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 professor of media at Ryerson University, said in a phone interview that most consumers see the transition from regular high definition (HD) to 4K as a less dramatic change than the move from standard definition to HD. He added that content producers are already creating content in 4K, making them ready for when the 4K market goes mainstream. A few years ago, when the...
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 subject to copyright restrictions. The text presented by WikiLeaks dealt with intellectual property portions of the TPP, which Canada and 11 other countries announced on Monday they had agreed to. The leaked document says countries in the TPP are to create "legal incentives for Internet Service Providers to cooperate with copyright owners to deter the unauthorized storage and transmission...
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 A- while the Liberals had a C and the Conservatives a D+. OpenMedia gave the Conservative Party an F on privacy, for reasons including bills C-13 and C-51, which OpenMedia said undermine privacy and expand government surveillance. The party fared better in the access category, where it received a C+, for reasons such as government efforts to ensure choice and affordability in the wireless...
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...
A newly released survey shows 46 per cent of Canadian small businesses polled are using cloud-based services, and most of those that do are seeing benefits. Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. said...
CRTC secretary general John Traversy will retire on Dec. 11 after 27 years with the commission, he said in an email to staff Tuesday. “Over the years, I had the opportunity to work on countless files in both the...
The Green Party supports reversing recent years' cuts to CBC/Radio-Canada and boosting its funding further, though the party doesn’t oppose the public broadcaster's attempt to find alternative sources of funding,...
Details about provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement that could affect Canada’s media and telecom industries remained scant Monday as the government announced the conclusion...
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holdings Corp. announced Monday it has started construction of a new data centre in Saskatoon. It said in the press release that the data entre has met the Tier III certification requirements from...
Following Corus Entertainment Inc.’s announcement at MIPCOM, the global entertainment content conference, it said in a press release Monday that it has signed deals to distribute its original...
DHX Media Inc. announced Monday it has signed a deal with Turner Broadcasting System Inc. for the rights to the new TV show, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series. It said in a press release that the show, which is based off of the movie with the same title, will be produced by DHX’s Teletoon in Canada in co-operation with Sony Corp. “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs has a huge global fan-base following the successful movie franchise and we are confident that the equally whacky and wonderful TV series will resonate with children and families globally,” Josh...
Quebecor Inc.’s Groupe Média announced Monday it has launched an initiative to help Google Inc.’s YouTube content creators maximize their impact and visibility. It said in a...
Prices for TV subscriptions in the coming pick-and-pay era will be one of the main factors determining how over-the-top (OTT) video services are affected, say experts, noting that competitive pricing...
Rogers Communications Inc. on Monday announced it is moving forward with two different kinds of technology — 4K video and gigabit-speed Internet — though one commentator says the success of either of these initiatives...
Pelmorex Media Inc. has sold its Weather Network commercial services division to European weather forecasting company MeteoGroup, the companies said in a press release. The division has provided weather information “to many...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media has parted ways with more senior employees, a spokesman confirmed Friday. Bell Media's Scott Henderson said in an email: "I can confirm there have been some director-level departures at Bell Media locations in Toronto, Montreal and local stations across the country. There were also promotions and expanded roles for other leaders. It's part of our ongoing restructuring exercise to ensure Bell Media remains the leader in a fast-changing industry.” Henderson did not provide any numbers or names, though a report on the website Cartt said more than 40...
BCE Inc.’s media division said in a press release Thursday it has named Dany Meloul as its vice-president of programming for French-language TV. The company said Meloul would be “at the helm of all activities...
Telus Corp. announced Thursday it will be providing its fibre-optic network to connect and power a simulated smart home in Edmonton. It said in the press release that it has partnered with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Ericsson AB and Alcatel-Lucent to provide the technology for the 560-square-foot home, which resembles a...
The CRTC said Thursday it has approved an application from Kosiner Venture Capital Inc. to launch new TV audio channels, opening the door to competition in a market in which Stingray Digital Group Inc. currently holds a monopoly. The commission gave the OK to an application Kosiner made late last year seeking permission to...
Apple Inc.’s iPhone owners stream audio and video content more than any other device owners, according to a new report released by Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio-Canada. The report said that among...
