A Vancouver radio station has received a renewal of its broadcast licence for the next five years, though it has been denied its request for relief on certain content requirements in the music it plays. The CRTC said on its website Thursday that CHLG-FM, owned by Newcap Inc., would have its licence renewed from Sept. 1 this year to Aug. 31, 2019. However, it was denied its request for lenience on requirements that at least 15 per cent of its music per week be devoted to one of several non-mainstream "special interest" music categories, and that 40 per cent of those selections,...
The CRTC said Wednesday it will hold a hearing this fall that considers three radio stations it says are in violation of the Broadcasting Act by operating out of British Columbia's Lower Mainland and having their signals transmitted from the United States back into Canada without a CRTC-issued licence. The operators in question are Radio India (2003) Ltd. and Radio Punjab Ltd. of Surrey, and Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc. of Richmond. The CRTC said in a notice on its website that, based in the information is has, it appears that all three are operating in Canada and having their...
Almost half of anglophone Canadians aged 18 or older own a tablet, according to a report released Tuesday from Media Technology Monitor. Tablet penetration has grown to 45 per cent of Anglos from 34 per cent in the same period...
Kevin Chan has been appointed Facebook Inc.'s head of public policy in Canada. Company spokeswoman Meg Sinclair said in an email to The Hill Times that Chan will be based in Ottawa and have an "ongoing dialogue with...
BCE Inc.'s TSN said Monday that it will debut its expanded format of five national broadcast feeds on Aug. 25. The sports specialty channel announced in May that its national broadcast channels would expand from two to five,...
The CRTC approved an ownership structure change for three channels owned by independent broadcaster Channel Zero Inc. Friday, and renewed its licences for Category B film channels Movieola and...
In 1985, a Los Angeles Times article explained that U.S. TV providers were planning to compete with “the burgeoning home-video business” that had “savaged” them by launching national pay-per-view (PPV) networks, which the Times explained was a “relatively new technology” allowing viewers to order programs much in the same way as “they buy movie theater tickets--or as they rent videocassettes.” Pay-per-view has continued chugging along in the three decades since, even as audiences moved from VCRs to DVDs to on-demand services like iTunes and...
The CRTC has granted a category B broadcasting licence to Starlight, a Canadian movie channel. The CRTC said the channel would “include Canadian feature films, Canadian feature documentaries, Canadian made-for-TV movies,...
Tracey Pearce is taking over for the recently departed Catherine MacLeod as the senior vice-president of specialty and pay channels at BCE Inc.’s media division, the company announced Thursday....
BCE Inc. reported higher profits and strong revenue growth at its wireless division in its second quarter report, released Thursday, but blamed the CRTC’s wireless code for a slowdown in...
The federal government and the European Union have reached “a complete text” on a free trade agreement, the department of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Development Canada said. This will allow for “translation and final legal review to commence” on the Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement...
Musicians and recording companies are seeking significantly more money from broadcasters and online streaming services in Canada for use of their recordings, according to applications filed with the Copyright Board of Canada....
Shaw Communications Inc.’s media division will launch a new specialty channel on Sept. 1 that it described as a "contemporary lifestyle network." The company said in a press release Friday that the channel, named...
Catherine MacLeod, the senior vice-president of specialty channels and Bell Media production, has resigned from BCE Inc.’s media subsidiary, according to an internal note to staff. MacLeod’s departure, which the note...
Unifor said in a press release Thursday it is “very pleased” with the conditions of the CRTC’s renewal of Rogers Communications Inc.’s television broadcasting licences. Thursday, the CRTC approved a number...
The CRTC said on Thursday it approved a number of licence renewals for stations owned by Rogers Communications Inc. and determined that Rogers qualified for a group-based approach to the licensing of its stations, giving the company more flexibility in its Canadian content spending. The CRTC also revoked licences for Rogers’ OMNI stations and said that it would issue new licences that would “have the effect of aligning the OMNI stations with a two-year renewal cycle along with other Rogers properties.” “The two-year licence terms granted for [the OMNI stations] will...
Rogers Communications Inc. announced Thursday that it has signed a 10-year broadcast deal with wrestling promoter and entertainment company WWE that will make Rogers the exclusive distributor for the company’s pay-per-view...
Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Dion announced a corporate reorganization Thursday as his company posted a $50.4 million net less before income taxes in its second quarter, down from a profit of $67.9 million before income taxes in the...
Quebecor Media Inc. announced Wednesday that Benoit Robert will join the company on Aug. 19 as president and CEO of its sports and entertainment group. The company said in a news release that Robert,...
