The CRTC said Thursday it has approved the sale of an AM commercial radio station in Saint-Constant, Que., though the licence given is for a shorter timeframe than usual due to non-compliance issues the stations has faced. A notice on the CRTC's website said the sale of CJMS to Groupe Médias Pam Inc. from 3553230 Canada Inc. has been approved, though the broadcasting licence given will expire Aug. 31, 2017. Commercial radio licences are typically granted for seven years. Some of the infractions in recent of CJMS cited by the CRTC include failure to provide logger tapes and program...
On Wednesday, the Australian government said it would allow the blocking of foreign websites that offer illegal downloading and streaming, the same day that the file-sharing website Pirate Bay was taken offline after a raid by Swedish police. They’re only two of the latest headlines about an international issue that also affects the Canadian TV industry. But despite its high profile, the extent of the problem is, perhaps surprisingly, hard to detail. For various reasons, it’s hard to determine how much piracy is actually going on, Duncan Stewart, Deloitte Canada’s director...
OpenMedia, the Canadian-based promoter of open Internet policies, said Thursday one of its representatives will meet with negotiators of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and make demands for more transparency during the TPP...
The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday upheld the conviction of a man for armed robbery in a case where evidence gathered from his cellphone without a warrant was used in the trial against him....
The Canadian Media Fund (CMF) said Monday it was providing $11.8 million for 24 interactive digital-media projects across the country. The funding is the second round of the CMF's...
Bill C-8, officially known as the Combating Counterfeit Products Act, and Bill C-13, the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act, both received royal assent on Tuesday. Bill C-13 has been criticized by many, including Privacy...
Apple Inc. and International Business Machines (IBM) Corp. on Wednesday announced a new suite of business applications and cloud services for iPad and iPhone users. The companies said in a press release that IBM MobileFirst for iOS includes applications tailored for use in telecommunications, banking, retail, insurance, financial services, air travel and government. The offerings are the result of a partnership Apple and IBM announced in July to develop business applications for Apple's mobile devices. “Our collaboration combines IBM’s industry expertise and unmatched...
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien has joined 22 other privacy authorities from Canadian provinces and international jurisdictions calling on mobile-app marketplaces to require easily...
Telus Corp. said Wednesday it has launched Canada's "first Internet of Things marketplace" with an online offering of 38 different applications, and more to come, for business operations ranging from transportation...
Sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and the Wimbledon tennis championship helped push mobile video in the third quarter of 2014, with mobile and tablets views making up 30 per cent of all worldwide online video, according...
ZoomerMedia Ltd., the media company led by Moses Znaimer and that caters to the 45-years-and-older age group, is in talks to buy Quebecor Inc.'s Sun News Network, according to a report. Website Cartt reported Tuesday that...
OTTAWA — Lawyers for Hollywood production company Voltage Pictures LLC told a Federal Court judge in Ottawa on Monday that Teksavvy Solutions Inc. is using a previous judgment to “claw...
Nielsen Co. numbers show that viewership of traditional TV is dropping significantly among Americans 18 to 24. Duncan Stewart, Deloitte Canada’s director of technology, media and telecom, noted on his personal blog the...
Some TV-industry analysts who are among the early adopters of Rogers Communications Inc.'s and Shaw Communications Inc.’s Shomi are detailing problems they've experienced with the streaming service in...
The $4-a-month price tag for CraveTV, Bell Media’s new streaming service, is part of the company’s attempt to differentiate itself from competitors, according to Kevin Crull, president of BCE Inc.’s media division. “We’re not duplicating what you currently get from your TV subscription....
Wireless data will be the biggest and fastest-growing segment of global telecommunications spending next year, technology research firm International Data Corp. said Tuesday. IDC said in a press release that wireless data spending around the world will amount to $536 billion US, which would represent growth of 13 per cent over this year. This will prompt carriers to forge more entrenched partnerships with companies that develop applications and provide cloud services, forming revenue-sharing arrangements in many cases, as mobile carriers seek to "avoid being marginalized as little more...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division said Tuesday that customers of its coming video streaming service, code-named "Project Latte," will get a 24-hour head-start on regular TV watchers when it comes to consuming original Canadian programming. Bell Media said in a press release that Corner Gas: The Movie will the...
DHX Media Ltd. said Tuesday it has reached an agreement to purchase Vancouver-based children's content producer Nerd Corps Entertainment Inc. for $57 million. Halifax-based DHX, a broadcaster and producer of television...
BCE Inc. said Monday it will release “full details” of its upcoming video-streaming service, codenamed "Project Latte," on Wednesday. The company’s Bell Media division sent invitations to a media event in Toronto that it said would include a presentation, question-and-answer session and...
