The CRTC Thursday gave Shaw Communications Inc.’s BC News 1 channel more flexibility in the kind of programming it can broadcast than the company had asked for. In a decision, the regulator amended the licence condition for BC News 1 to allow it to draw programming from all program categories, despite Shaw’s request to require the channel to focus on news programming. Previously its nature of service required the channel to “offer a mix of local and regional news, traffic, weather, business, sports and entertainment information devoted to serving residents of British...
The CRTC decided Thursday Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron no longer has to distribute ADR.TV, known as Avis de recherche, and that Videotron did not give itself an undue preference by dropping the channel while continuing to distribute the Quebecor-owned Le Canal Nouvelles (LCN). The CRTC said Videotron is not obligated to carry ADR, a 24-hour channel that provides police bulletins on missing people and suspects at large, and “merely the fact that a distributor ceases to distribute a discretionary service while continuing to distribute other services is not enough to establish...
The National Film Board (NFB) of Canada said Wednesday it has launched a new subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service on Vimeo LLC's platform. It said in a press release that the service will include NFB-produced...
Shaw Communications Inc. has partnered with BCE Inc. to provide Bell’s over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, CraveTV, at a discount to its cable and satellite customers. The companies said in a joint press release that...
BCE Inc.’s media division announced Tuesday it has expanded The Movie Network (TMN) and TMN Encore to Western Canada. In November Bell said that along with becoming the sole operator of HBO Canada, it was planning to expand TMN into a “national pay TV platform.” Previously the...
The CRTC denied Blue Ant Media Inc.’s application to reduce its Canadian programming requirement for its Cottage Life specialty channel from 80 per cent to 50 per cent for the broadcast day. The regulator said Tuesday that...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Monday in a press release that it has signed an agreement with EITC’s du, a provider of mobile, Internet, cable and IPTV services in the United Arab Emirates, to provide Stingray Music and Stingray Concerts to du customers. Lisa Doganieri, spokeswoman for Stingray, said in an email that Stingray Music’s TV and mobile app will both be available for free as part of a du customer’s TV subscription. She added Stingray Concerts will be made “available on a video-on-demand rental basis” to du customers. The release added that...
Bloomberg TV Canada is now available to Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron subscribers, the channel's broadcast distributor announced Tuesday. Chris Fuoco, Channel Zero Inc.'s vice president of sales and marketing, said in a...
On the day Canadian TV providers were required to make their skinny basic options available to consumers, experts expressed skepticism about how many Canadians will sign up for the new offers and...
TVA Group Inc., the broadcasting and magazine publishing arm of Quebecor Inc., reported a 147 per cent rise in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2015, bringing in $16.8 million compared to $6.8 million during the same period a...
Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp will stop supporting its messenger app on most BlackBerry Inc. devices by the end of the year, the company said in a blog post Friday. Company...
Viceland, the TV channel from Vice Media LLC and Rogers Communications Inc. that launched Monday, plans to bring a branded content advertising model that has been more common online to traditional...
A day before the March 1 deadline, BCE Inc. is advertising its skinny basic offer, a $24.95 Starter package. Last spring, the CRTC mandated that TV providers must offer a basic package priced at no...
BCE Inc. is keeping mum in the wake of a media report claiming the company is telling staff to downplay its upcoming skinny basic TV offering. On Friday, CBC reported that an internal training...
The number of advertising campaigns in Canada that used video ads only on mobile platforms more than doubled in the past quarter, growing from three per cent to seven per cent, according to Videology Inc. Mobile was included in...
The federal government will hold a consultation on the Internet's effect on Canada’s media industry. According to a transcript, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said in question period Wednesday that the government would “launch a public consultation on the digital shift in order to… really understand the impact the Internet may have on users and creators in general.” Pierre Olivier-Herbert, spokesman for the minister, confirmed in an email Thursday afternoon...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s $24.99 skinny basic offer will include the U.S. "4+1” networks ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and PBS, and its theme packages will cost between $3 and $18. Rogers spokeswoman Jennifer Kett sent...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. has bought Numedia, a company that provides technology used by retail stores to play in-store audio. The company said in a press release Wednesday that the deal is worth $2 million. According to...
