Connexion president and CEO, will step down as...
Facebook Inc. said Tuesday that users of the desktop version of its social network will no longer be able to circumvent advertising through ad-blocking software. In a blog post from Andrew Bosworth, vice-president...
Ontario Appeals Court judges have ruled that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy for text messages once they’ve been sent, according to a recent decision. Last month, a majority decision ruled that Nour Marakah,...
The Competition Bureau said in a press release Monday that customers signing up for sports streaming websites should make sure they understand what they’re getting when they subscribe...
The CRTC has approved Arabic-language channel Medi1 TV for distribution in Canada. The channel “offers programming dedicated to news, news magazines and entertainment from Morocco targeting the Arabic-speaking population,” the commission said in a decision Thursday....
The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) said Wednesday it’s unhappy with the CRTC’s decision to put off complaints about alleged broadcast distribution undertakings’...
BCE Inc.’s media division is shuffling its senior management following the departure of the head of its content sales, marketing and digital products team. In a Tuesday press release,...
The CRTC has denied an application by Durham Radio Inc. to change the transmitter of its FM tower to expand its service into Toronto. In a decision Monday, the commission said that the proposal to modify the CJKX-FM-2, a...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. is expanding its management team with the appointment of a head of content distribution in the United States. Rick Bergan, who previously held the senior vice-president of distribution position at...
A poor showing by the National Hockey League’s Montreal Canadiens helped to usher in a $5.7 million net loss for TVA Group Inc., the broadcasting and magazine publishing arm of Quebecor Inc. According to a report on...
The federal government is appealing a federal court judge’s decision to lift a confidentiality order keeping the identities of CRTC employees involved in a harassment case against a former...
Rogers Communications Inc. must disclose the personal information of a customer accused by Voltage Pictures LLC of violating its copyright, according to a court decision that experts said clarifies the...
The CRTC’s community television framework released in June is another hit to groups, the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) argued, calling the decision the “latest in a series...
English-speaking sports fans are more likely to have TV subscriptions, according to new research from Media Technology Monitor (MTM). In a report released Thursday, the CBC/Radio-Canada research project said Anglophone sports enthusiasts who consume sports content almost every day (whether it be via TV, Internet, radio or print sources) spend three hours more per week watching TV than the average Anglophone. This demographic of what MTM refers to a “heavy sports users” are more likely to be older men in higher-income households and take advantage of the paid...
