Q9 Networks launching new support services for data centres

Media | 02/12/2015 3:44 pm EST

Q9 Networks Inc. said Thursday it is launching a new support option for its data centre customers that includes hardware installation and management for the full life cycle of customers’ servers...

Sun News employees expect shutdown Friday: report

Media | 02/12/2015 3:39 pm EST

Employees of Quebecor Inc.'s Sun News Network expect the channel to shut down operations Friday due to a failure to strike a deal to sell the service to Moses Znaimer's ZoomerMedia Ltd., according to a report Thursday on...

Shaw shutting call-centre operations in 3 cities

Media | 02/11/2015 8:26 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. said Wednesday it is shutting down call-centre operations in Edmonton, Calgary and Kelowna, B.C., with about 1,600 workers at these locations having a choice of whether to move, assume a different position...

Telus to make Netflix available for Optik TV users

Media | 02/11/2015 8:14 pm EST

Telus Corp. said Wednesday it will be making services from Netflix Inc. available through its Optik TV set-top boxes in the coming weeks. Telus said in a press release that almost half of its Optik TV customers are Netflix...

Super WiFi ‘exciting new area’ for wireless: spectrum expert

Media | 02/10/2015 7:47 pm EST

Industry Canada’s announcement last week that it is opening up TV white space for the use of "super WiFi" technology could improve broadband availability in rural areas and has the potential be used for Internet of Things connectivity, experts say. Industry Canada said it would put in place measures for the use of television white space, or spectrum designated for over-the-air television signals that is not fully used. A press release said this would bring "super WiFi" service to Canada. Uses of super WiFi include mobile services or home Internet, either for...

International Datacasting discussing sale

Media | 02/10/2015 5:22 pm EST

International Datacasting Corp., an Ottawa-based provider of technology for the broadcasting industry, said Tuesday it is in talks with an undisclosed party about the sale of the company. International Datacasting said in a press...

SOCAN reports record revenues for 2014

Media | 02/10/2015 5:10 pm EST

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) said Tuesday that collected a record amount of royalties last year, based on preliminary results. The collective representing songwriters, composers and...

David Kleidermacher joins BlackBerry

Media | 02/10/2015 3:28 pm EST

David Kleidermacher has been appointed chief security officer of BlackBerry Ltd., the company announced Tuesday.  Kleidermacher was previously chief technology officer at Green Hills Software, a maker of embedded operating...

Twitter releases latest transparency report

Media | 02/09/2015 9:27 pm EST

The Canadian government asked Twitter Inc. for users’ personal information 32 times in the last six months of 2014, the social network said on Monday in its latest transparency report. The requests covered 37 different...

Netflix goes to Cuba

Media | 02/09/2015 6:53 pm EST

Netflix Inc. said Monday it is now offering service in Cuba. "Bienvenida Cuba! Netflix is now available," Netflix said in a Twitter post. The move follows the December announcement that the U.S. government is restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba after more than five decades. Netflix...

More advertisers using ‘advanced’ targeting: Videology

Media | 02/09/2015 3:53 pm EST

There's been a jump over the last year in Canadian marketers using "advanced ad targeting" methods to reach their audiences, which include using information about their purchasing or online behaviour, video advertising platform provider Videology Inc. said in a press release Monday. Videology said 92 per cent...

Shomi, CraveTV could be pulled if PIAC challenge succeeds: analyst

Media | 02/06/2015 10:02 pm EST

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) on Friday asked the CRTC to prohibit Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. from restricting the availability of their streaming...

Nigerian music TV channel proposed for Canadian distribution

Media | 02/06/2015 5:40 pm EST

Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. has filed an application to the CRTC to have a Nigerian TV channel called 1Music approved for distribution in Canada. The company said in a letter posted on the...

Alberta radio station can’t ditch folk music: CRTC

Media | 02/06/2015 4:55 pm EST

The CRTC issued a decision Friday the denied the operator of a Drumheller, Alta., radio station an amendment to its broadcasting licence that requires it make at least 10 per cent of the music it plays “folk or folk-oriented music.” The company, Golden West Broadcasting Ltd., claimed it was initially unaware of this requirement for CHOO-FM, the CRTC said in its summary of the matter. The CRTC, however, said playing this proportion of folk music was specifically proposed by Golden West during a hearing in 2008, and it “was a key factor taken into account in assessing the...