Blue Ant Media Inc. announced Thursday that its 4K Love Nature channel content is now available for worldwide distribution. The content company said in a press release that the 4K content will be available on linear and streaming...
Cogeco Cable Inc. announced Wednesday it is launching a suite of cloud-based applications, called Online Productivity Tools, to help small- and medium-sized business customers in Quebec and Ontario....
The Office of the Attorney General, participating on behalf of the CRTC in BCE Inc.’s appeal of the commission’s decision to eliminate simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl, has asked the Federal Court of Appeal...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s OMNI TV announced Wednesday it will be broadcasting its first production of an original series on its channel. OMNI said in the release that the show, titled Blood and Water, will be a Chinese...
CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Hubert Lacroix said Tuesday the public broadcaster is in a financially stable situation despite the loss of advertising revenue from NHL games, but that it must start a “conversation” about alternative funding models, which could include a levy on Internet service providers, or a household fee or tax. Speaking at the broadcaster’s annual meeting, held in Winnipeg and live-streamed online, Lacroix said the CBC would start a “conversation” about the its future, including the broadcaster’s funding. “We’re all going to have to decide how we fund this. ... Because without a robust and stable funding model, all the things that...
The CRTC has merged two complaints against a service by Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron that exempts some music streaming services from counting against mobile customers’ data caps. Videotron...
DHX Media Ltd. on Monday reported quarterly revenue that was more than double what it saw a year earlier. The company said in a press release that revenue for the fourth quarter ended June 30 was $71.2 million, up 139 per cent...
Apple Inc. said Monday that more than 13 million iPhone 6s and 6s Plus devices have been sold in their first three days of availability, setting a new company record. “Sales for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus have been...
Technology that’s been around for years, which allows individuals to use services like apps and browser extensions to avoid seeing online advertising, has been causing new controversy in the past few weeks. According to...
BlackBerry Ltd. on Thursday confirmed that it will be releasing a smartphone that runs on Google Inc.'s Android system within the coming months. It said in a press release that the device will be called the Priv and feature a slide-out keyboard. BlackBerry said the new device will include "the best of BlackBerry security and productivity with the expansive mobile application ecosystem available on the Android platform." BlackBerry said the Priv will be available before the end of calendar year. The Canadian smartphone maker added that it "remains committed to the...
The CRTC on Thursday released a final version of its anticipated wholesale code governing the business relationships between TV-service providers and channel operators, which, among other things, bans provisions that would prevent...
The proportion of Internet traffic taken up by peer-to-peer file sharing is down in Canada due to the ongoing popularity of over-the-top (OTT) services, according to Sandvine Inc., a network management provider. It said in a blog...
Incognito Software Solutions said Thursday it has hired Chris Busch as its chief innovation officer. It said in a press release that Busch had previously worked seven years at Incognito, a Vancouver-based company focussed on...
Kik Interactive Inc., the Waterloo, Ont.-based mobile messaging company, said Tuesday it has added two new executives. One is Jae Kim, who will be head of strategy and partnerships, Kik said in a press release. Kim was formerly...
Mobile-messaging through apps in Canada and globally is on the rise as it attracts users wanting a convenient interface that can help them be included in social circles, though the steep growth in...
CBC/Radio-Canada said the Canadian Media Guild’s claim that the public broadcaster is selling off all of its buildings is false. The union issued a press release Monday claiming that CBC had announced at a town hall meeting...
The CRTC on Wednesday released its finalized conditions for national news channels that will be applied to all future licences for such services. The conditions are largely the same as what the CRTC suggested in several...
Financial services cooperative Desjardins Group announced on Wednesday new applications to allow small business, self-employed workers and "merchants on the go" to collect card payments with...
BCE Inc.'s Astral Out of Home division for public advertising displays said Wednesday it has received an eight-year contract to provide digital advertising at the Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport. It said this marks its fifth deal with a Canadian airport, and the Ottawa airport will be the first in Canada to have 100 per cent digital advertising after the infrastructure is installed, the company said in a press release. "This new contract allows us to reinforce our advertising presence in the nation's capital while reaching out to the busiest decision-makers and...
