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 Music Choice, a Stingray competitor that filed a patent suit against the company in June, has been appointed to the newly-created position at the Montreal-based music distribution company, according to a Tuesday press release. He was most recently executive vice-president of business development and sales at Comcast Corp.'s OneTwoSee, which...
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 its second quarter earnings, TVA Group said it brought in $144.2 million in revenue by the end of the three months ending June 30, compared to $159.4 million the same quarter a year earlier. The $5.7 million loss was higher than the $2.6 million it lost in the same quarter of last year. The results were affected “by the decline in the TVA Sports...
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...
Canadians will be able to watch some Major League Baseball (MLB) games on Twitter Inc.’s social media service. The company said in a press release Monday that it would live-stream out-of-market games from the MLB and the National Hockey League (NHL) in the United States. Cameron Gordon, spokesman for Twitter Canada, said in an email that out-of-market MLB games will be available in Canada. That means that though Canadians won’t be able to watch Blue Jays games (the rights to which are held by Rogers Communications Inc.), they will have access to games played by the...
Music Canada has reached a settlement with isoHunt Web Technologies Inc. in a copyright infringement lawsuit, years after the isoHunt website shut down. The organization, which represents major record companies in Canada, said in...
Twitter Inc.’s vice-president of media in North America is leaving the company. Kirstine Stewart confirmed her departure in a blog post Friday. She didn’t specify where she will move next, writing that “though I’m right in the middle of some great conversations about some very exciting opportunities, I’m not...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s second-quarter earnings may have foreshadowed a turnaround for cable in 2017, after the company reported its best second-quarter for Internet subscribers in eight years, according to...
A trio of telecom companies are doubling down on their assertion that preloaded set-top box retailers are complicit in TV piracy, according to new court documents filed in their ongoing fight to...
Rogers Communications Inc. made it clear that Internet speeds are a key focus for the company on a conference call Thursday, stating Rogers' strategy is to get consumers to a baseline 100 Mbps service in order to encourage future scaling to its gigabit service. “We need to focus on the need for...
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has acquired a New York-based company specializing in tracking data of music released on streaming websites. “With Audiam, SOCAN now has a comprehensive database and metadata of all musical works and commercially...
The over-the-air (OTA) market has been slowly growing over the past three years, according to data collected by Media Technology Monitor, a trend industry observers said doesn’t come as a surprise. According to a report...
Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. said in a press release Tuesday that it “strongly disagrees” with a group of shareholders who filed a complaint with the Ontario Securities Commission regarding the...
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 Ltd. found that revenues from such services, including those operated by Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., will more than double in five years to $34.6 billion US, from $14.6 billion US this year. The report comes on the heels of Netflix’s second-quarter earnings report on Monday. The streaming service said it gained 1.7 million...
OpenMedia announced Tuesday the appointment of Laura Tribe as its new executive director. According a letter posted on the advocacy group’s website from board chair Phillip Djwa, Tribe was selected to helm the...
Former media executive Phyllis Yaffe has been named to a new diplomatic post. Yaffe was named as the new consul general for the United States, stationed in in New York, among the 26 appointments announced Tuesday by the...
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...
Manitoba Telecommunications Services Inc. will begin offering Netflix Inc.’s streaming service directly on its set-top box. The company said in a press release Thursday that the move “removes the...
Corus Entertainment Inc.’s first quarterly report since it bought Shaw Media showed the acquisition drove a significant increase in overall revenues, profits and expenses, despite a fall in the division’s revenue due to a drop in its conventional TV audience and advertising. “I wouldn’t attribute the softness to anything but market conditions,” Doug Murphy, Corus’ president and chief executive officer, said on a Wednesday morning conference call with analysts. He made the comment in response to a question from National Bank Financial analyst Adam...
The CRTC has added One World Sports to its list of non-Canadian channels authorized for distribution, despite arguments from Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. that it would...
After receiving radio licence applications for Aurora and Georgina, Ont., the CRTC is asking for comments on the market capacity of the two markets to support an additional station. Interested parties have until Aug....
The television distribution revenues reported by Canada’s telecommunications companies have fallen for the first time in a decade, driven by a decline in satellite subscribers. Numbers released by the...
The CRTC has settled a dispute between BCE Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron over wholesale rates for a French-language sports channel in Quebec, selecting Videotron’s offer for the per-subscriber wholesale rate for the distribution of Bell’s Réseau des sports (RDS) by Videotron. In a decision posted to the...
The majority of Canadians want to turn to technology to navigate their health care, but only a small percentage actually do so, according to the results of a new Telus Corp.-commissioned study. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents to the Telus Health study said they believed digital health technology would lead to better health care, according to a...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has announced that Elliott Anderson is its new director of public policy, reseach and communications. Anderson has served in the role on an interim basis since...
