CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan told a group of broadcasting professionals this week that radio operators should look at how they can become a bigger presence on smartphones in order to hold their own against an increasing number of new options for audio consumption, such as online streaming. In online text of a speech given at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters' annual general meeting in Toronto, Shoan noted how U.S. radio broadcasters have been lobbying wireless carriers and device makers to unlock chips in smartphones that are capable of picking up FM radio signals. Canadian...
Cisco Systems Inc. announced Tuesday it is partnering with Carleton University and providing a $1.8-million grant over the next nine years to establish a research chair in sensor technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). It said in a press release that Mohamed Ibnkahla, an engineering professor in the department of systems and computer engineering at Carleton, has been appointed to the position and will focus on research to develop sensor networks and other technologies for the IoT. Cisco added that Ibnkahla will also explore “transforming advances in technologies into innovative...
The Television Bureau of Canada (TVB) announced Wednesday it has appointed Kathy Gardner to the newly created position of vice-president of media insights. TVB said in a press release that Gardner will oversee research and...
T-Mobile US Inc. announced Tuesday it will be launching a new service for its Simple Choice mobile plan customers that allows free video streaming from several services without it cutting into their...
Apple Inc. has made its music-streaming app available for Android devices. The Apple Music website now includes a link, that takes users to the Google Play store, to download what it calls a "beta" version of the app...
The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) announced Tuesday that Catherine Cano will become its new president and general manager. The privately-owned, not-for-profit television service said in a press release that Cano’s...
A majority of Canadians reported in a survey this year they are users of Google Inc.'s YouTube video-streaming service, with the likelihood increasing among those further up on the income and education ladders. Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio Canada, said in a report released Tuesday that 69 per cent of Canadians surveyed this spring reported having used YouTube at least once in the past month. That was up from 64 per cent in a survey done a year earlier and 57 per cent in the fall of 2011. The rate of people using YouTube was 83 per cent among those in households...
A report from independent consultant and lawyer Peter Miller and research company Nordicity says that 50 per cent of Canada’s small- and medium-market local TV stations could...
An Ottawa-based subscription news website covering federal matters has been awarded $13,400 plus interest after the subject of one its articles was found to have breached copyright by obtaining a copy of the story without paying a...
Ontario residents are not moving as fast toward newer ways of getting TV content, such as IPTV and Netflix, as other parts of the Canada, according to newly released figures. Survey results released last week from Media...
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) has reached an agreement with online TV and film rights marketplace RightsTrade that will give CMPA members “preferred access” to RightsTrade sales tools, marketplace...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said Monday that its streaming service, CraveTV, will debut its first original series — a comedy called Letterkenny — on Feb. 7. Bell Media noted in a press release that this happens to be...
Cisco Systems Inc. and Ericsson AB announced Monday they are combining efforts to develop networking technology in areas such as mobile, routing, cloud and data centres. The companies said in a news release that this represents "a global business and technology partnership to create the networks of the future."...
Corus Entertainment Inc. said Monday that its version of kids' specialty channel Disney XD will start broadcasting in Canada in December. It will join its other Disney-branded stations, such as Disney Channel and Disney...
The number of Canadian households abandoning TV-service subscriptions from Canada’s biggest providers during the first nine months of this year was almost seven times higher than during the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by consulting company Boon Dog Professional Services Inc. Boon Dog said...
The CRTC on Friday made certain clarifications about the policy implemented early this year to prohibit providers of telecommunications services from requiring 30-days' notice of subscription cancellations. Responding to concerns expressed by some providers, it said the regulation would be modified to explicitly state that the policy only applies to the cancellation of TV services as a whole, not individual channels or particular packages. In a submission on this policy earlier this year, Rogers Communications Inc. said the previous wording of the regulation could mean “consumers...
The CRTC announced Friday that the second of two En Route events leading up to its Discoverability Summit will be held in Montreal on Dec. 3 with discussions focusing on French-language markets. The CRTC announced Tuesday...
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. said Friday that it has partnered with Telus Corp. to create a lab to help develop 5G technology. It said in a press release that the project, called the 5G Living Lab, will design, test and deploy...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media will cut 380 jobs in Toronto and Montreal this month, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. There will be 270 jobs axed in Toronto, with 220 in production, editorial and operations, 45 in...
The full text of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, published Thursday by the government of New Zealand, shows that the agreement will place limits on rules around blocking Internet...