Government looks to TV white space to connect rural Canadians

Media | 02/05/2015 9:22 pm EST

Industry Canada said Thursday it was moving forward with initiatives it says will provide new opportunities for rural Canadians to access "WiFi-like services" through the use of TV white...

Twitter, Google reach deal to make tweets more searchable

Media | 02/05/2015 4:21 pm EST

Twitter Inc. and Google Inc. have reached a deal that will make posts on Twitter’s social media accounts easier to find through the Google search engine, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. Quoting...

Péladeau says he still controls Quebecor: report

Media | 02/04/2015 8:30 pm EST

Pierre Karl Péladeau, the controlling shareholder at Quebecor Inc., who was elected a member of Quebec’s national assembly last year, said Wednesday he maintains control of the company, the Montreal Gazette reported....

VMedia now offering triple-play bundles in Ontario

Media | 02/04/2015 8:04 pm EST

VMedia Inc. said Wednesday it has become the first independent telecommunications service provider to offer a triple-play bundle of television, Internet and home-phone service in Ontario. The company said its packages start at...

CRTC says Videotron French community TV violated licence, OKs English version

Media | 02/04/2015 7:51 pm EST

The CRTC said Wednesday that while it found MAtv, a French-language community channel owned by Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron subsidiary, was not in compliance with the conditions of its licence, it would approve a licence application from Videotron for MYtv, the channel's English equivalent. Videotron applied to the CRTC for a licence to launch MYtv, a community channel for Montreal’s English-speaking community, in 2013. That launch was later delayed following a complaint from...

Montreal’s Valnet buys ScreenRant.com

Media | 02/04/2015 5:50 pm EST

Valnet Inc., a Montreal-based company that owns several information/entertainment websites, said Wednesday it has bought ScreenRant.com, a website for television and movie news. Valnet said in a press release that it "plans to bolster the site's unique and in-depth film and television content with enhanced features, new digital media and...

Canada agrees to 20-year copyright extension: report

Media | 02/04/2015 3:41 pm EST

Canada has agreed to extend the copyright term to 70 years after the death of the author as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade deal currently under discussion, the Japanese Broadcasting Corp. reported Feb. 2....

Senators going to U.K. as part of CBC review

Media | 02/03/2015 7:59 pm EST

Five Canadian senators are going to the United Kingdom this month on a "fact-finding mission" as part of a study on the difficulties faced by CBC/Radio Canada. The Senate's transport and communications standing...

Canadian mobile data to grow sevenfold by 2019: Cisco

Media | 02/03/2015 5:57 pm EST

Data running on mobile networks in Canada is set to grow an average of 46 per cent a year between now and 2019, resulting in a quantity of data that's seven times what it was last year, Cisco Systems Inc. said in a report...

NHL interest declined over last year: SRG

Media | 02/03/2015 5:43 pm EST

Solutions Research Group Consultants Inc. (SRG) released results of a survey Tuesday that suggest interest among Canadians in following the National Hockey League declined over the last year. The company said in a press release...

Pirate Bay site back in operation: report

Media | 02/03/2015 3:06 pm EST

The Pirate Bay filesharing website is back online, website TorrentFreak reported Friday. It said "the look and feel of the site is familiar, and the user accounts are working properly too." The Pirate Bay went offline...

CRTC says no to Bell meeting regarding simsub

Media | 02/02/2015 10:18 pm EST

The CRTC has turned down a request from BCE Inc. to meet and discuss the regulator's decision to get rid of simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl starting in 2017. Last week, the CRTC said it has decided to maintain...

Videotron launches original content for Club Illico streaming service

Media | 02/02/2015 9:29 pm EST

MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron hopes that producing original content exclusively for its Club Illico streaming service will help the company attract and keep subscribers, said...

Tablet’s social impact remains despite sales slowdown: expert

Media | 02/02/2015 9:04 pm EST

New data shows that tablet shipments declined year-over-year in last year's fourth quarter — for the first time in the category’s short market history — though a Canadian trends observer says the cultural impact of tablets isn't going away any time soon. International Data Corp. said in a press release Monday that preliminary data shows global shipments of tablets and 2-in-1 hybrids amounted to 76.1 million in the last three months of 2014, down 3.2 per cent from the same period a year earlier. It said that's the first year-on-year dip since the tablet market was kick-started in 2010 with the release of Apple Inc.'s iPad. IDC said tablet shipments for 2014...