Starbucks Coffee Co. said Thursday it has now implemented advance orders through smartphones at more than 7,400 of its locations in the United States, and it will start trying the idea in Canada next month. The coffee-chain...
Corus Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday it is launching the YTVGo and NickGO TV-everywhere apps, which will be available to subscribers of its YTV and Nickelodeon channels. “These apps give kids and families access to live...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. has launched a channel that it says is the first in North America to offer around-the-clock 4K content. The Stingray Ambiance channel is available through TV service offered by Quebecor...
Blue Ant Media Inc. announced Tuesday that its international division will launch new 4K titles in the nature, wildlife and documentary categories at MIPCOM, a global entertainment content conference. Blue Ant said in the press...
Cogeco Cable Inc. announced Monday it has converted 15 local TV stations, part of its TVCogeco division, to high-definition (HD) quality. Cogeco said in a press release that the $5 million investment in upgrading the stations across Quebec took five years and now allows customers to watch HD content on both Channel 555 and Cogeco's on-demand service on Channel 602. “TVCogeco shows the importance that we watch our communities,” Louise St-Pierre, CEO of Cogeco Cable Canada, said in the release. “TVCogeco stations unquestionably serve as drivers of local development by...
CRTC commissioner Tom Pentefountas told a media conference in Paris on Monday that it is "no longer the time for control and regulation" in television and agencies like his must take on more of a role in "promotion." According to text of his speech on the CRTC website, Pentefountas, the CRTC's...
Canada will trail the United States in the rollout of mobile-oriented video services for a variety of reasons, Barclays Capital analyst Phillip Huang said in a research note Monday. The comments follow news from earlier this...
The CRTC has asked Shaw Communications Inc. to provide justification for why it should officially be relieved of requirements that its BC News 1 channel provide regional news. Shaw recently filed applications requesting that the...
The BBC says it is planning to launch an over-the-top (OTT) video subscription service in North America next year. “Next year, we’re launching a new OTT video service in America, offering BBC fans programs they...
Shopify Inc. announced Thursday it has partnered with Amazon.com Inc. to allow Amazon Webstore owners to migrate their online stores onto the Shopify platform. Shopify said in the press release that after migrating to the Amazon...
CBC/Radio-Canada CEO Hubert Lacroix, speaking at an international conference, said public broadcasters should speak out about how dropping revenues are affecting them. Public broadcasters in...
The CRTC on Thursday granted BCE Inc.'s request that the regulator revoke the broadcasting licence for the NHL Network. BCE's Bell Media division had licensed the rights to the NHL Network in Canada, which operated as a...
Amazon.com Inc. announced Thursday it will release a new Fire tablet, priced at $49.99 US. Amazon said in the press release that the tablet’s operating system, Fire OS 5 Bellini, has an updated user interface and screen-sharing capabilities for when users need to get in touch with customer care or tech support. The tablet includes 128 GB of...
The Canadian Media Fund said Thursday it has extended the deadline to apply for the Canada–Wallonia Digital Media Incentive for Multiplatform Projects until Oct. 15. CMF spokesman Pierre Campeau said in an email that the initial deadline was Sept. 1. The CMF says on its website that this program has a budget of $600,000, with the CMF and Belgium-based production financing company Wallimage SA each contributing half. Each successful application, which must be for an interactive digital media production, can be granted as much as $100,000 if in development, or $500,000 if in production,...
Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. said Thursday that Nelson Millman is its new program director for NHL Network Radio. The satellite-radio operator said in a press release that Millman has 42 years of experience in radio, including...
Quebecor Inc. is not interested in being Canada's fourth national wireless carrier, at least not by itself. That was the message Quebecor chief financial officer Jean-Francois Pruneau gave to a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce investors' conference held in Montreal Wednesday. While discussing options for using...
Montreal and Toronto-based AdGear Technologies Inc. announced Wednesday it will become the first official advertising-technology provider for the federal government. AdGear said in a press release...