Sylvain Lake, Alta., will remain without any dedicated local radio service after the CRTC denied two applications on the grounds they would hurt stations in other communities — in particular, Red Deer, Alta. The CRTC said in a decision released Thursday that separate applications from Clear Sky Radio Inc. and Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. for commercial FM-radio licences for Sylvain Lake were denied. The commission said that while there are no radio stations in Sylvain Lake currently, the coverage of these two proposed stations would "encompass significant portions of the primary...
BCE Inc. reported net earnings of $791 million in the three months ending on Sept. 30, up 12.5 per cent from the same time period a year earlier. Its revenues were up 2.9 per cent, from $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion. The company...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Thursday it will launch a new 24-hour specialty channel aimed at millennials next year as part of its partnership with Vice Media Inc. It said in a press release that the new channel, called...
Quebecor Inc.'s third-quarter financial report showed the company is seeing strong gains in the areas of mobile service and its over-the-top streaming service, Club Ilico. The company said in a press release Thursday that...
Navdeep Bains, MP for the Ontario riding of Mississauga-Malton, was named minister of innovation, science and economic development on Wednesday, a post intended to replace what was previously the...
Quebecor Inc. announced Wednesday that its music division will now be headed by Lyne Robitaille, who will become the senior vice-president of newspapers, books and music. It said in a press release that Distribution Select,...
BCE Inc. announced Wednesday that the popularity of its Fibe TV service has made its the largest TV provider in Canada for the first time with more than 2.7 million customers across the country. Bell said in a press release that...
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said Tuesday that it has shut down the Canadian-based video-streaming site Popcorn Time through a court injunction. The MPAA said in a news release Tuesday that it has obtained an...
CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan is asking that the affidavit of John Traversy, outgoing secretary general of the commission, be struck from the record in a Federal Court case — in which he's fighting a finding that he...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Tuesday that its Sportsnet network had its highest viewership ever in October, highlighting that 21.1 million Canadians watched some part of the Major League Baseball (MLB) post-season. It said in a press release that it had an average minute audience of 446,000 during the month, which was a year-over-year increase of 122 per cent. Rogers reported that 19.6 million Canadians watched some part of the American League division series (ALDS) and American League championship series (ALCS), both of which featured the Toronto Blue Jays. The release added...
The notion that "content is king" is challenged in a new report that points out that connectivity services take in significantly more revenue than content providers in Canada and have seen...
The CRTC announced Tuesday it is partnering with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) to host two events that will lead to a large summit, in order to start a discussion on discovering content...
Mascon, a small telecom service provider in British Columbia, announced Monday that it is now offering a skinny-basic TV package for $20 a month, getting a head-start on the CRTC requirement that packages for no more than $25 a...
The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) announced Tuesday it is funding five productions that are part of its francophone minority program with $2.6 million. CMF said in a press release that the funding is part of the second...
The idea of a merger between Canada's two biggest cable providers — Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. — is on the radar again, with at least two market analysts saying the conditions are right for such a move. Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang said in a research note Monday that Shaw's stock is down 14 per cent from highs it hit at the beginning of this year. Reasons for the drop include: the weak economy in Shaw's home base of Alberta; the anticipated effect of the coming pick-and-pay television regime on the company's TV stations...
Tom Pentefountas, the CRTC vice-chairman of broadcasting, will wrap up his five-year term with the commission on Nov. 20, he said in an email to staff Monday. Pentefunas was appointed vice-chairman of broadcasting in 2011....
Telus Corp. announced Monday it is providing more than $3.2 million in funding for more than 60 new local content projects in Western Canada this year through its Optik Local community programming. It said in a press release that...
Rhapsody International Inc.’s music subscription service, Napster, announced Monday that its subscription service is now available in Canada. It said in a press release that, for a limited...
BlackBerry Ltd. announced Monday it has completed its acquisition of Good Technology Corp. and will begin integrating its software security solutions to its mobile enterprise platform. It said in a press release that the...
Global cloud traffic will be four times higher than what it was in 2014 by 2019, Cisco Systems Inc. said this week, rising to 8.6 zettabytes from 2.1 zettabytes. Cisco said in a press release Wednesday that its fifth annual...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division has asked the CRTC to approve the disaffiliation of two TV stations it owns in British Columbia from CBC/Radio-Canada. Bell Media filed applications with the commission, which appeared online...
CBS Corp. has picked up CBC/Radio-Canada sitcom Mr. D and will be creating a U.S.-based version, according to an online report by Postmedia Network. Postmedia reported that Gerry Dee, the creator and star of the show that is...