5% of Rogers, Shaw customers trying Shomi: SRG

Media | 01/30/2015 10:48 pm EST

More than half of Rogers Communications Inc.'s and Shaw Communications Inc.’s customers are familiar with their Shomi streaming service, but just five per cent are using it, according to a survey. ‎...

Google deals with declining ad rates

Media | 01/30/2015 6:02 pm EST

Google Inc. said in its fourth-quarter results that the average “cost-per-click” for ads on its sites and those of its network members decreased by three per cent over the fourth quarter of 2013. Cost-per-click for...

U.S. AWS-3 auction raises more than $41B US

Media | 01/30/2015 3:00 pm EST

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s AWS-3 auction ended Thursday, and the regulator announced Friday that it had accepted $41.3 billion US in net bids from 31 bidders for 1,611 spectrum licences. The FCC had...

Mobile-TV ruling could be harbinger of streaming regulation: Klass

Media | 01/29/2015 9:53 pm EST

The CRTC’s ruling on Thursday that BCE Inc. and Quebecor Inc.-owned Videotron can no longer exempt their mobile-TV services from data charges could have implications for the regulation of...

Bell Media ‘extremely disappointed’ by Super Bowl simsub decision

Media | 01/29/2015 2:27 pm EST

The CRTC said Thursday that it would prohibit the use of simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl, but would otherwise keep the practice in place, in an approach BCE Inc.’s media division spokesman Scott Henderson called “troubling.” The rights to the event are currently held by Bell Media. In an emailed statement, Henderson said that “we are extremely disappointed of course. The government is damaging the future of local television in Canada while rewarding U.S....

Analyst says Rogers downgrade related to hockey

Media | 01/28/2015 6:56 pm EST

Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose says concern over hockey viewership is among the reasons he downgraded the stock of Rogers Communications Inc. this week. In a research note Wednesday, the telecom industry analyst pointed to...

Tom Hastings named Bell’s independent production director

Media | 01/28/2015 5:10 pm EST

BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said Wednesday that Tom Hastings has been named its director of independent production. The company said in a press release that Hastings was already a production executive in this division. He is replacing Trish Williams, who is becoming co-executive producer of the CTV original series Saving...

Seevibes expands to Toronto

Media | 01/28/2015 5:01 pm EST

Montreal-based social-TV audience measurement company Seevibes is opening an office in Toronto, the company said in a press release Wednesday. The expansion comes a year after the company opened an office in France. Seevibes also said it named Franz Fontaine as vice-president of strategic...

Rogers says it’s aggregating more spectrum

Media | 01/27/2015 7:58 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. said it has become the first wireless carrier in Canada to become "Category 6 enabled," meaning it has found a way to aggregate signals on both the 2100 and 2600 MHz spectrum bands. Rogers spokeswoman Patricia Trott said in an email to The Wire Report on Monday that this will allow faster downloads and a higher...

Blais to announce decision about local TV Thursday

Media | 01/27/2015 3:40 pm EST

CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais will speak to the London, Ont. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday morning about “the future of local television in Canada.” “At the event Mr. Blais will announce certain decisions...

Sun News Network close to closing: report

Media | 01/26/2015 10:00 pm EST

Quebecor Inc.'s Sun News Network is close to shutting down, a report on the news website Canadaland said Monday. The report cited unnamed sources as saying negotiations for its acquisition by Moses Znaimer's ZoomerMedia...

CRTC denies application for Concordia transmitter

Media | 01/26/2015 5:02 pm EST

The Concordia Student Broadcasting Corp. has been denied permission by the CRTC to put up a new transmitter in downtown Montreal.  CSBC had applied for the new transmitter, which would operate at 107.9 FM, so that reception...

Distributel gets word out on TV service

Media | 01/23/2015 5:18 pm EST

Distributel Communications Inc. announced on Thursday its new television service, which is available in markets throughout Ontario and Quebec. The independent Internet service provider had already began offering TV service last...

CMF awards $8 million for 31 digital media projects

Media | 01/23/2015 4:58 pm EST

The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) said Thursday it would provide $8 million to finance 31 digital media projects, as part of the second round of its "experimental stream" for 2014-15. CMF said in a press release that 23 companies received $6.2 million to “to develop three applications, one eBook, seven interactive platforms, 11 games and one social media platform,” while $1.8 million went toward marketing support for eight interactive digital media projects. In December, the CMF awarded $11.8 million to 24 projects....