DHX Media Inc. announced Wednesday it has signed a deal with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to provide more than 2,500 half-hours of content to its video-on-demand (VOD) service in China. “We are very happy to provide extensive kids and family content from our library for this new service in China. This deal underscores...
Smartphone penetration among anglophone Canadians was at 73 per cent this spring, according to a new report by Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio-Canada. MTM said in a report Tuesday that the proportion of anglos with smartphones has grown from 69 per cent in 2014, 66 per cent in 2013 and was as low as 10 per cent in 2008. The report showed that 86 per cent of anglophone Canadians report owning a cellphone of some kind, which was unchanged from the previous two years. MTM added that 89 per cent wireless customers with Telus Corp. or Rogers Communications Inc., including...
A new survey from research company 451 Research LLC. indicates high consumer satisfaction ratings with Apple Inc.’s Apple Watch, noting 54 per cent of consumers studied were very satisfied. 451...
Rover Labs Inc., a Toronto-based maker of mobile engagement technology, announced Tuesday it is partnering with the Pittsburgh Penguins to bring fans exclusive content to their mobile devices at games through a new app. The...
The CRTC is asking whether maintaining a physical presence in an area is necessary to produce local programming and whether community-access TV is still relevant as part a proceeding on local and community television it announced...
You.i TV, an Ottawa-based company making software for video applications, said Monday it has secured $15 million in funding, led by Los Angeles-based private-equity group Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP. The company said in a...
Tyson Parker has been named head of artist and music industry relations at BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division, the company said Monday. Parker was previously vice-president of communications and artist relations at Universal...
International Data Corp. said Monday that wearable shipments will reach 76.1 million units this year, up 163.6 per cent from the 28.9 million units shipped in 2014. It said in a press release that total shipments of basic and...
Ajit Pai, a commissioner with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has blamed his own organization's new net-neutrality rules for a decline in capital spending among Internet service...
As the telecommunications and media industries continue to converge, the production sector must pay more attention to what were traditionally considered telecom issues, according to Reynolds Mastin,...
Ericsson AB announced on Thursday that its cloud-based TV platform, MediaFirst, is now commercially available to operators and content providers, noting that Telus Corp. will be utilizing the service to enhance service for its TV subscribers. Ben Huang, vice-president of marketing at Ericsson, said in a phone interview that the software is provided to TV operators to help deliver and integrate services across various platforms such as mobile phones, tablets and TV screens. He added that the software provides content providers with analytics on consumer behaviour so that content is catered to...
The Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) has signed an affiliation agreement with the Producers Guild of America that it said would lead to more opportunities for co-productions involving the two countries. The agreement...
The newest version of Apple Inc.’s Apple TV will include its voice-recognition program, Siri, which users can access to search for content across apps, the company said Wednesday. In a live announcement streamed online,...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division announced Wednesday it has appointed Mark Finney to the newly created position of vice-president of strategic sales, and several other changes in the executive ranks...
Shaw Communications Inc. has filed an application asking the CRTC to exempt it from the requirement, as a condition of licence, that all its satellite-TV customers be able to receive messages from the National Public Alerting...
Telecommunications and media have not been prominent issues in this year's federal election campaign, taking a backseat to things such as the Mike Duffy trial, the deficit and Syrian refugees. The Wire Report has made repeated attempts to talk with the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP about their stances toward telecom and media, but has been largely ignored. However, here is a look at statements, documents and publicly disclosed initiatives of the three major parties that are indicative of the positions they hold on telecom and media, or have at least held recently. Conservatives As...
The CRTC approved Wednesday three applications from BCE Inc. to include various non-Canadian programming to the existing list of non-Canadian programming services and stations. For two of the applications, which were posted May...
Telus Corp. announced Wednesday it is expanding its Internet of Things (IoT) platform globally to nearly every country around the world. It said in a press release that the new platform, called Telus Global IoT Connectivity...
Quebecor Inc. announced Wednesday that its Quebecor Media unit has bought 28.6 per cent of the stake in that division held by for Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ). It said in a press release that...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) said in a new report that the CRTC and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner should do more research on the practice of tracking the location of individuals through their mobile devices....