ESPN is streaming live coverage of the Wimbledon tennis tournament on Twitter Inc.’s social media service. The website states the live feed is brought to viewers by Wimbeldon and ESPN. It appears to have been made...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Tuesday that its mobile streaming music app has doubled its user base in the span of a year, reaching one million downloads. Users spend an average of five hours per week listening...
Eleven more set-top box retailers will have to make their case to the Federal Court after being named as defendants in a legal fight against set-top boxes that can be used to circumvent paid TV subscriptions. On June 20, lawyers for BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron filed an amended statement of claim, adding the companies to the five originally named in the legal action, which started in May. A June 1 order by judge Danièle Tremblay-Lamer temporarily banned the first five companies from selling the boxes...
Nielsen Co. says the season premiere of Netflix Inc.’s Orange is the New Black drew 6.7 million viewers in the United States in its first two days. Netflix doesn’t release its...
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says Canada should follow the example of the European Union and countries like New Zealand and Australia in requiring over-the-top (OTT) services to pay...
Facebook Inc. and AT&T Inc. have waded into the CRTC’s review of differential pricing practices, arguing that the commission should allow carriers to offer zero-rated services...
The BBC will launch a new Toronto bureau and a Canadian edition of BBC.com, the British public service broadcaster announced Thursday. The dedicated site will launch later this year, according to a...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Wednesday that it has appointed Anne Martin-Vachon as president of The Shopping Channel, effective August 16. She succeeds Steven Goldsmith, who spent four years at the helm between 2012 and June 2016, according to a press release. Martin-Vachon will be relied on to drive “the retailer’s multiplatform strategy, initiating new areas of revenue, and overseeing all operations of the business,” the release said. Quebec-born and raised, she has over 30 years of experience with expertise in beauty and cosmetics, consumer...
Questions around telecoms’ usage of data caps should be at the centre of the CRTC’s proceeding on differential pricing practices, advocacy groups said in interventions, calling for the...
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) announced Wednesday that it has appointed a new vice-president of communications and marketing. Andrew Addison will report to president and CEO Reynolds Mastin and “provide strategic direction, leading the development and execution of integrated marketing and communications strategies for the...
Minimal exposure to the United Kingdom and Europe will leave the Canadian telecom and media industries relatively unscathed following the U.K.’s vote to exit the European Union last week,...
Heritage Canada’s announcement of an expert advisory panel for its review of Canadian content in a digital age, which includes representatives from a number of broadcasters, was met with both praise and...
Blue Ant Media Inc. has sold several original series to international buyers, the company announced Tuesday. In a press release, the content distribution company said four home sales and renovation series will be...
After seven months of vacancy, Canadian Heritage is moving to fill the vice-chair of broadcasting position at the CRTC. Former vice-chair Tom Pentefountas wrapped up his five-year term on Nov. 20. A new posting on...
The CRTC has directed a Truro, N.S., radio station to broadcast a message about its non-compliance with its licence conditions. The commission said that “considering the serious and repeated...
George Stroumboulopoulos is leaving Hockey Night in Canada after two years of hosting the program, Rogers Communications Inc.’s Sportsnet said in a press release Monday....
Rogers Communications Inc. is now using HD radio technology in broadcasting a number of stations in Toronto and Vancouver. The company said in a press release Monday that the stations include Toronto’s Kiss 92.5, 680 News, Sportsnet 590 The Fan, and Vancouver’s 96.9 Jack FM and News 1130. “More than just a heightened listening experience, listeners will also enjoy enhanced digital content on their HD radio devices, featuring song titles, album art, and artist information,” it said. HD radio technology allows broadcasters to transmit...
Sportsnet One and TVA Sports are, for the first time, in the top 10 highest-grossing TV channels, according to the CRTC’s latest stats on Canadian programming—and of those top 10, five are...
The CRTC has approved a proposal by an independent over-the-air (OTA) station that would see it source programming from Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) to fulfill its described-video...
The Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec said the CRTC’s recent decision on local and community TV will harm independent...
Mobile advertising revenue and music streaming activity will see dramatic increases over the next four years, as technological innovation takes hold over traditional methods of media consumption,...
Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service continued to lead peak period network traffic, but the percentage of traffic has declined since late 2015, according to a new Global Internet Phenomena report by Sandvine Inc. However, the decrease from 37.2 per cent reported last year to the 32.5 per cent in the report published Wednesday, which focused on fixed and mobile data in North America and Latin America, shouldn’t be interpreted “as a signal of ‘peak...
The Quebec Superior Court has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Cogeco Inc., determining the suit was abusive under section 51 of Quebec’s code of civil procedure. The City of Quebec had sued Cogeco, its...