BlackBerry boss takes aim at Netflix in neutrality battle

Media | 01/23/2015 3:38 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. CEO John Chen said the battle for net neutrality in the United States should not only focus on service providers' traffic management practices, but should also include companies,...

CBC funding becoming political ahead of budget, election

Media | 01/22/2015 10:07 pm EST

MONTREAL — NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is promising, if elected, to reverse funding cuts imposed on CBC/Radio-Canada in recent years, though political observers do not expect the Conservative...

Shomi gets rights to original Amazon content

Media | 01/22/2015 8:50 pm EST

Canadian video streaming service Shomi said Thursday it has secured the Canadian rights to original content made for Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime streaming service in the U.S. Shomi, a joint venture of Rogers Communications Inc....

VMedia secures Blue Ant content for cloud-TV service

Media | 01/22/2015 8:14 pm EST

VMedia Inc. said it has secured its first specialty-TV channels for the cloud-based PVR service it makes available to IPTV customers. The company said in a news release Thursday that it has reached a deal to include Blue Ant...

TMN Go now available to Shaw customers

Media | 01/22/2015 7:35 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday that TMN Go is now available to its cable customers in northern Ontario and satellite-TV customers throughout Eastern Canada, allowing them to watch The Movie Network, HBO Canada, Showtime and TMN Encore content on-demand on televisions, computers, tablets and smartphones. The availability is limited to Eastern Canada customers because BCE Inc.'s The Movie Network does not have broadcast rights in the West, Bell Media spokesman Scott Henderson confirmed. Shaw said in a press release that the TMN Go app is available for Apple Inc.'s iOS devices...

CRTC denies application for ethnic radio station in Winnipeg

Media | 01/22/2015 6:50 pm EST

The CRTC on Thursday said on its website that it had denied an application for a commercial ethnic radio station in Winnipeg due to concerns it would hurt an existing radio station in that market....

Documents show Samsung interested in BlackBerry: report

Media | 01/22/2015 2:51 pm EST

Documents indicate Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is still interested in buying device maker BlackBerry Ltd. despite denials from both companies that a deal was in the works, the Financial Post...

Millennials’ technology usage soars: MTM

Media | 01/21/2015 8:13 pm EST

Millennials, those between the ages of 18 and 34, are using newer technology such as the Internet and smartphones more and traditional media such as television and radio less than older generations, according to a report released Wednesday. The Media Technology Monitor, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada, broke millennials into two subgroups: generation Z,...

New Windows will run on PCs, tablets, mobile phones

Media | 01/21/2015 7:56 pm EST

On Wednesday Microsoft Corp. announced two new devices as well as more details about the latest version of its Windows operating system, which will be the first to run cross-platform on desktops, tablets and mobile phones....

Netflix wants to complete global expansion in 2 years

Media | 01/21/2015 6:52 pm EST

Netflix Inc. can expand to pretty well everywhere in the world while staying profitable over the next two years, the company said in a letter to shareholders Tuesday. “Acceleration to 200 countries is largely made possible...

Telecom sector ‘resilient’ to economic problems: Ghose

Media | 01/21/2015 6:03 pm EST

The telecommunications services sector should weather the storm of economic uncertainty facing Canada right now, though some negative effects are likely, Canaccord Genuity telecom analyst Dvai Ghose. Following the Bank of Canada's interest rate cut Wednesday and its downward revision to its economic forecast for the...

Prepare for automated vehicles now: Conference Board

Media | 01/21/2015 5:18 pm EST

Automated vehicles are about to become the most disruptive near-term technology in the average person's life, the Conference Board of Canada said in report released Wednesday. The research group said the impact of driverless...

Music streaming in Canada ramps up

Media | 01/20/2015 10:56 pm EST

In the past six months, Canadians’ usage of streaming music services seems to have jumped, in a trend that’s not only good news for streaming services, but wireless companies as well. Nielsen Co. only began...

Facebook’s Canadian impact worth $5B US: study

Media | 01/20/2015 4:02 pm EST

The Canadian economy saw an economic benefit of about $5 billion US last year thanks to Facebook, according to a new study by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. commissioned by Facebook Inc. That's out of a global impact from Facebook of $227 billion US, which "enabled" 4.5 million jobs around the world, the study said. It said about 80 were in Canada. "[Facebook] is a catalyst for economic activity in ecosystems composed of marketers, app developers, and providers of connectivity," the study said. Deloitte's research indicated that most of Canada's Facebook-generated economic contribution was in area of marketing, where $3.3 billion US worth of activity happened that supported 50 jobs. The study added that $1.1 billion US of activity was generated in the...

