The Ontario government has renewed Peter O'Brian as chairman of the board for the province's public broadcaster TVO for the next two years, the organization said Thursday. TVO said in a press release that O'Brian has been in this role since 2005. O'Brian is a film producer and director whose works have won 19 Genie awards, the TVO website says. Some of his films include The Grey Fox, My American Cousin and One Magic Christmas. O'Brian is married to Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, according to her profile on the Liberal Party's website....
Netflix Inc. said Wednesday that subscriber growth in both the United States and internationally was less than it expected in the third quarter. "We added about a million new members in the U.S., ending Q3 with 37.22 million members, with lower net additions than our forecast and versus the prior year," Netflix said in a letter to shareholders. It added that it saw an additional two million members internationally to bring that number to 15.84 million members, also less than forecast. Netflix does not disclose Canadian subscriber numbers. Media Technology Monitor, a project of...
When CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais faced off against Netflix Inc. in September, his ordering of the U.S.-based streaming service to give the CRTC information it had previously refused to provide...
Home Box Office (HBO) Inc. will offer an over-the-top service that does not require a paid TV subscription in 2015, CEO Richard Plepler reportedly said on Wednesday. Multiple media outlets reported that Plepler, speaking at an...
French bank Groupe BPCE announced Tuesday what it called a "world first in the payment-media field" in allowing payments to be made via Twitter. It said in a press release it has created, in partnership with its...
BCE Inc. said Tuesday that its chief financial officer, Siim Vanaselja, will retire in the second quarter of next year. The company said in a press release that he will be replaced by Glen LeBlanc, currently chief financial officer of BCE-controlled Bell Aliant Inc. BCE also said the transaction to take control of all shares of Bell Aliant it does not...
Sonja Chong has been named a part-time member of the board of directors for CBC/Radio-Canada. Heritage Minister Shelly Glover announced Chong's appointment Monday in a press release that also said Chong would serve at term of five years. Chong has been involved in income-tax consulting since 1985, and is a partner with Harris & Chong LLP, Chartered Accountants, in Toronto, according to the release. She is chairwoman of the Canadian Foundation for Chinese Heritage Preservation, a former president of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association and a regular media commentator on...
Notices issued by the CRTC on Tuesday and Friday indicated two out of three British Columbia radio stations accused of broadcasting in Canada without a licence will not appear at a scheduled hearing...
Rogers Communications Inc. said Tuesday that Jacob Glick will start work next month in the newly created position of chief corporate affairs officer. Previously, Glick headed Google Inc.'s global public policy and government relations team, and before that took on the same responsibilities...
TekSavvy Solutions Inc. said Monday it has purchased an Ottawa-area software company called Openjive Inc. Independent ISP TekSavvy said in a press release that Openjive's programs, including Lingo, integrate platforms from...
Music-streaming service Spotify has launched an app called “Listen like a Canadian” that promotes Canadian music to listeners. The new app from Spotify, which recently launched service in Canada, allows listeners to...
A merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. has been the subject of speculation for years. As the various industries these companies participate in — broadcasting, TV distribution, landline phone services, Internet and, in Rogers' case, mobile — change rapidly, at least one...
Independent broadcaster Blue Ant Media Inc. will make 200 hours of 4K, or ultra high-definition, “nature and wildlife” content each year, the company said in a press release Wednesday. “Over 150 hours of...
The Television Bureau of Canada has released what it says are the first statistics on viewership of broadcast distributors’ video-on-demand (VOD) platforms, which show an additional four to nine per cent of viewers use VOD...
OTTAWA — NDP Leader Tom Mulcair on Wednesday denounced Heritage Minister Shelly Glover's statements that ruled out regulation for online video services such as Netflix and YouTube, which...
Quebecor Inc.'s controlling shareholder Pierre Karl Péladeau said he'll put his holdings in the company in a blind trust if he becomes leader of the sovereigntist Parti Québécois (PQ), reports indicated Wednesday. However, he called a motion to ban members of the provincial legislature like him from owning a controlling stake in media companies "outrageous," different articles indicated. CTV reported that Francois Legault, leader of the CAQ party, has...
Rogers Communications Inc. has sold out advertising for the opening week of the NHL hockey season, which begins Wednesday, Rogers spokeswoman Jennifer Kett said in an email. “For NHL opening week alone, we’ve closed...
Facebook Inc.'s purchase of instant messaging company WhatsApp Inc. closed Monday, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Details of the filing show the final value as $4.59 billion US in...
The conventional broadcasting sector should be deregulated, a move that should include the elimination of Canadian content rules, preponderance rules and foreign ownership restrictions, Fraser...