The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) said Friday that a fund it manages in partnership with Belgium-based production financing company Wallimage SA has awarded $400,000 to a multimedia project called Riftwood: Heroes. The project was...
Global smartwatch shipments were up 510 per cent in this year's third quarter from a year earlier, with 6.1 million units shipped compared to one million during the same period the previous year, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics released Wednesday. The research firm said in a press release that Apple Inc.’s Apple Watch is “commanding” the scene and continues to “set the pace in the smartwatch industry,” with a 74 per cent market share and 4.5 million units shipped, compared to zero a year earlier. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. fell in market...
The CRTC said in the final installment of its communications monitoring report Thursday that the percentage of households subscribing to TV services fell to 82 per cent in 2014 from 83.7 per cent a...
A union representing French-language employees of CBC/Radio-Canada is demanding the resignation of the public broadcaster's CEO, Hubert Lacroix, and its entire board. The Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC) cited last week's federal election that saw the Liberal party led by Justin Trudeau defeat...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has released a new touch-screen device, powered by Android software and suitable for web browsing and video streaming, but it is "not a tablet," according to a company spokesman. Samsung and BCE Inc. said in a joint press release Thursday that the new Galaxy View, with its 18.4-inch...
Juniper Research Ltd. said Thursday that global smartphone shipments in this year's third quarter totalled 342.5 million, representing growth of 8.4 per cent. It said in the press release that Apple Inc.’s iPhones...
Cogeco Cable Inc. announced Wednesday that Tony Ciciretto, CEO of its business unit Cogeco Peer 1, will be stepping down and replaced by chief technology and strategy officer Philippe Jette. “It is with regret that we are announcing Tony’s decision to step down to pursue other opportunities,” Cogeco CEO Louis Audet said in a press release. “On behalf of the board of directors and all our employees, particularly those who worked closely with Tony these past six years, I want to sincerely thank him for his dedication, commitment and many contributions to the growth and...
The CRTC approved Wednesday an application from Corus Entertainment Inc. on behalf of OWN Inc., the Oprah Winfrey Network, to amend certain conditions of its broadcasting licence as well as its terms-of-trade agreement. The...
Worldwide smartphone shipments grew 6.8 per cent from a year earlier in the third quarter to 355.2 million units, up from 332.6 million units in the same period the previous year, according to a new report from International...
The Competition Bureau said Wednesday that it has determined that Rogers Communications Inc.'s 12-year deal that gives it national rights to NHL content in Canada has not "resulted in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition." It said in a press release that it considered the deal's effect on prices TV-service providers...
Apple Inc.'s mobile payment system is coming to Canada but will be, at least initially, limited to holders of credit cards from American Express Co. Apple CEO Tim Cook, during a conference call Tuesday to discuss the...
The European Commission voted Tuesday to set net neutrality rules for the first time in the European Union law. The new law, which was detailed in a fact sheet on the commission’s website, will include no blocking or...
BCE Inc.’s advertising division, Astral Out of Home, announced Tuesday it is launching new interactive advertisement panels to be featured in transit shelters in Toronto. It said in a press release that 10 interactive...
BCE Inc. is again turning to the courts over a CRTC decision, this time asking the Federal Court of Appeal for leave to appeal the CRTC’s Wholesale Code. In documents filed Thursday, Bell...
BCE Inc.’s media division has launched a TV-everywhere app for five Discovery Canada channels, and said Discovery GO would soon begin offering 4K content. The company said in a press release Monday that programming from...
Yahoo Inc. said in its third quarter financial results that it incurred a $42 million US loss on its original TV video content. Ken Goldman, chief financial officer for Yahoo, said during an earnings conference call with analysts last week that that the $42 million US loss is due to some of its original video content, specifically the TV series Community and Sin City Saints. “We thought long and hard about it and what we concluded is certain of our original video content, we couldn’t see our way to make money over time…we had basically spent money and had some assets on...
Canadian Netflix Inc. subscribers will be the only ones able to stream Walt Disney Co.'s Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2016. A Netflix representative confirmed in a phone call that the seventh installment, and latest...
Commissioner Raj Shoan has brought another case against the CRTC to court, asking the Federal Court of Appeal to limit the ability of the CRTC chairman to assign commissioners to panels that make...
The CRTC announced Friday that all telecom service providers (TSPs) that fall under the purview of the Commission for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) will remain CCTS members on an interim basis until final...