Canada’s biggest television providers are divided over the future of audience measurement via the next generation of set-top boxes. As part of their submissions in the CRTC’s ongoing Let’s Talk TV consultation,...
Users of Netflix Inc.’s Canadian feed who feel like watching a few episodes of 30 Rock, Louie or Les Revenants will find themselves out of luck. But in a world where Canadians know these shows are available on Netflix’ U.S. service, accessing them can be as easy as installing an app or browser extension. Perhaps it’s no wonder millions of subscribers have chosen to. According to a recent report from CBC/Radio-Canada's Media Technology Monitor, a third of Canadians subscribe to Netflix, and a third of those use the U.S. version of the service, which has a larger library...
Rogers Communications Inc. has cut "several hundred middle management positions" and reduced the number of people working at the level of vice-president and above by 15 per cent, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday....
The CRTC has approved a broadcast licence for a French-language FM radio station in Ottawa that will play Christian music. The commission said on its website that it has approved the application made...
Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Netflix Inc. must pay Canadian songwriters and publishers for music videos viewed on their services, the Copyright Board of Canada ruled on Friday. The board certified two tariffs from the Society...
Netflix Inc.'s quarterly results, released Monday, showed the lowest level of global subscriber growth in a year. The online video-streaming service said in a letter to shareholders there were 50.05 million subscribers at the...
Over two months, Rogers Communications Inc. has gone from being dead last in Netflix Inc.'s ranking of Canadian Internet service providers' speeds to being sixth out of 16 with an average speed that has nearly doubled. In the latest ranking, released Monday, Netflix said Rogers had an average Internet speed of 2.95...
Amazon.com Inc. said Friday it has launched a monthly e-book subscription service in the U.S., giving users access to all they can read for $9.99 US a month. The product is called Kindle Unlimited, and will provide subscribers...
A deal between Netflix Inc. and Walt Disney Co. that will see Walt Disney Studios’ movies appear on Netflix’s Canadian streaming service as soon as eight months after they hit...
Facebook Inc. said in an online posting Thursday that it has begun testing a feature that allows users to purchase certain products without leaving the Facebook site. The social network operator said the function works...
Official Languages Commissioner Graham Fraser on Thursday warned CBC/Radio-Canada and the federal government about obligations they have to provide programming services in both official languages as the public broadcaster downsizes its operations in the coming years. Fraser said in a news release that "the public broadcaster will have to be very aware of the duties incumbent upon it under the Official Languages Act pertaining to English-speaking communities in Quebec and French-speaking communities in other parts of Canada, as well as the promotion of linguistic duality." The...
The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which owns the CFL's Ottawa Redblacks, said this week it has reached a 10-year deal with Telus Corp. to provide, among other things, free WiFi at the Redblacks' home stadium....
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it is cutting 18,000 jobs, most of them related to integrating the cellphone division of Nokia Corp., the acquisition of which closed in April. In a letter to employees,...
The CRTC has denied the addition of Arabic-language channel OSN Ya Hala HD to the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution. The commission said in a decision Wednesday that there was not enough...
CBC/Radio Canada said the 2014 FIFA World Cup was the most watched ever in Canada, with 30.7 million people viewing at least a portion of the month-long tournament. The broadcaster said in a release Monday that the July 13 final...
Time Warner Inc. turned down an acquisition offer from 21st Century Fox Inc., Reuters reported Wednesday. Citing anonymous sources, the news service said the bid was worth around $80 billion US, with 60 per cent in stock and 40 per cent in cash. Reuters noted the deal was a “move that would unite two of the world’s most powerful media conglomerates.” Fox “has indicated” that it would sell the news network CNN in order to satisfy regulatory requirements on the deal, the sources said....
Penetration of Netflix Inc.’s streaming service among anglophones in Canada is now at 32 per cent, with 28 per cent watching in a typical week, according new report. CBC/Radio-Canada's Media Technology Monitor said in a...
MONTREAL — Over the past month, 32 soccer teams played 64 matches in Brazil while millions around the world tuned in. As those transmissions were reaching their destinations around the globe, many of those signals were monitored through an unassuming office building near the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport in...
Scribble Technologies Inc., the Toronto-based provider of technology and services to help companies engage audiences online, said Tuesday it has purchased CoveritLive from U.S. digital content company...
The CRTC has approved a licence application by Telus Corp. to operate a pay-per-view service, the commission said Monday. A letter from Telus to the CRTC to support the application in October last year said the pay-per-view...
Corus Entertainment Inc. was granted amendments to its broadcasting licences for Teletoon, Teletoon Retro, Historia and Séries+ regarding minimum amounts to be spent on Canadian programming. The licences state that the...