Quebecor Inc. says there is no connection between the $316-million proposed sale of its English-language newspapers to Postmedia Network Canada Corp. and its intention of expanding its mobile services...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced it is releasing a new hockey app that will give customers access to new camera angles and additional content like interviews and analysis. “Exclusive to Rogers’ customers, and it is the ultimate second-screen experience,” said Rogers Media president Keith Pelley at the launch event in Toronto on Monday. “It allows our customers to select replays, to pick camera angles, to be the producer, to be the director.” The GamePlus app is available to those who subscribe to Rogers’ NHL GameCentre Live streaming service, which was...
A coalition of some of the biggest Internet companies in the United States criticized Canada in a report released Tuesday for being a laggard in the usage and development of Internet technology to grow the economy. The Internet...
The European Commission said Friday that it has approved Facebook Inc.'s proposed $19-billion US acquisition of instant messaging service WhatsApp Inc. The commission said in a news release that Facebook's Messenger application and WhatsApp "are not close competitors and that consumers would continue to have a wide choice of alternative...
In the past, an aspiring broadcast distributor had no choice but to go to the CRTC and get a licence before they launched their cable or satellite business. Now, in theory at least, they can bypass the entire process by launching...
BCE Inc. and Bell Aliant Inc. said Friday that a vast majority of the common shares of the latter have been tendered to the former, and that the whole deal should be completed on or around the end of this month. The companies...
Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday its customers can now access TV-everywhere products for BCE Inc.’s TSN and Rogers Communication Inc.’s Sportsnet specialty channels. “Through Sportsnet Now, Shaw Cable and...
Odyssey Television Network Inc., which operates channels in Canada with Greek-oriented programming, is sponsoring a sports channel from Greece to be authorized for distribution in Canada. OTN's application was posted to the...
Netflix Inc. said Thursday it has reached a deal to premiere four movies that will star and be produced by comedic actor Adam Sandler. The announcement comes just days after Netflix revealed plans to release its first original...
The CRTC on Thursday awarded Quebecor Inc.'s Sun News Network a victory in one of two arbitration cases involving its carriage with broadcaster distributors, though it sided with the service provider in another. In a dispute...
Cineplex Inc. says it will not show movies at the same time they are made available by Netflix Inc. This comes after Netflix said it is releasing its first original movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend, on Aug. 28 for streaming on Netflix and public showings in Imax theatres. Cineplex' website lists 20 locations across Canada where it operates Imax theatres. In a statement emailed to The Wire Report Wednesday, Cineplex spokesman Mike Langdon said: "We believe the theatrical window is an important component of the overall movie sales cycle. "Playing...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media said Wednesday it has invested $5 million in cash in Hubub Inc., and made commitments for millions of dollars more, to develop and promote the company's website and application that facilitates online...
Newcap Inc. has been denied a request to the CRTC to expand the signal strength of a radio station in Kelowna, B.C., on the grounds it would add another station to the market of Penticton, B.C., about 60 kilometres south. The...
Netflix Inc. has gained more than 100,000 subscribers in France two weeks after launching in the country, according to a newspaper report on Tuesday. French newspaper Le Figaro attributed the figure to anonymous sources and drew...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. is getting rid of its Galaxie brand for audio channels on subscription-TV services, putting all its services under the Stingray brand, and launching a new streaming app, the company said in a press...
Netflix Inc. said Tuesday it would have its first original movie next summer. It said in a press release that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend will premiere on Netflix simultaneously with showings in Imax theatres around the world on Aug. 28 next year. The movie is the next chapter in the Ang Lee martial arts series. Netflix said this will be the first of many movies it backs that will premiere simultaneously on Netflix and with showings in Imax theatres, "giving consumers and exhibitors around the world unparalleled flexibility in how, when and where they enjoy a major...
EBay Inc. said Tuesday that its EBay and PayPal divisions will split into two separate companies next year. The companies said in a press release the two divisions would spin off from each other in the second half of 2015, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions. "As independent...
Companies associated with Quebecor Inc. were given the go-ahead on Tuesday to add English programming to its French-language pay-per-view service, Canal Indigo. A decision posted on the CRTC's website said the service will...
The CRTC said Monday it will remove all evidence presented by Netflix Inc. and Google Inc., including oral and written presentations, from the Let’s Talk TV process, following the...
The federal government’s pursuit of a consumer-driven broadcasting policy instead of a more comprehensive digital strategy has left the CRTC in a difficult position when it comes to regulating Internet video services, says...