The launch of new streaming services from Canada’s biggest TV providers adds yet another option for viewers who want to catch up on or try out a new show, raising the question of whether they will complement — or...
A former marketing professional and now a critic of the industry has identified several BCE Inc. employees he says have been writing positive reviews of one of their own company's products on Apple Inc.'s App Store. Scott Stratten, president of UnMarketing, wrote in a blog post this week that he has linked positive reviews of MyBell Mobile with different Bell employees, by tracing their names through the professional social networking site, LinkedIn. Bell employees identified on Stratten's blog as making these reviews include associate director Mike McEnery, performance manager Charbel Nassif, marketing manager Steph Steen, computer applications support associate Vince Caputo, IT executive Saad Saade and senior project manager Tori Brown. Bell spokesman Paolo Pasquini said...
A pair of non-Canadian TV services were approved for distribution in Canada by the CRTC on Wednesday, a professional wrestling channel and another specializing in Greek sporting events. One notice on the CRTC website said...
Representatives of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) union are in Ottawa this week, trying to drum up federal-government support of Canada's cultural industries. ACTRA said in a press...
Videology Inc., the New York-based provider of video-advertising services, announced three appointments to its staff in Canada on Wednesday. The company said in a press release that Peter Bates in now the senior commercial media...
BCE Inc. has proposed to the CRTC that it pay $16 million in support for TV and radio programming in Canada in relation to divestments required as part of its purchase of Astral Media Inc. last year....
BCE Inc.’s "Project Latte" has signed a deal for several new series that will only be available on the streaming platform, and not on linear television. The company said in a press release Tuesday that it has signed a deal with Lionsgate for Manhattan, a drama that will “only be available to...
More than one-third of U.S. smartphone users conduct video calls over their devices, and this activity is expected to grow in popularity around the world, technology research company Gartner Inc. said...
Google Inc. is launching a new approach to Internet advertising in the United States that uses a subscriber model to replace ads on certain websites. With Google Contributor, users can choose to pay...
Shomi, the online streaming service owned by Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., said Friday it has partnered with Twitter Inc. for a marketing campaign. Shomi said in a press release it will be the...
Rogers Communications Inc. on Thursday defended itself against a complaint to the CRTC from BCE Inc. about its online NHL hockey content, saying Bell's application is simply an attempt to "hinder" efforts to provide customers with innovative products. In October, Bell launched an application before the commission that said the way Rogers was distributing its online NHL products GameCentre Live and GamePlus constituted an undue preference. In a statement to the CRTC, obtained by The Wire Report, Rogers said: "This application is nothing more than Bell’s attempt to use the Commission’s regulatory processes to inhibit or hinder our ability to...
Three industry observers, including two academics, have released an open letter to senior government officials that seeks strong measures to temper the power of major players in the telecommunications industry. The letter comes...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division cut 80 full-time jobs, the company confirmed Thursday. Bell Media said in an emailed statement that the operation, which includes CTV, CTV News Channel, TSN, and various other TV and radio properties, represents about 1.3 per cent of Bell Media's workforce....
The latest report on Internet usage from Sandvine Inc. shows average monthly data downloaded on fixed-line Internet accounts in North America was up about 30 per cent in the second half of 2014 compared to a year earlier. The...
Yahoo Inc. and Mozilla Corp. announced Wednesday they have reached an agreement that makes Yahoo the default browser on Mozilla's Firefox Internet browser in the United States for desktops and mobile devices. The agreement...
MONTREAL — CBC/Radio-Canada employees grilled CEO Hubert Lacroix over cuts to the public broadcaster during its annual public meeting in Montreal Wednesday. Radio-Canada journalist Charles Tisseyre, host of Decouverte, on stage as part of a panel discussion, said the cuts have meant delaying the science magazine show’s season premiere and showing more reruns. “I have been with Radio-Canada for 40 years. I haven’t seen anything but rounds of budget cuts,” he said. “We went too far. We don’t have enough resources to do what we need to do and...
Telus Corp. communicated with high-ranking members of the federal government in October, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper about the company’s health-care operations, according to the lobbying registry. The Oct. 2...
Shomi, the new streaming service from Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., announced Wednesday that it had signed a content deal with the Walt Disney Co. Under the terms of the deal, Shomi will offer a selection of Disney’s film library, as well as current and past TV...
Canadian broadcast distributors need to do more to increase awareness and usage of their TV-everywhere products, according to Gord Hendren, president of Charlton Strategic Research, which produced a report on the subject....