Rogers appoints Dirk Woessner to head consumer division

Media | 01/19/2015 6:05 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. announced Monday that Dirk Woessner, formerly of Deutsche Telekom AG, has been appointed to head the consumer side of its business. Rogers CEO Guy Laurence reorganized the...

Voltage Pictures president speaks on piracy

Media | 01/19/2015 4:05 pm EST

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter published Jan. 15, Voltage Pictures LLC president Nicolas Chartier detailed the motivations behind his company’s ongoing efforts to sue those involved in file sharing. According...

Google Glass’ Explorer Program cancelled

Media | 01/15/2015 9:14 pm EST

Google Inc. said Thursday it will stop selling the Explorer Edition of its Google Glass wearable product after Jan. 19. The company said in a statement on the Google+ social network: "January 19 will be the last day to get the Glass Explorer Edition. In the meantime, we’re continuing to build for the future, and you’ll start to see...

Sony to close Canadian stores

Media | 01/15/2015 8:07 pm EST

Electronics maker and retailer Sony Corp. is closing all of its Canadian stores. Robin Powell, a spokesman for Sony Canada, said in a phone interview that all 14 Sony outlets in Canada would shut down over the next six to eight...

Marketers planning to merge online and TV ad campaigns

Media | 01/15/2015 7:57 pm EST

Canadian marketers are looking to unify their approach to online and television advertising, according to a new report.  Video advertising company Videology Inc. says in the report 85 per cent of marketers surveyed said that “holistic planning and buying” of advertising will soon “become the new norm.” The same proportion said that “planning for online video and linear TV will merge within the next three years.” Videology added that 52 per cent or respondents said they were "likely to merge their TV and online video buying groups within that timeframe.” The results were based on online surveys with 104 Canadian marketers, conducted by Marketing Magazine and Rogers Communication Inc.’s market research and client services division...

Non-consensual software installation outlawed

Media | 01/15/2015 4:40 pm EST

It became illegal Thursday to install software on another person's computer, smartphone or other device without their consent, the CRTC said. The commission said in a press release that the new rules are part of anti-spam...

Shaw’s consumer, media divisions pulling in less money

Media | 01/14/2015 8:27 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc.'s first-quarter financial figures showed its consumer network and media businesses bringing in less money than a year earlier, while there was some growth in its business-services operations. The company said in a press release Wednesday it had overall revenue of $1.39 billion in the three...

Videotron’s copyright notices contradictory: Geist

Media | 01/14/2015 7:53 pm EST

Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron has been sending out copyright-infringement notices to customers, as directed by federal government's new notice-and-notice copyright requirements, that falsely tell users that the rights holder that has alleged a breach cannot be identified, University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist...

Government to spend $100M on computer security: report

Media | 01/14/2015 4:20 pm EST

The federal government will spend about $100 million to bolster the security of its computers in order to safeguard against breaches like last year's hacking of the National Research Council,...

Corus numbers up slightly, CEO announces retirement

Media | 01/13/2015 4:16 pm EST

Corus Entertainment Inc. said Tuesday its revenues in the three-month period ending Nov. 30 were $227 million, up from $226 million in the same period a year earlier. It reported profits of $93.28 million, compared to $92.28...

Sirius reports higher Q1 earnings

Media | 01/13/2015 3:05 pm EST

Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. on Monday reported higher profits, revenue and subscriber numbers for its first fiscal quarter ended Nov. 30. The provider of satellite radio service said in a press release that earnings for the...

ISPs prepping for increase in copyright infringement notices

Media | 01/12/2015 10:11 pm EST

After "significant" investments in time and money to prepare for the notice-and-notice regime that went into effect this month, independent Internet service providers Teksavvy Solutions Inc....

Enterprise to assume bigger role in technology adoption: Deloitte

Media | 01/12/2015 6:50 pm EST

After a decade of consumers being the trendsetters in the adoption of emerging technology, the enterprise sector will take on a bigger role in 2015 as leaders in the use of cutting-edge IT products,...

CBC hires sales exec Mary Kreuk

Media | 01/12/2015 4:05 pm EST

CBC/Radio-Canada announced Monday that Mary Kreuk has been hired as the public broadcaster’s new executive director of multi-platform media sales for Toronto and Western Canada. Kreuk was previous a sales executive at BCE Inc.’s Bell Media subsidiary, where she served as vice-president of brand partnerships for the last 12 years, according to a news release....