Documents from the CRTC indicate its officials felt that if conventional television broadcasters from the United States had the right to negotiate their carriage by Canadian service providers, they would have "little bargaining power" due to their "marginal viewership" in Canada. "Since Canadian...
The C.D. Howe Institute released a report on Thursday that said the CRTC's proposal to mandate pick-and-pay television is "deeply misguided" and would be "irrelevant at best" and "harmful at...
Shaw Communications Inc. said Wednesday that Steve Wilson, its executive vice-president of corporate development and chief financial officer, will retire next year. It said in a press release that Wilson, who has been the...
Bell Aliant Inc. president and CEO Karen Sheriff will retire at the end of the year, BCE Inc., which is buying out Bell Aliant, said in a joint press release with its acquisition target on Wednesday. “Taking over in an aggressively competitive environment, she initiated a plan of corporate transformation and strategic priority-setting, and led...
Experts say that while CRTC must somehow respond to the refusal of Netflix Inc. to give the commission information it had been ordered to provide by CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais during a hearing last week, the government's stated refusal to tax and regulate online-video services cannot be ignored. On Friday, Blais repeatedly ordered the U.S. video-streaming company to provide information, such as its Canadian subscriber numbers and expenditures, which the company said Monday evening it would not provide. CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao said Tuesday the regulator had no comment...
Telus Corp. and technology maker Mojio Inc. announced on Tuesday they will team up to provide a connected-car service in Canada before the end of this year. In a joint press release, the companies said the service will use...
Netflix Inc. will not produce some of the information CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais ordered from it last week. “While Netflix has responded to a number of the CRTC's requests, we are not in a position to produce...
The CRTC has dismissed an undue-preference complaint against BCE Inc. filed by a company that plans to launch an over-the-top (OTT) TV service, though the decision was not unanimous. Leiacomm...
Shaw Communications Inc. has applied to the CRTC for a broadcasting licence for a new national all-news channel. The company said in a press release Monday that the channel would “feature a national newsfeed bookended by...
John Boynton and Shelagh Stoneham, two Rogers Communications Inc. executives who left in the wake of its corporate overhaul this year, have both found other jobs. Boynton, formerly the chief marketing officer at Rogers, is now the chief marketing officer for Canada at Aimia Inc., a customer loyalty company that owns and operates the Aeroplan loyalty program, Aimia said in a press release earlier this month. Shelagh Stoneham, Rogers’ former senior vice-president of brands and marketing communications, will join Shoppers Drug Mart as senior vice-president of marketing on Sept. 29,...
GATINEAU, Que. — During the sometimes-contentious appearance by Netflix Inc. on the last day the CRTC’s two-week hearings on the future of television, CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais repeatedly ordered the U.S....
GATINEAU, Que. — Asian Television Network International Ltd. was one of a number of ethnic broadcasters with Category A third-language channels who on Thursday urged the CRTC, as part...
With Canada's two biggest cable companies on the verge of launching an online streaming service, an Internet analytics company says the market is ripe for a new over-the-top (OTT) service in Canada. Sandvine Inc. issued a press release Thursday with various data about online traffic, including that Netflix...
BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday that its mobile payment application will be made available to iPhone and Android smartphone users in Indonesia in early 2015. The company said in a press release that...
Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence told a CIBC investor conference in Montreal on Wednesday that his company's upcoming over-the-top (OTT) programming service, Shomi, isn't meant to be the ultimate solution for streaming users. "We're not trying to kill Netflix here," he said. "This is a...
Mobile online video viewing doubled around the world over the last year and accounted for 27 per cent of all online video viewing in this year's second quarter, Ooyala Inc. said in a report released Monday. The report said...
A report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada shows that, for the first time ever, there was more revenue in this country last year in Internet advertising than television. In a report released Wednesday, the IAB...
GATINEAU, Que. — Independent ISP TekSavvySolutions Inc. told the CRTC Tuesday it is considering becoming a TV distributor, on the same day that it announced a “partnership” with Hastings Cable Vision Ltd., an...
A Minneapolis-St. Paul ABC affiliate is asking the CRTC to remove it from its list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution. An application from Hubbard Broadcasting Inc. (HBI), owner of the channel in question, KSTP-TV, appeared on the commission's website on Tuesday. A letter from Hubbard, dated Feb. 20, refers to being notified of its inclusion to the list after decision No. 98-17, which was issued by the CRTC in January 1998 and made KSTP and WFTC, also in Minneapolis, eligible for carriage on Canadian satellite services. "HBI does not nor has it ever...