Canada’s largest media companies take it as a given that the current market for advertising on traditional broadcast media is weak, but experts say broadcasting is shifting to a new normal as online advertising becomes the...
Telus Corp. has filed a letter with the CRTC that supports BCE Inc.'s complaint against Rogers Communications Inc.'s online hockey streaming products. In October, Bell said in a filing to the commission that Rogers is...
Google Inc.'s wearable device, Glass, is seeing a decline in interest among the public and application developers, according to an article by Reuters. The article, published Friday, said nine out of 16 app makers it contacted...
Telus Corp. on Monday announced two new products it said can help businesses take advantage of cloud computing. One is called Cloud Collaboration, which Telus said in a press release is a suite of cloud-based communications...
It makes sense that David Cormican is optimistic about the impact new streaming services will have on Canadian producers. He’s halfway through the shoot of a new show called Between. It's a teenager-focused drama about a group of youth quarantined by the government after the outbreak of a mysterious disease. It...
Quebecor Inc.'s broadcasting operation TVA Group said Thursday it has reached an agreement to purchase film- and TV-production company Vision Globale for about $118 million. TVA said the transaction is subject to approval by the Competition Bureau. "The purpose of this asset acquisition is to invest in growth sectors that are a good fit with TVA Group's current activities, with the effect of diversifying our sources of revenues, which are currently largely dependent on our conventional television network's advertising," Quebecor CEO Pierre Dion said in a news release....
The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group said Wednesday that it has made Rob Bye permanent general manager of its Victoria radio stations. It said in a press release that Bye had been managing CKKQ-FM and CIZN-FM in Victoria on an interim basis for the last six months, and that role has now been made permanent. It said Bye will...
BlackBerry Ltd. on Thursday announced the availability of its latest system for enterprise management of mobile devices. The new system is called BES12, which BlackBerry said in a press release "is the foundation for...
The CRTC said Thursday that it has ordered a Vancouver-area radio station found to be transmitting signals from the United States back to its home base in British Columbia to cease these operations before the end of the day. A...
The software and consulting subsidiary of Numeris has followed the lead of its parent company and dropped BBM from its moniker. BBM Analytics is now known as NLogic, according to a Thursday press release. Its parent company...
Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday released its new Lumia 535 smartphone. The 535 is the first of the Lumia series of phones not to carry the Nokia brand. Microsoft completed its purchase of Nokia Corp.'s devices and services business in April. Microsoft said in a blog post that the new phone features Windows Phone 8.1 software. The 535 has a 5-megapixel front and rear camera, with built-in applications such as Lumia Selfie and Skype to take advantage of that hardware, the company said. Microsoft also highlighted the ability to edit documents with Microsoft Office on the Lumia 535, as well as...
The federal government is poised to introduce rules that would ensure retailers can opt out of accepting payments though smartphone applications while still maintaining contactless-payment processing...
CBC/Radio Canada and The Weather Network announced a content-sharing agreement on Monday. CBC and Pelmorex Media Inc.'s Weather Network said in a press release that, starting Dec. 8, national weather forecasts on CBC News...
Toronto-based wearable technology maker Bionym is partnering with the Royal Bank of Canada and MasterCard for a Canadian test of wristbands that act as payment tools. Kurt Bartlett, a spokesman for Bionym, said in an email that...
The video-streaming service to be launched by BCE Inc. has obtained rights to episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, the company said Monday. Bell said the streaming service, currently...
Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook Inc., on Monday launched its advertising program in Canada. The company said in a press release the first ads, or promoted posts, that show up in users’ feeds will be from...
The CRTC is concerned with “much bigger issues with greater ramifications down the road” than the question of whether it will regulate over-the-top (OTT) services like Netflix, CRTC...
BCE Inc. on Thursday reported higher revenue and profit numbers for the third quarter as it added subscribers to its its wireless, Internet and TV businesses and saw a jump in mobile-data revenue. The company said in a press...
Quebecor Inc. reported overall revenue growth for the third quarter that was almost flat, as growth in its telecommunications services was offset by decline in its media segment. The company said in documents posted on its website Thursday that overall revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 was $1.02 billion, down 0.2...
Netflix isn’t the only game in town anymore. In recent weeks, Canadian and American TV giants have made a number of announcements about new over-the-top (OTT) video services — HBO and CBS revealing new streaming products in the United States, Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. launching Shomi, and BCE Inc. announcing “Project Latte.” Whichever service consumers across North America choose, the signals will travel over much of the same Internet network, and how well that network is prepared for the increased demand is a complicated question,...