NDP wants government to close notice-and-notice ‘loophole’

Media | 01/09/2015 8:53 pm EST

The federal NDP issued a statement Friday calling on the government to prohibit false claims in copyright infringement letters sent under the new notice-and-notice regime. “The Conservatives...

Live sports, the lynchpin of traditional TV, making inroads to OTT

Media | 01/08/2015 10:16 pm EST

As new over-the-top (OTT) services continue to be launched both in Canada and the United States, online alternatives for live sports have also been increasing. But in a world where live sports...

FCC boss leaning toward Obama’s position on net neutrality: reports

Media | 01/08/2015 9:21 pm EST

U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler could be hinting toward a net-neutrality policy along the lines of what President Barack Obama has suggested, categorizing broadband...

Most seniors not adopting smartphones: survey

Media | 01/08/2015 4:33 pm EST

While a majority of senior anglophone Canadians have cellphones, a minority have smartphones, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM). The report, released Wednesday, showed 63 per cent of anglophone...

Apple raising app prices in Canada: report

Media | 01/08/2015 4:20 pm EST

Apple Inc. is raising prices for applications sold through its App Store in Canada due to the declining value of the Canadian dollar, the Canadian Press reported Thursday. The CP article cites an email Apple sent to software developers Wednesday, saying price increases would take effect within 36 hours in Canada, Norway and European Union countries. The exchange rate was cited as the reason for the price hike in Canada, the article said. The Canadian dollar closed at 84.6 cents US on Wednesday. Statistics on the Bank of Canada’s website show the highest close for the loonie in the last...

Canipre to notify Canadians of copyright infringements

Media | 01/08/2015 4:16 pm EST

Copyright infringement monitoring company Canipre Inc. says it will be using new “notice-and-notice” measures in the Copyright Modernization Act to have those who pirate content online...

Mobile Internet time surpasses computer access: report

Media | 01/07/2015 8:48 pm EST

Canadians are now spending more time accessing the Internet from mobile devices than from computers, the Canadian Press reported Wednesday, based on the latest data from ComScore Inc. A CP article...

TiVo OTA product gets full release in U.S.

Media | 01/07/2015 7:33 pm EST

TiVo Inc. said Wednesday it is widening availability in the United States of a PVR for capturing over-the-air programing, a product it released on a limited basis in the fall. The TiVo Roamio OTA is meant for people who do not...

BlackBerry launches IOT platform, BBM for wearables

Media | 01/07/2015 6:16 pm EST

BlackBerry Inc. said Wednesday from the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas that it launched an Internet of Things (IoT) platform, and that it will make its BBM service available on smartwatches. The IoT platform, which the...

U.S. workers say landline phones more important than cellphones

Media | 01/07/2015 4:15 pm EST

Recently released results of a survey for the Pew Research Center showed U.S. workers ranked landline phones as more important for their jobs than cellphones but less important than email and the...

WhatsApp reports more than 700M users

Media | 01/07/2015 3:29 pm EST

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said on a Facebook post Tuesday that the service now has more than 700 million active monthly users, up from 450 million when Facebook Inc. announced its intention to purchase the mobile-messaging-app company...

U.S. revenue for of ’emerging’ gadgets expected to double

Media | 01/06/2015 6:22 pm EST

Sales revenue in the United States of "new" and "emerging" consumer electronics is predicted to grow by 108 per cent, year-over-year, in 2015, the Consumer Electronics Association said Tuesday. The organization, which is responsible for the ongoing International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las...

Verizon CEO dismisses report about AOL purchase

Media | 01/06/2015 4:08 pm EST

Verizon Communications Inc.'s CEO on Tuesday denied it is interested in purchasing AOL Inc., despite a report suggesting it was exploring this option. Several news agencies reported Lowell McAdam denied such speculation...

TVA purchase of Vision Globale cleared

Media | 01/05/2015 9:02 pm EST

Quebecor Inc.'s broadcasting unit TVA Group said last week that its purchase of TV production company Vision Globale has closed following approval from the federal Competition Bureau. TVA CEO Julie Tremblay said in a Dec. 30 press release that the acquisition "will enable us to diversify our revenue streams, which are heavily dependent on the advertising carried by our over-the-air television network." The Competition Bureau issued a press release the same day that said "this transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition due to,...

Dish launches online TV service in U.S.