The CRTC has approved a reorganization that will see Rogers Communications Inc.’s media division share control of the Viceland TV channel. According to a notice posted Wednesday to the commission’s...
BCE Inc.’s media division announced Wednesday that Karine Moses, Bell’s vice-president of field operations support, would be taking on the position of president of Astral Out of Home. Moses will replace outgoing Luc Quétel as the head of the out-of-home advertising arm that covers more than...
TORONTO — A reasonable person could make the link between the comments that CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais made as a witness during a harassment investigation...
CBC/Radio-Canada is teaming up with Netflix Inc. and Halfire Entertainment to produce a miniseries based on a Margaret Atwood book. Production will begin in Ontario in August, the broadcaster said in a...
The CRTC has approved four channels originating in the United States aimed at people of South Asian descent for distribution in Canada. It said in a notice Tuesday that the channels are...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. is expanding its portfolio of properties by picking up four of BCE Inc.’s music channels. The Montreal-based music provider will pick up MuchLoud, MuchRetro, MuchVice and Juicebox,...
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the CRTC’s ban on BCE Inc.’s zero-rated mobile-TV plans, a year and a half after the commission ruled the company couldn’t exempt the service from data caps. In a...
MONTREAL — Whether a court decision on BCE Inc.’s appeal of a CRTC decision banning simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl will come in time for next year’s game and ad sales for its broadcast remained unclear Monday, as the Federal Court in Montreal heard arguments from both sides in the case. Neil Finkelstein, representing the National Football League (NFL), told the court “there is some urgency to this. You don’t start selling ads for the January 2017...
A private members’ bill introduced on the last day of Parliament’s session seeks to extend the current copyright terms for authors and composers, from 50 years after their death to 70 years. Peter Van Loan, the...
The number of anglophones subscribing to TV service continues to fall, according to a new report by Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio-Canada. In the spring of 2016, 73 per cent subscribed to TV...
Rogers Communications Inc. unveiled its new IPTV service to investors Thursday, according to analysts’ notes, though company spokesman Aaron Lazarus declined to comment Friday. Canaccord Genuity analyst...
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...
Louis Lalande, CBC/Radio-Canada’s executive vice-president of French services, is stepping down at the end of the year, the public broadcaster said Thursday. CBC president Hubert Lacroix announced Lalande’s retirement in a press release, adding that as head of French services, Lalande had led many projects to help modernize public broadcasting. Lalande’s departure will come after five years in the role and more than 30 with Radio-Canada, the release said. The recruitment process to replace him will begin immediately, with the goal of having someone...
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has launched and staffed its new radio marketing and advocacy arm, Radio Connect, the organization announced Thursday. The CAB CEO Radio Council said in a press release that...
The Shopping Channel (TSC) has launched an app for Apple Inc.’s Apple TV platform. Rogers Communications Inc., which owns the Mississauga-based retailer, announced the ShopTSC app in a Thursday press release. The...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Wednesday that it has acquired the Festival 4K television channel, which broadcasts live performances, including festivals, concerts and theatre productions, according to the press...
The CRTC has established new funding for local television news in a decision on its local and community TV hearing, though advocates expressed concern that the changes won’t happen quickly...
A federal court judge erred in her determination that allowing a group of five companies to continue selling pre-loaded set-top boxes would pose “irreparable harm” to TV service providers, according to court documents...
Another Canadian company is joining the ultra-high-definition field, with Quebecor Inc. announcing its media division was producing its first 4K show. Videotron’s over-the-top (OTT) service Club Illico said in...
When Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said “there will be no Netflix tax,” at the end of her department’s review of cultural institutions, that leaves both the taxation of...
Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. estimates fewer than one million Canadian households are currently subscribers to BCE Inc.’s CraveTV and Rogers Communications Inc.’s and Shaw...
Rogers Communications Inc. is changing tack with its beleaguered OMNI ethnic stations, announcing Tuesday it’s applied for a licence for a national ethnic channel, which it asked the CRTC to include in skinny-basic packages, promising to restore previously cut ethnic programming if the proposal is approved. The channel’s business model would change from previously relying on ad revenue from U.S. programming to relying on the subscriber fees that come with mandatory carriage, or 9(1)(h) status, Colette Watson, vice-president of broadcast and TV operations at Rogers, said in a phone...
A trio of major telecom companies have received their first victory in a legal fight against companies selling set-top boxes allowing users to illegally access copyrighted material. On June 1, a...
Microsoft Corp. announced Monday that it has entered into an agreement to buy LinkedIn Corp.’s social networking site for $26.2 billion US. The companies said in a press release Monday that LinkedIn...
Shaw Communications Inc. has introduced a TV channel to keep Fort McMurray, Alta., residents informed as they return to the city following an evacuation due to wildfires. The community channel will broadcast, in a 30-minute...