Shaw Communications Inc. on Tuesday announced it is promoting Barbara Williams and giving her two new titles. The company said in a press release that Williams is now president of Shaw Media and executive vice-president of...
GATINEAU, Que. —Walt Disney Co. on Monday warned the CRTC against a move toward pick-and-pay television. Susan Fox, Disney’s vice-president of government relations, told the commission that having broad distribution...
Google Inc. on Monday announced a new smartphone, known as Android One, it will make available first in India and other developing countries in the near future. Google said in a blog post that the new product represents the...
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday his government is determined not to tax Internet services such as Netflix and YouTube In a wide-ranging speech in Ottawa to kick off the new parliamentary session, he also mentioned the...
GATINEAU, Que. — Telus Corp. says it is “very concerned” Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. are using the beta-test phase of their recently launched over-the-top (OTT) service to give themselves an undue preference. Rogers and Shaw announced the launch of the Netflix-style service called Shomi in late August. The service will initially be available only to those who subscribe to Internet or TV services through Shaw or Rogers, though Rogers Media president Keith Pelley has said he is “comfortable” other broadcaster distributors will jump on...
GATINEAU, Que. — You can’t assume that young people who have never had subscription-TV service will eventually get it, Ken Engelhart, Rogers Communications Inc.’s vice-president of...
The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group on Thursday announced that Heidi Rasmussen has been made general manager of two radio stations in Winnipeg. It said in a press release that Rasmussen would be...
Gold Line Telemanagement Inc. has been granted licences to operate broadcast distribution services for markets in Ontario and British Columbia, the CRTC said Thursday. Postings on commission's website said the company was...
BlackBerry Ltd. on Thursday announced it had acquired Movirtu, a United Kingdom-based maker of technology that creates "virtual identity solutions' for smartphones. BlackBerry said in a press release that Movirtu's technology helps companies manage cellphones in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and...
Heritage Minister Shelly Glover says the government will not allow new taxes or regulations on Internet-based television services. Glover, the federal minister responsible for the CRTC, said so in a statement sent Monday night...
GATINEAU, Que. — BCE Inc. executives asked the CRTC Wednesday to put in place a “local specialty” model for local television stations, which it said are no longer financially sustainable. “The economics of...
Four years after Videotron flipped the switch on a new wireless network, the carrier is launching an LTE network that president and CEO Manon Brouillette says will help the company deliver TV content to its mobile customers....
Viacom Inc. and Sony Corp. said Wednesday they have reached a "landmark agreement" that sees at least 22 Viacom channels being carried on Sony's cloud-based TV service when it launches. The two companies said in a...
Rogers Communications Inc.’s CEO on Tuesday said his competitors underestimate the value of wireless spectrum — something Rogers spent multiple times more money on than any other company in this year’s 700 MHz auction — though he added his company has some “dreadful” customer service that needs to be improved upon. Guy Laurence said during the BMO Media and Telecom Conference in Toronto that his company spent almost $3.3 billion in that auction, while other companies failed to appreciate how valuable such assets will become. "We have a real...
GATINEAU, Que. — In the second day of hearings in the CRTC's Let's Talk TV proceeding, a commission member asked Quebecor Inc. why, if over-the-top (OTT) services such as Netflix are such a hot commodity, it doesn't abandon traditional broadcasting in favour of an exclusively online video service. “If the danger is real, why not...
GATINEAU, Que. — A move by the CRTC to regulate over-the-top (OTT) video platforms could set a precedent for regulators in other countries, a Google Inc. lawyer told the commission on the first...
Twitter Inc. said Monday it is testing a program that allows users on its social network to make purchases with the push of a new button that will be included in tweets. The company said in a blog post that a "small...
A company controlled by former Canwest head Leonard Asper has received approval from the CRTC for an extreme-sports television channel. On Sept. 2, the CRTC said on its website that 2380393 Ontario Inc. has been approved for a...
The CRTC on Friday warned those with and those seeking television broadcast licences about "major changes" that could result from Let's Talk TV proceedings, public hearings for which start Monday. The commission said in an online posting that the review "may result in the adoption of major changes to the broadcasting system which will have an impact on current and future licensees, their conditions of licence and the regulations which govern their activities." The CRTC said changes implemented might affect broadcasting companies before their licences expire, adding that it would consider short-term licences in some cases "to allow for a more efficient transition towards the revised regulatory framework adopted as a result of the Let’s Talk TV...
HBO Canada, which is owned by BCE Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc., said Thursday it has obtained rights to past season libraries of all currently airing HBO shows. “For the first time ever, every episode of every season...