OTTAWA — News quality came up as an issue at the first day of a study into the news media by the House of Commons heritage committee. Conservative MP Kevin Waugh, whose riding is in Saskatoon, brought up outsourcing of some...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s over-the-top service Shomi will be the new home for the American TV show Empire after it was dropped by Rogers’ conventional City network. Julie...
The CRTC said Tuesday it received 12 radio licence applications to serve urban indigenous Canadians through frequencies used by five aboriginal radio stations whose licences were revoked. The CRTC said in a press release that these frequencies became available after it revoked the licences in June of five aboriginal radio stations that were operated by Aboriginal Voices Radio Inc. (AVR) due to years of non-compliance with licence conditions and regulations. AVR appealed the decision at the Federal Court of Appeal, and the court “stayed the CRTC’s revocation and ordered that...
Shaw Communications Inc. told the CRTC that the sale of its media division to Corus Entertainment Inc. shouldn’t result in any tangible benefit payments, because “both...
Blue Skye Entertainment, a joint venture between Blue Ant Media Inc. and Smithsonian Networks, announced Monday it has launched a 4K subscription video-on-demand app called Love Nature. It’s available in 32...
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) asked the CRTC to put in place “competitive safeguards” as part of its approval of Shaw Communications Inc.’s sale of its media...
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is launching an American sister network. The All Nations Network (ANN) will be headquartered in New Mexico, with network distribution represented by Castalia Communications, APTN said...
A new proposal from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) aims to free TV subscribers from their leased set-top box agreements with cable and satellite operators. In a 3-2 decision on...
Commercials aimed at Canadians had the biggest impact during this month's Super Bowl, according to a study commissioned by BCE Inc. According to a Bell press release issued Wednesday, 14 out of the 20 most-engaging ads in the...
OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly told a Senate committee Wednesday evening that the government aims to have a gender-balanced board of directors for CBC/Radio-Canada, as part of review of the governance...
CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said Wednesday the CRTC will stick to the course of action it has set despite disapproval by those who feel the CRTC’s direction “upsets their entitlements...
The House of Commons heritage committee will undertake a study on the news media. The committee will hold at least 10 meetings that will study how Canadians and “especially local communities, are informed about local and regional experiences through” broadcast, digital and print media, it said in a motion passed Tuesday. The committee will also look at “the unintended consequences of news media concentration and the erosion of local news reporting and the impact of news media.”...
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) and Telefilm Canada announced Wednesday the CMF has appointed Dominique Lapierre as the national director of the CMF programs administrator. “Having served in the position on an interim basis for...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. announced Tuesday it is launching a TV app for Telus Corp.’s Optik TV subscribers, called Stingray Music Videos TV. It said in a press release that the app will be available to Optik TV...
In response to a media report suggesting privatization is in its future, Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. said Friday that nothing is confirmed and it has not received a “binding proposal.” Sirius XM said in a...
The CRTC denied a request from the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), along with several other parties, to have a public hearing on Shaw Communications Inc.’s sale of...
The Netflix Inc. crackdown on virtual-private-network (VPN) use could provide an opportunity for Canadian providers to carve out more of the over-the-top (OTT) market, though a lack of firm figures makes predictions difficult. Independent broadcast analyst Kelly Lynne Ashton said in a phone interview she "would expect" Netflix’s move to enforce geographic content licensing by rolling out technology to stop viewers from using VPNs and IP address proxies to open a door for other providers. That includes options like BCE Inc.'s CraveTV and the joint Rogers...
Alex Johnston is CBC/Radio-Canada’s new vice-president of strategy and public affairs, president and CEO Hubert Lacroix told employees in an internal memo. “Alex is a big thinker, and her energy and enthusiasm are what the public broadcaster needs as it builds its future and continues its transformation through Strategy 2020,” Lacroix said in the Jan. 29 memo. She will start the job on Feb....
The CRTC has approved a municipal access agreement proposed by the City of Hamilton, ending a dispute between the municipality and BCE Inc. that began in 2012. The commission said in a decision Wednesday the two parties...
Canadian content development contributions owed by a Newcap Inc. station can be set aside while a CRTC decision is appealed in the courts, the commission said in a decision posted Wednesday on its website. In June, the...
The CRTC has approved Jessop & Proulx LLP’s application Wednesday to add Pac-12 Network to the list of non-Canadian services authorized for distribution. Pac-12 Network is a...