Advertisers will now have access to Rogers Communications Inc.’s linear TV inventory for programmatic, or automated, advertising, Videology Inc. said in a Wednesday press release. The New...
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 court Monday against Montreal-based Stingray Digital Group Inc. “We have gone through great measures to secure patents for our intellectual property and feel compelled to take legal action to protect our business investment,” Dave Del Beccaro, president and CEO of Music Choice, said in a Monday press release. Music Choice is seeking unspecified monetary fees...
TORONTO — Executives from Canada’s telecom companies took aim at a new bill by the Quebec government that would force Internet service providers (ISPs) to block some gambling websites...
Current Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. customers are concerned about the future of their bills if the proposed takeover by BCE Inc. is approved, suggest the results of a new poll...
BCE Inc. has selected the New York-based Videology Inc. to provide software for its programmatic, or automated, TV and video advertising operation. According to the release, Videology’s technology will “look at...
The body that regulates the telecommunications market in the European Union released draft guidelines Monday to ensure providers steer clear of zero-rating policies unless justified, a move that comes ahead of a CRTC...
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has signed an agreement with a European partner to manage Canadian rights overseas. In a Friday press release, the French authors’...
The majority of Canadians doesn’t believe that online media, such as Netflix Inc.’s over-the-top (OTT) service or music streaming services like Spotify AB's, should fall under the...
A new J.D. Power survey has found customers who have a skinny-basic TV package with a pick-and-pay option are more satisfied than TV customers with other types of subscriptions. Satisfaction among skinny-basic customers was 761...
Three Canadian media outlets will be able to display their pages faster on smartphones while using less data after adopting a new platform developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, according news articles by Corus...
According to a new report, 76 per cent of anglophones used the Internet at the same time as they watched television in 2015. “While multitasking has grown immensely over time, incidence has slowed over the past year,” MTM, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada said. Only 12 per cent of anglophones reported multitasking in 2001, a number that rose to 66 per cent in 2013 and 74 per cent in 2014. Among multitaskers, 37 per cent said they focused equally on the television and their other devices, while 29 per cent focused mostly on the TV and 30 per cent mostly on their devices....
Scott Garvie has replaced Jamie Brown as the chair of the board of directors at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). Garvie, the senior vice-president of business and legal affairs at Shaftesbury Films Inc., has served on the CMPA board of directors for 15 years, the organization said in a press release. “Our industry is facing...
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is recommending giving Canada’s economy a boost by removing foreign ownership rules for telecommunications and broadcasting. In an economic forecast...
The attorney general’s office is arguing that the CRTC chairman has the authority to name panels to decide issues in front of the commission, in response to a court case launched by commissioner Raj Shoan challenging his...
BCE Inc.’s media division is commissioning original, scripted 4K content, the company announced Wednesday. In a press release, Bell Media said CTV would become “the first broadcaster in North America to commit to...
The CRTC has issued a call for radio stations with licences expiring next year to submit their renewal applications. Affected licensees, listed on the commission’s website, must submit their applications by Aug. 31, exactly one year before they expire, the CRTC said Wednesday in a notice of consultation....
TheScore Inc. launched its chatbot for Facebook Inc.’s Messenger on Wednesday, making it one of the first sports media companies to build a messaging bot to update users on sports developments....
OTTAWA — Witnesses in the latest round of hearings in the House of Commons’ Canadian Heritage committee’s study of the media and local communities asked parliamentarians to level the playing field when it comes...
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has launched an application programming interface (API) portal to help foster new music rights management apps. It said the API portal will enable...
The CRTC has named the winners of its prize for excellence in policy research to master’s, doctoral, and post-doctoral researchers at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, and York University. Daniel Mackwood at...
Voltage Pictures LLC is asking federal court to order Rogers Communications Inc. to disclose the identity of an individual who infringed its copyright of five movies. In a motion of...
The CRTC has every right to put measures into place banning simultaneous substation for the Super Bowl, according to new documents filed with the Appeal Court. In separate memoranda of fact and law...
Allarco Entertainment 2008 Inc., which owns Super Channel, is now in creditor protection, the company announced Thursday. It said in a press release that “after consideration of all available alternatives… it is...
A group of Quebec broadcasters say that unless accountability measures are put in place, the increased funding the federal government has slated for CBC/Radio-Canada will be a “blank...
Technological changes to the broadcasting and communications landscape require a similar shift in the regulatory environment, according to authors of a pair of new think-tank reports released Wednesday, both of which call for less focus from the CRTC on Canadian content. According to both Steven Globerman, who authored the Fraser Institute report, and Benjamin Dachis and Daniel Schwanen, who wrote the C.D. Howe Institute report, the requirements for conventional broadcast distributors (BDUs) to make financial contributions and meet programming quotas are too restrictive in an environment...