LG Display Co. announced a technological breakthrough on Thursday that it says proves it is capable of developing TVs as big as 50 inches that can be rolled up like a yoga mat. The company said it in a press release it has been...
BCE Inc. is sponsoring an application from TV Media Planet Ltd. to have a Ukrainian television channel approved for distribution in Canada. The application appeared on the CRTC's website Thursday. An attached letter from TV...
Television and radio production house Corus Entertainment Inc. on Thursday reported a loss of $30 million in the third quarter of its fiscal year, although revenues were buoyed by its recent TV acquisitions including Teletoon....
BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. are shutting down their jointly-owned pay-per-view service, Viewer’s Choice Canada. Bell Media spokeswoman Amy Doary said in an email Monday that the service would cease operations by Sept. 30 of this year. “The two co-owners of VCC, Bell and Rogers, both have their own pay-per-view services and thus feel there is no need to keep the service operating as a standalone entity,” she said, adding that the service will work with the TV providers who carry Viewer’s Choice “to ensure that a smooth transition to another provider...
Quebec’s superior court has denied a motion for a class action lawsuit against BCE Inc., Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. Law firm Fasken Martineau, which represented...
Soundview Entertainment Inc. has asked the CRTC to make the Creole-language Haiti HD channel available for distribution in Canada. In a letter to the regulator, it described the channel as “a niche-interest Creole-language...
Canadian television broadcasters' revenues fell 1.3 per cent to $7.5 billion last year, with the decline affecting “every segment of the industry, except specialty television,” Statistics Canada said Monday....
Many companies are still trying to find the benefits in adopting the latest in machine-to-machine (M2M) communication technology, yet those that do see significant returns of their investment,...
The CRTC shouldn’t try to regulate Internet-based services the same way it does traditional broadcasting, Netflix Inc. said in an intervention submitted as part of the commission’s review of the future of television. The provider of over-the-top (OTT) streaming video services said the existence of video on the Internet and of TVs that connect directly to the Internet “is making it increasingly difficult to control, limit or manage, in any meaningful way, access to foreign audiovisual content or services.” Studies done for Industry Canada in 1999 and 2008 “show how problematic it would be to extend to the Internet regulatory constraints designed for traditional broadcasting: regulators or governments would have to be prepared to control or restrict...
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is taking a close look at Facebook Inc. after the social network announced it had manipulated users’ news feeds for a study on emotional responses. “We will be contacting Facebook to seek further details related to this research and have been in touch with some...
Sierra Wireless Inc. chief financial officer David McLennan has been named to the board of the Canadian Media Fund (CMF), a public-private parternship that provides money for Canadian media producers, the group said in a press...
Google Inc. has bought Songza Media Inc., the music-streaming service said on its website Tuesday. "Today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re becoming part of Google," Songza said in the online notice,...
Canada's major wireless carriers' have dismissed an argument from the collective representing music writers and publishers that if the Federal Court finds the collective owes $12 million in tariffs collected for ringtone...
BCE Inc. wants to see over-the-air (OTA) transmitters shut down and local stations move to a model it called “local specialty,” under which they would negotiate wholesale fees with cable, IPTV and satellite-TV...
In interventions submitted as part of the CRTC’s review of the future of the television, both BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. said they supported a pick-and-pay television system, though...
Telus Corp. has ended an 18-year relationship with Taxi, the advertising agency that created marketing campaigns featuring a variety of cute animals including monkeys to hippopotamuses, the Globe and Mail reported on Friday. The...
CBC/Radio-Canada’s re-focusing of its priorities on its digital and mobile presence is “not a very logical thing to do,” said Barry Kiefl, president of Canadian Media Research Inc....
BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday it has launched a new website to "hold our competitors accountable for what they say, when what they say is wrong." Mark Wilson, BlackBerry's senior vice-president of marketing, said on the company's official blog that the company has to defend itself with the facts. "As we’ve been working through this transition, there have been many vocal voices from competitors trying to incite fear, uncertainty and doubt about BlackBerry," Wilson wrote. "In doing so, sensationalized reports surrounding our viability and misperceptions about our product portfolio have crowded the airwaves." He said the portal will be a "one-stop reference" for BlackBerry-related information, while also being a place that will...
Shaw Communications Inc. said Thursday its third-quarter earnings took a hit as its television subscriber base continued to decline and its media division took in less money. The company said in a press release that net income...
OpenMedia.ca said Thursday it is going to meet negotiators of the Trans-Pacific Partnership when they convene in Ottawa in early July, and it is inviting the public to provide input into various related issues, including Internet...