Seven radio stations will have to explain themselves and face public comment before the CRTC renews their licences. The licences, which expire on Aug. 31, were previously renewed on a short-term...
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) said in a press release Monday that it has teamed up with eight organizations, including the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and the BCE...
The CRTC said Monday that BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. should apply to renew their TV licences that will expire in...
Quebecor Inc.’s TVA division and BCE Inc.’s media subsidiary have shut down a website that was pirating the TVA Sports and RDS sports channels. The companies said in a press release...
There hasn’t been an increase in ad sales for Sunday’s upcoming Super Bowl, Perry MacDonald, senior vice-president of English television and local sales at BCE Inc.’s media division, said in a phone interview. There is “no difference in sales volumes considering this could be the last year for simsub,” he said. “We’re still seeing a high level of interest overall from advertising." MacDonald said Bell isn’t doing anything differently this year. “We’re approaching it as business as usual,” he said. In...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron announced Thursday it will be offering live sports in 4K quality to its Illico ultra-high-definition set-top-box customers. The company said in a press release that it will stream 12...
While advertising will remain a key part of the TV ecosystem, the television industry will have to provide better audience data in order to keep up with digital competition, said Barbara Williams, president of Shaw Communications...
The CRTC has approved a request that releases Country Music Television Ltd. (CMT) from its obligation to broadcast country music videos. In a decision posted to its website on Thursday, the commission agreed with the majority of...
The majority of anglophone Canadians still subscribe to traditional television services, but an increasing number are taking an online-only approach, according to a new report on media technology adoption by the Media Technology...
According to the Conference Board of Canada, high debt levels and weak job prospects will make it difficult for Canadians to increase spending on telecom services in 2016, limiting industry growth. A new report said the"industry’s pace of growth has slowed remarkably in recent years, from an increase of more than [four] per cent in 2010 to a mere 0.4 per cent” the Conference Board forecasts for 2015. That’s due to a decline in landline usage, disruption in the broadcast distribution sector and maturation in the wireless sector, given that 95 per cent of Canadians...
The City of Quebec is suing Cogeco Inc., its CEO, Louis Audet, as well as Richard Renaud, director of Quebec’s CJMF FM-93 radio station, for defamation. The municipality said in a French press release Wednesday that...
Canadians are less likely to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) if it changes Canadian copyright laws, suggested a survey on the free-trade agreement scheduled to be signed today in New...
The CRTC said in a notice Wednesday it has extended the deadline to submit final comments in the local and community TV hearing. The deadline for final observations and responses to some undertakings...
Heritage Minister Melanie Joly is refusing to specify that the CBC will receive the $150 million in extra funding the Liberal government promised during last year’s election, despite receiving questions on the subject from...
The CRTC should have more commissioners with a background in engineering, and fewer with backgrounds in law, broadcasting and news, former commissioner Timothy Denton said in a blog post. Denton...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. launched its skinny-basic TV package Monday, priced at the $25 maximum mandated by the CRTC, SaskTel spokeswoman Michelle Englot said in an email. Customers can pay extra for...
DHX Media Ltd. said it will consolidate its operations, which employes 700 production personnel on the West Coast, in a new animation studio in Vancouver. The company said in a press release the new 600,000 square-foot studio is scheduled to be completed in December 2016. It also added it’s rebranding its content-creation arm as DHX...
Stornoway Communications LP has withdrawn a Part 1 complaint to the CRTC against BCE Inc. stemming from the removal of its iChannel offering from a Bell TV theme package. The CRTC confirmed it has...
The CRTC has approved a video-on-demand licence application by Gold Line Telemanagement Inc., a Markham, Ont.-based company that offers over-the-top (OTT) subscriptions to international TV and radio services. The commission said in a decision Monday that the service would operate under the hybrid VOD category it introduced last year, which allows operators to avoid regular broadcast regulations if the service is also available online to all Canadians. The decision noted that the service would “consist primarily of current titles from Hollywood studios...
CBC/Radio-Canada told the CRTC Friday that if it sets up a fund for local news, the public broadcaster should be able to participate, despite the Liberal government’s promise to increase its...
The Media Technology Monitor, a project of the CBC/Radio-Canada, reported Thursday that nearly 45 per cent of all TV viewers now use an over-the-top (OTT) service, an increase of 32 per cent from the previous year....