The latest numbers from the CRTC show Canadians are watching more television on more devices, though fewer people are subscribing to TV services and young adults are tuning out. The broadcasting portion of the CRTC's annual...
The CRTC has ordered Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. (ECG) to file quarterly reports containing its program grids for its specialty services that fall under the CRTC's exemption order for the 2014-2015 broadcast year. The...
Rogers Communications Inc.'s launch of a hockey streaming product shows the company wants to "build up its OTT [over-the-top] capabilities" as more TV viewers move away from linear...
On Wednesday the CRTC approved a move by Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron to drop the analog broadcast of TV channel ICI, an ethnic station from Montreal. The channel had originally signed a contract...
Shaw Communications Inc. announced Wednesday that Paul Robertson, president of Shaw Media, has died at 59. Robertson spent more than 30 years in the media industry, according to his LinkedIn page, serving in his current position since 2010 after spending 11 years at Corus Entertainment Inc., including time as president of that company’s...
Netflix Inc. on Tuesday announced a new recommendation feature that works through Facebook Inc.'s social network. The provider of online TV services said in a blog that, after viewing a program, users will be asked it they...
In a little more than a week, the people who make and produce, broadcast and distribute, analyze and report on the Canadian television industry will gather in Gatineau, Que., to spend two weeks talking about its future. The...
The CRTC on Tuesday said it has denied an application for a French-language TV channel that would target viewers aged 50 and older. The applicant was Le Groupe 50+ ltée, which was proposing a specialty Category B service called Canal 50+. The commission said in its decision, posted online, that the applicant did not propose a specific-enough format to ensure it did not compete with existing channels, including Canal Argent and TV5/UNIS. The CRTC noted that Quebecor Inc. intervened against the proposal and said that targeting an age group was too broad a category in proposing a new...
Netflix Inc. on Tuesday said it has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the proposed merger between Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. The petition submitted to the...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. officials say they’re confident the launch of their Shomi over-the-top video service will not eat into their cable business, though industry experts are less convinced. The companies on Tuesday announced they would launch a streaming service containing TV shows...
Online retailing giant Amazon.com Inc. has acquired game-streaming site Twitch Interactive Inc., Twitch CEO Emmett Shear announced Monday, with the deal coming in at just less than $1 billion US. Twitch.TV, which allows gamers to...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) said Monday its members have ratified a new three-year collective agreement with the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) and Institute of Communication...
Shaw Communications Inc. is stepping up its lobbying ahead of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV hearing in September, meeting with various MPs in their ridings as well senior public servants in Ottawa over the last month. Shaw reported the second-most communications with public office holders in July, the federal lobbyist registry shows, with 11, all on the subject of broadcasting, though some dealt with telecommunications as well. The cable and Internet provider trailed only the Mining Association of Canada, which reported 12 communications. Shaw is preparing for the CRTC hearings on the...
In documents submitted to the CRTC this week, BCE Inc. said it does not throttle mobile data traffic, though it’s prepared to if necessary, while Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said it does and...
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting warned Friday that adopting proposals for reform of the television industry such as pick-and-pay, as put forward by the CRTC, could cost the economy tens of thousands of jobs and billions of...
Rogers Communications Inc. has changed the pricing of data used by its Anyplace TV app, writing on its website that as of Aug. 18, standard data charges would apply to customers who use the app while on its wireless network....
Quebecor Inc. subsidiary Videotron has named Hugues Simard as its new senior vice-president and chief financial officer. The company said in a press release Thursday that Simard will be responsible for the “execution...
The CRTC is giving the public another chance to make its views known in the review of the national television industry through an online forum, and it has also narrowed down its priorities for discussion to four general areas....
Rogers Communications Inc. said Wednesday that Madeline Ziniak will step down as national vice-president of its OMNI Television network in October. The company said in a press release that Ziniak is recognized as a...
Some of the largest software and hardware makers in the world, including Microsoft Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Intel Corp., are choosing sides in a battle over...
BlackBerry Ltd. on Monday announced the creation of a new business unit comprised of what it called its "innovative technology assets." The company said in a press release that its new BlackBerry Technology Solutions (BTS) division would be comprised of its QNX embedded-software operations, Internet-of-Things...
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced on Thursday that it has reached an agreement to purchase SmartThings, a maker of a mobile platform that supports Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications and devices. Samsung said in a press release that SmartThings will continue to operate independently, though it will be moving its headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Palo Alto, Calif. The release said SmartThings' open platform supports more than 1,000 different devices and 8,000 applications that allow people to monitor, control and automate their homes remotely. The price of the transaction was not disclosed, though website TechCrunch reported that it was worth about $200 million US....