Janice Smith is the new vice-president of national media sales at Rogers Communications Inc. The company said in a press release Thursday that Smith will be “responsible for delivering the compelling and differentiated...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said on Wednesday there are three TV services lined up to carry its recently announced video streaming service, two of which are in the Bell family as well as Telus Corp.'s Optik TV service. Bell Media said in a press release that the service, code-named "Project Latte," will be...
Canadian law enforcement and government agencies asked Facebook Inc. for users’ data more times in the first six months of 2014 than in the same period last year, the social networking platform...
The CRTC has approved an application by BCE Inc'.s Bell Aliant for a licence to operate a pay-per-view service, the commission said Tuesday. It added that “the service will primarily offer live and tape-delayed sports...
Toronto-based Fuse Powered Inc., which runs a mobile-app publishing and monetization platform, said Tuesday it has purchased Corona Labs Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that also makes software for developers of mobile apps. Fuse said in a news release that the two companies would have a combined reach of more than 200 million active users "with a powerful combined platform supporting more than 10,000 mobile game and app publishers worldwide." The company said the purchase "accelerates Fuse's agenda of bringing its next generation of mobile monetization products to the market and significantly expands the company's existing presence in San Francisco and Silicon Valley." Fuse has its headquarters in Toronto, with offices in San Francisco and London. Financial terms of the acquisition were not...
Television Bureau of Canada (TVB) president and CEO Theresa Treutler will leave the organization by the end of the year, the company announced Tuesday.. TVB said in a press release that her replacement hasn’t yet been named...
Shomi, the online streaming service being offered by Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., will launch Tuesday, the companies said Monday. It will be available initially to TV and Internet subscribers of Rogers...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said Monday that Mary Ann Turcke was appointed group president of its media sales division for local TV and radio. Bell Media said, effective immediately, Turcke fills the role that was held by Luc...
BCE Inc. said Monday that its acquisition of Bell Aliant Inc. is complete. It said that on Friday, it gained control through compulsory acquisition of the last 12 million shares of Bell Aliant that had not been tendered. Before...
Shomi, the video-streaming service being launced next week by Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., said Friday it has signed a deal with BBC’s commercial arm that will grant it exclusive access to some...
BlackBerry Ltd. on Friday announced new privacy measures for its BBM messaging service that will eventually be offered, along with other services, for a fee. One such feature allows users to set a time when their sent messages...
When Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence wore a leather jacket to the announcement of his company's latest project —a $100 million joint venture with Vice Media Inc. —the unconventional outfit emphasized...
Several new options for online television are about to become available in Canada. On Thursday BCE Inc. announced a new streaming service it's currently code-naming "Project Latte." The service, operated by the Bell Media division, will be available to TV service providers across the country, pending...
John Bitove is stepping down as chairman of satellite radio operator Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc., the company said Thursday. SiriusXM Canada said in a press release that Bitove, who among other things is the founder of wireless carrier Mobilicity, will resign from the chairmanship but seek election as a director on the board at the company's annual meeting in January. SiriusXM Canada said its board has nominated current director and former Rogers Media president Tony Viner to become the next chairman....
Microsoft Corp. announced a new group of products designed to help customers monitor and track their health on Wednesday, including a fitness band and a cloud platform for health data. The $199 US Microsoft Band wearable device...
Internet and television have become more prominent as primary news sources for anglophone-Canadian adults over the last two years at the expense of print media and radio, according to a new report. Media Technology Monitor (MTM),...
The CRTC has awarded the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) about three-quarters of the costs it had requested for its participation in an ongoing mobile-TV complaint. PIAC had asked for $39,324.66 in costs for its...
CBC/Radio-Canada says it will either break even or earn a profit on its acquisition of the broadcasting rights for the 2018 Olympics in South Korea and the 2020 Olympics in Japan. During a conference...
The CRTC said Tuesday that it will start seeking public comment on applications for new radio stations. In an online notice publishing results of a yearlong review of the commercial radio sector, the commission said it will issue notices of consultation upon receiving an application for a new station. It said it will do so before issuing a call for competitive applications for other stations on the same frequency in part to determine whether such a call should be made. The CRTC said it will issue a notice of consultation even in cases where an application meets the criteria for an exception...
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority said Tuesday it has appointed Steven Barry as its director of information technology. CIRA said in a news release that Barry has more than 20 years of experience as an IT executive,...
Google Inc.'s YouTube streaming service is exploring possible subscription models, according to report by Re/code. The technology news website reported Monday that YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said during an on-stage interview...
Amazon.com Inc. said Monday it is introducing a new over-the-top streaming device called the Fire TV Stick. The device is just a few inches long, plugs directly into a television’s HDMI port and picks up a home's WiFi...