Another application has been submitted to the CRTC that protests an offer by Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron to not count data used by its mobile customers for certain music-streaming applications. Vaxination Informatique, a telecommunication consulting company, has launched its own undue-preference complaint about...
U.S. wireless carrier AT&T said Tuesday that it has partnered with ZTE Corp.’s U.S. division to offer the first plug-in vehicle WiFi hotspot device. The device, called ZTE Mobley, can...
Verizon Communications Inc. plans to launch a free ad-supported mobile streaming service, the New York Times reported online Tuesday. The article said the launch would be announced this week, and...
Verizon Communications Inc. announced Tuesday it has created a roadmap to begin field trials for 5G wireless technology as early as 2016. The company said in a press release it is partnering with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericson AB,...
Stornoway Communications LP has launched a complaint to the CRTC about its iChannel being taken out of a theme package offered by BCE Inc. to IPTV and satellite-TV customers. Stornoway said in an application that appeared on the CRTC's website Friday that it has been informed by Bell that iChannel, a Category A specialty channel, will be taken out of a theme package offered to 247,000 subscribers. Stornoway said Bell's move will result in a loss of 67 per cent of its Bell subscriber base, 25 per cent of all it subscribers and a decline of more than $1 million in revenue. It argued that Bell's move is contrary to regulations governing broadcast distribution arrangement because it subjects iChannel to an "undue disadvantage," and gives other channels not being taken...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Friday that its radio division will team with Google Inc.'s YouTube for a weekly show that will look at the hottest trends in music, fashion, entertainment and gaming. Rogers said in a press...
Corus Entertainment Inc. said Thursday in two press releases it has launched the Disney Channel and expanded the distribution of its Cartoon Network. Disney Channel is now available in 10 million...
A new report from Ericsson AB shows that while people are increasingly consuming video on mobile devices, the cost of data limits many from taking advantage of what the technology makes possible. The report released Thursday from...
Blue Ant Media Inc. said in a press release Thursday that its distribution arm has sold more than 75 hours of programming to U.S. channels. Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. bought rights to an...
The CRTC’s recent decision to deny a licence amendment requested by Harvard Broadcasting Inc.’s CKEA-FM in Edmonton was based on a difference of opinion over what songs fall into what category, according to the company, while a radio expert says the same could be true of other cases. The regulator renewed the station’s licence last month but denied an amendment to eliminate the requirement that the station select 15 per cent of its music from the special interest music category and that 20 per cent of its blues and jazz selections be Canadian. In the decision, the CRTC said the station appeared to be in non-compliance with the requirement for special interest music during...
A stock market analyst has speculated that an acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. by BCE Inc. is likely next year. A research note Wednesday from TD Securities analyst Vince Valentini said that with MTS set to sell off...
CBS Corp.’s sports division said Tuesday that next month it will live-stream a regular-season National Football League game for the first time. The game featured is an Oct. 4 matchup between the New York Jets and Miami...
Sony Corp. announced Wednesday at IFA Berlin, one of the world’s largest consumer electronics trade shows in Europe, the release of the world’s first 4K smartphone. Sony said in a press release that the Xperia Z5...
A majority of websites and mobile applications targeted to or popular with children were found recently to collect personal information from minors and share it with third parties, the Office of the...
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is asking the CRTC to direct Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to change the price structure of its new music service, which exempts data consumed through some...
Seven technology companies announced on Tuesday a new alliance to develop next-generation media formats, codecs and technologies to meet demand for better video, audio, imagery and streaming quality across all platforms and...
Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video members in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Austria will now be able to download movies and TV shows for easy offline viewing at no additional cost, the company said in a press...
Netflix Inc. will not renew its licencing agreement with Epix — a joint venture by Paramount Pictures Corp., Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. — because it...
The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) said Monday that it provided $365.5 billion in funding for television and digital-media productions last year. That's up from $354.5 billion that it reported spending in the previous year's annual report. The CMF said in a press release Monday that money spent in the 2014-15 fiscal year, which ended in March, triggered $1.3 billion in activity in the Canadian video-production industry, up 11.3 per cent from the year before. It said that it funded 496 TV and related digital-media projects, plus 108 interactive digital media productions through its...