GATINEAU — Rogers Communications Inc. said on the fourth day of the CRTC’s hearing into local and community TV that it doesn’t think the creation of a fund for local news is the best...
Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said Thursday that its over-the-top (OTT) service Club Illico’s original series Blue Moon reached 100,000 views in less than 48 hours within its launch....
The Governor in Council has declined a petition by the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) asking it to overturn a decision made by the CRTC to approve changes of licence conditions for OWN Inc., the Oprah Winfrey Network. Corus Entertainment Inc. had filed an application on behalf of OWN to amend its licence conditions, which included a request to stop applying the terms of trade agreement as of April 29. The CRTC approved that request in October. Reynolds Mastin, CEO of the CMPA, said in an email Wednesday that the petition was “highly effective in building awareness about...
Rogers Communications Inc. said in its quarterly results that its revenues saw three per cent growth in the three months ended Dec. 31, from $3.36 billion a year earlier to $3.45 billion. Rogers said that increase was due to...
Cogeco Communications Inc. told a CRTC hearing Wednesday that a plan the commission proposed to create a new fund for local TV news programming, to be funded by existing financial resources within the...
The CRTC issued Wednesday a call for comments on the market capacity for radio stations in Grimsby and Beamsville, Ont., both located about an hour south of Toronto. The regulator said in the notice...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Wednesday that it has added more than a dozen countries to its Roam Like Home service including Russia, China, India, South Africa, Australia, Israel and Japan. Rogers spokesman Andrew Garas...
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting told the CRTC Tuesday that its position that there is enough money in the TV system to fund local programming “flies in the face of the evidence, a form of...
BlackBerry Ltd. announced Tuesday the release of a new suite of mobile security software for businesses. It said in a press release that the new software, called Good Secure EMM Suites, is "a comprehensive set of mobile...
GATINEAU — The first day of the CRTC’s hearing on local and community television painted a picture of traditional TV in flux, as operators of conventional stations said declining ad revenue is making local TV...
The privacy commissioner of Canada is asking Parliament to confirm the principles behind a Supreme Court decision that requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant in order to obtain customers’ personal information from Internet service providers (ISPs). In an opinion article in the Toronto Star Monday,...
A statement made Monday by International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland confirmed that Canada is going to sign onto the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) when the TPP group meets next week. Freeland said on the international webpage of the Canadian government that “signing does not equal ratifying” and that only a majority Parliamentary vote would allow the agreement “to take force." She said that “for Parliament to fully evaluate the merits of the TPP and for consultations to continue, Canada needs to stay at the table with the other...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s media division said Monday it is cutting about 200 jobs, primarily in "conventional TV, radio, publishing, and back-office positions." In an emailed statement, Andrea Goldstein,...
The CRTC has grouped 61 complaints by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) into four Part 1 proceedings, giving Shaw Communications Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc., Rogers...
While Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. are getting the ball rolling on 4K broadcasting in Canada with a heavy emphasis on sports, others feel food, nature, music videos and outdoor adventure programming are also the kinds of content that would work well in ultra-high definition. Chris Knight, CEO at Ottawa-based Gusto TV, said in a phone...
The CRTC has told officials representing ADR.TV and Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron that the latter must maintain distribution of the former as the CRTC sorts through a dispute between the two parties....
NetTalk.com Inc. announced Wednesday evening that its VoIP service has been restored to all its customers in Canada. The Florida-based company said in a Facebook post that all Canadian telephone numbers and services are “live and fully functioning,” after service was cut off by Markham, Ont.-based service provider Iristel Inc. on Jan. 15 due to unpaid bills for services rendered for two years by Iristel to NetTalk totaling to $2 million. Iristel’s CEO Samer Bishay said in a post on the company’s website Thursday that it made a deal with Primus...
The CRTC on Thursday acknowledged receipt of an application from Shaw Communications Inc. to sell its media division to Corus Entertainment Inc., and said interested parties have until Feb. 15 to file submissions on the matter....
BCE Inc.'s appeal against a CRTC decision banning the provision of mobile-TV services that are not subject to regular data charges was heard by the Federal Court of Appeal in Toronto on Tuesday, and the court is expected to render a decision some time in the coming months. Almost a year ago,...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. said Wednesday it will not include the major U.S. conventional TV networks in its skinny-basic television package, which becomes mandatory in March. The CRTC ruled last year that TV-service providers would, as of March this year, have to offer customers a basic package at no more than $25 a month. It said...