Media | 01/05/2015 7:28 pm EST

Dish Network Corp. is launching an over-the-top (OTT) television service that will allow subscribers to access 12 specialty channels for $20 US a month. The U.S. satellite-TV service provider said in a press release Monday...

FCC expected to vote on net neutrality next month

Media | 01/05/2015 4:28 pm EST

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote on a net-neutrality proposal in February, the Washington Post and other news outlets reported late last week. The Post said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told other commissioners...

CRTC denies licence renewal to off-air station

Media | 12/19/2014 4:42 pm EST

The CRTC said Friday that it has denied an application by 2188301 Ontario Corp. to renew the broadcasting licence of CFAO-FM in Alliston, Ont., because the station has been off the air since 2009. “As a result, CFAO-FM is...

Company asks for distribution of HuffPost Live channel

Media | 12/18/2014 5:55 pm EST

Kosiner Venture Capital Inc. has asked the CRTC to approve HuffPost Live, a television channel operated by AOL Inc.’s Huffington Post, for distribution in Canada. About 60 per cent of the...

CRTC decisions, new streaming services top TV agenda for 2015

Media | 12/17/2014 12:50 pm EST

It seems all eyes are on the two newest services in the Canadian TV industry. This fall, the country’s biggest telecom and media companies launched streaming services meant to compete with Netflix Inc.’s, and how they end up performing in the coming weeks and months is “the thing that everyone’s watching,” said broadcasting consultant Peter Miller. The industry will be looking at how Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi and BCE Inc.’s CraveTV develop, and “whether they do what proponents of those...

EDC provides $850M US in financing to Vodafone

Media | 12/16/2014 8:40 pm EST

Export Development Canada (EDC), a federal Crown corporation that loans money to foreign companies doing business with Canadian companies, said Tuesday it has loaned $850 million US to British-based telecommunications service...

China widens lead in global patent filings

Media | 12/16/2014 4:38 pm EST

Global patent filings were up nine per cent in 2013 from the previous year, while double-digit growth in first-place China widened its lead in patent filings from the United States and other countries, according to the World...

Copyright Board keeps blank CD levy same

Media | 12/15/2014 10:07 pm EST

The Copyright Board of Canada has maintained a levy of 29 cents each on sales of blank audio CDs that will go to a collective representing music copyright owners. The board issued a decision Friday, saying this rate will apply...

Wearables, OTT, IoT to rise in 2015: IDC

Media | 12/15/2014 8:45 pm EST

Greater consumer interest in wearable technology, growth in over-the-top (OTT) television subscriptions and greater prominence of the Internet of Things (IoT) are among the top trends in technology expected for next year in...

Pirate Bay torrent tracker resurrected by website

Media | 12/15/2014 6:15 pm EST

The website Isohunt.to has uploaded a copy of the Pirate Bay, the torrent-sharing website taken offline last week after a raid by Swedish police investigating illegal file-sharing. “We, the Isohunt.to team, copied the...

ISPs aspiring to launch TV services face uncertainty

Media | 12/12/2014 6:36 pm EST

Small Internet service providers looking to provide TV service should hold off on investment because of the uncertain future of the broadcast television market, according to 3Macs analyst Troy Crandall. At the recent CRTC...

Nancy Chapelle new head of Bell Fund

Media | 12/11/2014 10:05 pm EST

Nancy Chapelle has been named as the new executive director of the Bell Fund, effective Jan. 5, the fund said in a press release issued Thursday. Chapelle was previously the managing director of content and programming at Ontario public broadcaster TVO, it added. The fund directs money contributed from BCE Inc.’s operations to independent...

TVA shareholders file complaint with Quebec’s market regulator

Media | 12/11/2014 9:21 pm EST

Some shareholders in Quebecor Inc.’s TVA Group have filed an “investigation request” with the financial market regulator in Quebec, according to a press release issued Thursday....

CBC cuts local TV newscasts, adds French digital services

Media | 12/11/2014 8:26 pm EST

CBC/Radio-Canada is making changes to its news operations across Canada, cutting back on the length of its evening TV newscasts and introducing new French-language digital content. The public broadcaster said in a Thursday press release that its 90-minute local English TV newscasts will switch to either a 60-minute or a 30-minute format, and that it will begin televising its local Radio One morning shows. There will also be new “local hourly news breaks” on television throughout the day, CBC said. The schedule and duration of local radio programs will not be affected, according...