Canadians spent 14.1 per cent more on wireless services in 2014 than they did in 2013, while last year also marked the first time there were more Canadian households that relied exclusively on mobile phone service than households...
The Commissioner for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) said Thursday that VOIS! Inc., an Alberta-based telecom provider, has breached its regulatory obligations towards its customers. CCTS said in a press release that after an investigation in May 2014, launched due to a customer complaint, it recommended VOIS! credit the customer $640 for early termination and late payment fees that were “deemed illegitimate,” following which VOIS! did not respond. The release added that the customer called CCTS in June 2015 to indicate that they were still trying to recover funds. VOIS!...
The CRTC denied Thursday a transfer of ownership application submitted by NMTV Inc., a national third-language general interest ethnic specialty channel. The application, which was filed on Aug. 1, requested the commission change...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Thursday in its third quarter results it saw a 40 per cent increase in net income to $464 million, up from $332 million the previous year. It said that there was an increase in revenues for its wireless, cable and media divisions in the three months ending Sept....
Shaw Communications Inc. announced Thursday a 43.8 per cent increase in its fourth quarter profits. It said in its quarterly results that its net income for the three months ending Aug. 31 was up 43.8 per cent to $276 million, up...
Google Inc.’s Youtube announced Wednesday it will launch a new paid video subscription service that will have ad-free original content. It said in a blog post that the service, called Youtube Red, will be available on all...
CRTC announced Wednesday that the Hamilton, Ont. and Burlington, Ont. radio market cannot add any more commercial radio stations, turning away an application filed by Byrnes Communications...
The CRTC has renewed the broadcasting licence for radio station CICR-FM in Parrsboro, N.S., located about two hours north of Halifax, for a shorter 20-month term after finding the station in...
The CRTC granted Radio Humsafar Inc. a broadcasting licence to operate a new ethnic commercial AM radio station in Brampton, Ont. while denying two other applications. The regulator said in the...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi announced Wednesday that it is partnering with Facebook Inc. to show the first episode of a three-part horror TV show on the social media site the same day it...
CBC/Radio-Canada said in a press release that it has secured the broadcasting rights for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and the 2024 Olympic Games. CBC will become the official broadcaster for the next five Olympic Games including Rio 2016, Pyeongchang 2018 and Tokyo 2020, and will continue its partnership with Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. for those broadcasts, it said. The release also added that CBC will be a broadcasting partner from 2016 to at least 2023 for International Olympic Committee’s new global digital Olympic Channel and will focus on providing...
Canaccord Genuity analysts Aravinda Galappatthige and Sanford Lee said Tuesday that they expect a Liberal majority government, as elected Monday, to take a “softer pro-wireless new entrant...
Forty per cent of Canadians are aware of mobile-payment methods, up from 35 per cent a year earlier, but only 10 per cent are using their mobile phones to make payments on a weekly basis, according to survey results released...
OTTAWA — Concern about the equal treatment of all data transmitted over the Internet is going to have to take a backseat with the Internet of Things (IoT), a California-based technology-security expert said at the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference (GTEC) in Ottawa on Tuesday. Tyson Macaulay, chief...
The CRTC said Tuesday it will consult on its policies regarding certified independent production funds. It said the primary objective of the consultation would be “that these funds contribute to the development of a robust...
A telecom-market analyst says incumbent telecommunications-service providers would benefit under a Liberal government. Scotia Capital analyst Jeff Fan said in a research note released the Friday before Monday's election: "A Liberal majority could be a fresh and positive change for the incumbents." He said that while a Liberal government would not want to see less competition in the telecom sector or higher prices, it would likely take an approach "very different from that of a Conservative majority." Fan noted how, since forming government in 2006 — which...
Yellow Pages Ltd. announced Monday that data from its online digital platform that provides information on Canadian businesses will be directly linked and offered on Apple Inc.’s Apple Maps. It...
Amid reports that text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will not be released before Monday's federal election, the office for International Trade Minister Ed Fast says Canada is pressing its partners in the trade pact for the immediate finalization and release of the agreement. "There are 11 other TPP...
An undue-preference complaint against a music streaming service offered by Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron has Rogers Communications Inc. arguing that zero-rating the service is a net-neutrality...
The Supreme Court on Thursday denied BCE Inc.'s appeal of damages it was ordered to pay Quebecor Inc. subsidiaries for the hacking of Bell's satellite-TV service a decade or more ago and the lost revenue that resulted...