Following last fall’s election, the government is set to boost CBC/Radio-Canada's funding, but when that will happen and under what conditions is unclear. It also remains to be seen whether...
The CRTC announced Wednesday it will host two one-day information sessions on costing principles and concepts for telecom services. “As more and more companies are filing cost studies in support of their proposed rates, the...
Canada's Gusto TV on Tuesday announced that has sold one of its original shows to a South Korean 4K channel. It said in a press release that 30 episodes of A is for Apple — a cooking-challenge program — had been...
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) said Wednesday that it has committed another $1 million to its community investment program, which helps fund projects that improve Internet access and knowledge about digital...
Iristel Inc., a Markham, Ont.- based telecom company, announced Tuesday it is working with the CRTC to resolve an ongoing dispute with Florida-based VoIP provider NetTalk.com Inc., in order to...
Corus Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it intends to offer a round of "subscription receipts" as a way to raise money to partially fund its recently announced purchase of Shaw Communications Inc.'s media division. Corus said in a press release that buyers of each one of these receipts would be entitled to one Class B share of Corus plus an adjustment payment, if applicable, on or before Oct. 3. It said the price of these holdings would be determined, based on market conditions, at the time it enters into an underwriting agreement. It said that the Shaw family — the...
Verizon Communication Inc. announced Tuesday it is introducing a new sponsored data service, called FreeBee Data, to help businesses drive better consumer engagement without cutting into...
The CRTC said Tuesday that it has received 15,000 responses to a questionnaire in the public consultation it is holding as part of a proceeding on what basic telecom services should be available to...
TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc. on Monday told a group of about 15 invited journalists that it sees a bright future in 4K television, while BCE Inc. announced that it was making a 4K set-top box available to customers of its Fibe TV service. Rogers, last week, began its involvement of 4K broadcasting with an NBA basketball game between the...
Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang said Monday that providers of telecommunications services in Canada will feel the effects of the struggling economy. He said in a research note that most of repercussions from things such as...
The CRTC has denied BCE Inc. applications to have eight Category A channels changed to Category B channels, which would have reduced the requirements for Canadian content on these channels. The channels Bell Media requested this change for were Bravo, the Comedy Network, Discovery Channel, E, MTV Canada, Much, M3 and Space. While Bell was requesting that the Canadian-content requirement for these channels be reduced to 35 per cent — most Category A channels are required to show at least 50 per cent Canadian content — it was also willing to give up the access privileges that come...
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) said Monday that the amount of revenue it collected last year surpassed $300 million for the first time ever. It said in a...
Rogers Communications Inc., the National Basketball Association and BT Group PLC’s BT Sport teamed up Thursday to produce the world's first live broadcast of an NBA basketball game in 4K, a Rogers spokesman confirmed...
The Kitchener, Ont., public library’s hotspot-device lending service has led it to win the Ontario Library Information Technology Association Project award from the Ontario Library Association....
Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. announced Friday it has completed the sale of Allstream, its business communication division, to Boulder, Colo.-based Zayo Group Holdings Inc. MTS said in a news release that the deal, announced in...
Netflix Inc. said Thursday that it will soon be employing technology that stops users from bypassing conditions that restrict some content from being seen in certain locations. David Fullagar, its vice-president of...
Shaw Communications Inc. reported $1.42 billion in revenue in its first quarter, up from $1.39 billion in the same quarter last year. Shaw said Thursday that increase was due to growth in the consumer, business network...
According to a new report on media technology adoption of baby boomers released Wednesday by the Media Technology Monitor, a project of CBC/Radio Canada, 89 per cent of baby boomer anglophones aged 50 to 69 have a paid TV service...
MONTREAL — Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet said Wednesday that the company will prioritize its U.S. cable and Internet business over a potential wireless initiative in Canada. Speaking to reporters...
Regulatory approval of Corus Entertainment Inc.'s planned purchase of Shaw Communications Inc.'s media division shouldn't be a problem since there's no real change in who's controlling the assets, said one consultant, though there is some question as to how tangible benefits will apply in this deal. As a condition of approving acquisitions in the broadcasting industry, the CRTC generally requires the purchasing company to contribute a proportion of the value of the sale toward initiatives that benefit the broadcasting sector. For transactions in the TV industry, that...