On Monday the CRTC denied a request from two Newcap Inc. television stations in Lloydminster, Alta., for lenience on meeting the regulator's quotas for providing local content. The two channels,...
Notwithstanding Guy Lawrence's recent remarks about rival BCE Inc. being a "crybaby," a market analyst says Rogers Communications Inc.’s strategy for NHL streaming could be affected by Bell's recent CRTC complaint. The analysis follows last week’s complaint by Bell that Rogers is contravening...
The CRTC said Friday that it has denied a request by Allarco Entertainment Inc. to modify the licence of its Super Channel specialty channel. The CRTC said Allarco had “proposed a modification to the service’s...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. has named Stephane Boisvert its senior vice-president of global sales. In a press release Friday, Stingray said Boisvert would “ensure that sales for all our markets continue to grow, and accelerate the growth of Stingray sales worldwide.” Boisvert was previously president and...
Canada's two biggest cable companies on Thursday reported losses of more than 100,000 television subscribers each over the last year. Roger Communications Inc.'s earnings release showed that it had 2.04 million TV subscribers at the end of the third quarter on Sept. 30, down 111,000 from a year earlier. Shaw...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Wednesday that Jack Tomik is stepping down as senior vice-president of media sales at the end of this month and being replaced by Al Dark. Rogers said in a press release that Tomik's departure comes after the successful implementation of a new multiplatform sales model. Coincidentally, Dark took Tomik's place as general manager of CBC/Radio-Canada's revenue group two years ago when Tomik first came to Rogers. Dark joined Rogers in April this year as vice-president of national sales....
BCE Inc. has filed a challenge with the CRTC against Rogers Communications Inc.’s plan to offer its own customers free access to its NHL streaming product until the end of the year as well as exclusive content while watching games. Bell claims the free trial of Rogers’ NHL GameCentre, announced in September,...
A survey of U.S. consumers shows about 40 per cent of those working for large organizations use their own technology for work purposes at least some of the time. Gartner Inc. said in a press release Tuesday that its study found...
Laura Pearce is the new vice-president of brand strategy and fan engagement at Blue Ant Media Inc. “Her expertise will be a key asset in growing the company’s 10 media brands, including Cottage Life, T+E, Oasis and...
While the announcement that Rogers Communications Inc. and Netflix Inc. are working together on an original TV series marked an unprecedented collaboration between the two rivals, it’s a logical...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Friday it purchased Telefonica SA's pay-TV music service, which operates in six counties in Latin America plus Portugal. Montreal-based Stingray said in a press release it is taking over the Onthespot music service that operates in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Portugal. The service is being rebranded as Stingray Music, it added. Mathieu Peloquin, spokesman for Stingray, said this acquisition brings its subscriber base in Latin America to about 30 million. He said it was at around two million at the start of this year...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Friday that Nitin Kawale will head its enterprise unit starting Dec. 1. Kawale, who joins the company after six years as president of the Canadian division of Cisco Systems Inc., will have...
Canadian telecom service providers got more money from their customers last year largely as a result of increased wireless data usage and demand for faster Internet, the CRTC said Thursday. Overall...
Astral Out-of-Home, the BCE Inc. division that provides street furniture and public advertising, announced Thursday that it is installing 40 4K screens at transit shelters in downtown Toronto. The 84-inch screens will be used for...
Shaw Communications Inc. has reached a sponsorship deal with the operators of the Ottawa Convention Centre, resulting in the venue being renamed the Shaw Centre, effective immediately. Shaw said in a press release that the...
CBS Corp. is the latest U.S. media company to say it will start providing consumers with an online option for accessing video content without the need to subscribe to a television service. The company said in a press release...
Eastlink announced a wireless TV service Thursday that will allow customers to use the company’s Maestro DVRs wirelessly on up to six different TVs. The company said in a news release the DVRs will record up to six programs...
Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron on Thursday announced three senior-level appointments in the marketing department of existing employees, two of which had managers becoming vice-presidents. Julie Brault was named vice-president of...
TD Canada Trust announced Thursday it has introduced a way for customers to deposit cheques in their bank account by taking a photo with their mobile phone through the bank’s mobile app. The bank also said business...
The Internet of Things has been compared to the Industrial Revolution in terms of its eventual impact, though the general public is not yet fully aware of it nor convinced of its value, according to a recent study. That’s the takeaway from a study of U.S. residents by Acquity Group, a marketing and research firm owned by Accenture Inc., which found that 87 per cent of consumers hadn’t heard of the term “the Internet of Things.” Practical consumer applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) enabled by machine-to-machine communication (M2M), such as smart-home...