Most French-speaking Canadians watch some English television and film, and most of those do so at least once a week, according to a newly released survey. CBC/Radio-Canada's Media Technology Monitor said in a report released...
Telus Corp. on Thursday said customers of its Internet of Things commercial vehicle-tracking service can now access a data-based insurance product helps them save costs and encourage safe driving. Telus said in a press release...
Netflix Inc. reported 30 per cent annual growth in quarterly revenue on Wednesday, though its net profit in the third quarter was half of what it was at the same time in 2014. The over-the-top (OTT) streaming company said in a...
The Competition Bureau said Wednesday it has reached a deal with BCE Inc. in which the company will pay a fine of $1.25 million for urging employees to make positive online reviews about Bell apps. The bureau added in a press...
In the past 18 months, Ottawa-based TV app-maker You.i TV has grown from 20 employees to 130, and the company expects that kind of expansion to continue in the next year, according to Matt Nelson, You.i TV’s director of marketing. “Basically, anyone who has a channel, anyone who has a TV brand or even a show itself, wants to build an app now,” he said. “You look at the number of channels and the number of shows in North America alone all trying to build an app, and they need to get it across 25 or 30 platforms. It gets incredibly complex.” That “appification” of TV got a boost last month when Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook introduced a new version of Apple TV, which — unlike previous devices — will support third-party applications. The future of TV is apps, Cook told the audience....
The Canada Media Fund and the Australian government, through the Screen Australia agency, are investing $800,000 into an initiative for digital interactive projects. “With 50 film and...
DHX Media Ltd. announced last week it has appointed Michael Serafini as vice-president of programing at its DHX Television division, which oversees a stable of kids' channels under its Family brand. Serafini was most recently...
In full election platforms released last week, the NDP is promising to implement changes to Canadian privacy law and look into Internet of Things (IoT) privacy, the Conservatives are pledging funding for rural broadband and...
Bloomberg TV Canada will debut on Nov. 16, the Canadian broadcaster that will be operating the channel said Tuesday. Channel Zero Inc. added in a press release that it has hired Pamela Ritchie — who was an on-air...
DHX Media Ltd. said Tuesday that it has reached deals with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that will see two of its main children's shows air on Australia's public broadcaster. DHX, a Canadian content producer and distributor, said in a press release the shows involved are Twirlywoos and the new version of Teletubbies. "Australia is a key market for us and one where our series perform very well, so we look forward to launching both Teletubbies and Twirlywoos with the ABC," Josh Scherba, DHX's senior vice-president of distribution, said in the release....
Sports fans are an ideal market to sell 4K content to in its early stages, say analysts, though at least one expert says this quality of video has not yet achieved "must-have" status. Richard Grunberg, associate...
Online information leaker WikiLeaks published on Friday what it said were parts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that reveal provisions for Internet service providers to block access to content...
RNC Media Inc. is asking the CRTC to relieve it of a licence condition for its radio station CHLX-FM in Gatineau, Que., that requires it to pay $8,000 a year toward the development of Canadian...
CBC/Radio-Canada said Thursday that Tara Ellis is its new executive director of scripted content. The public broadcaster said in a press release that Ellis will be in charge of teams producing comedies, dramas, kids' programming and digital originals. Ellis was most recently senior director of original drama content...
The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner of Canada is investigating two letters Conservative MP Parm Gill sent the CRTC while serving as a parliamentary secretary. In 2013, the...
Netflix Inc. has raised pricing for new Canadian customers signing up for its standard package by $1, to $9.99 a month, according to its website. The increase applies to the package that includes high-definition content and...
Internet advocacy group OpenMedia released a “report card” Thursday ranking the federal parties’ digital policies ahead of the election, in which the NDP received an overall grade of...
Danielle May-Cuconato will become secretary general of the CRTC on Nov. 16. John Traversy announced his retirement from the position Tuesday. CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said in an email to staff Wednesday that May-Cuconato...
BCE Inc.’s media division said Wednesday that the deadline for its Executive Producer Accelerator Lab is Nov. 6. The company said the 2016 edition of the annual program, which “provides mid-level television producers with unique hands-on training to assist their career advancement within Canada’s television industry,” will start in January. As part of the program, it said, up to six producers will complete a six-week internship at the Bell Media headquarters, while two will be selected for an eight- to 10-month apprenticeship with Bell Media or an independent...