Google Inc. is extending its Android operating system to cars and television sets, the company said Wednesday during its Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco. Customers can use the Android Auto service to connect...
The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with broadcasters in their case against Aereo Inc.’s TV service, ruling that the service violates the U.S. Copyright Act. U.S. studios and broadcasters had challenged Aereo’s use of...
SnapSaves, a Toronto-based company that makes an app for receiving cash back on certain purchases, has been bought by Groupon Inc. Users of SnapSaves take pictures of the receipts from their purchases to claim cash on certain products. The photos are uploaded with the company's app, SnapSaves explains on its website. Customers can request cheques be sent to them once they have claimed $20 or more worth of redemptions, the website says. Groupon is based in Chicago and makes apps that inform users of the best deals on various products in whatever city they happen to be in. SnapSaves had a notice on its website Wednesday that said it has been acquired by Groupon, and that it means "bigger and better savings" for customers and a "wider variety of offers." The...
While singing competition reality shows have been a mainstay on network television for the past decade, their newest iteration could offer an indication of the direction in which social-TV strategies...
The CRTC said Monday it is extending the deadline for submitting comments in the third phase of its Let's Talk TV proceedings until Friday. The deadline had previously been set for Wednesday. A...
CBC/Radio-Canada will unveil a five-year strategic plan to employees and the general public on Thursday, outlining how it intends to move forward in an era of increasingly limited financial resources. France Bélisle,...
The CRTC has renewed the broadcast license of a radio station in Salt Spring Island, B.C., though it warned that if the station does not comply with its regulatory requirements its license could be suspended or revoked. On...
Twitter Inc. has acquired the online video platform SnappyTV, which allows “live clipping, editing and distribution,” Twitter said in a blog post Thursday. “As we continue to invest in video, it’s...
Amid the many challenges television service providers were already facing, along came an Ottawa company making devices with digital recording capabilities and electronic-guide functionality for those...
Cisco Systems Inc. on Thursday announced it would put $150 million toward innovation and technology development in Canada over the next 10 years. The U.S. technology giant said in press release it was establishing the Cisco...
BBM Canada has changed its name to Numeris, the broadcast audience measurement company said Thursday. It also announced a new logo and slogan, “Audiences Count.” “Building on the foundation we have developed as...
The CRTC has the backing of the general public if it decides to get into regulating the prices people pay for television service, according to a new survey. A poll done by Forum Research, released in advance to The Wire Report, shows that 79 per cent of respondents agree with the idea of the CRTC getting back into the practice of regulating cable and satellite fees, while 60 per cent "strongly" agree. The survey found that 80 per cent of respondents agreed with using regulations to limit TV-service prices to no more than the rate of inflation, and 58 per cent "strongly"...
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and BCE Inc. on Wednesday said that CIBC's mobile payment app will be available in the coming weeks for certain mobile phones on the Bell network. In a joint...
BlackBerry users will gain access to several applications this fall, including Netflix, as a result of making Amazon.com Inc.'s Appstore part of the BlackBerry 10.3 operating system that becomes available this fall, BlackBerry...
OTTAWA — The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) said in a recent Federal Court filing that there is "no remedy" should the court find that it owes wireless carriers $12 million for tariffs they paid for ringtones used between 2006 and 2012. SOCAN made the case that the...
Heritage Minister Shelly Glover announced Tuesday that Quebec lawyer Yves Dupras was returning as a commissioner of the CRTC. A press release from Heritage Canada said Dupras would start a five-year term as a full-time designated...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. said Friday it has reached an agreement to purchase an Amsterdam-based owner of music-related television services. Stingray, a Canadian-based company that provides music services such as Galaxie to TV-service providers, said in a press release it has reached a deal to buy Archibald Media Group. It did not disclose a purchase price. Stingray said Archibald owns TV services LiteTV, 100% NL TV and XLNT Radio. “We have been committed to serving the European market since our acquisition of Music Choice International back in 2011,” Stingray president Eric...
TORONTO — Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Guy Laurence says the telecom industry has wasted Canadians’ time. He said in a speech to the Canadian Telecom Summit Monday that complexity in...
Tom Wheeler, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, said Friday that his organization is looking into whether Internet service providers are purposely diminishing, for their own benefit, the flow of content from...
A House of Commons heritage committee report on the music industry released Thursday said the government should look at how long the Copyright Board, which sets the rates for use of copyrighted...
Canada's lobbying commissioner says attempts to convince the CRTC to grant a broadcast licence do not have to be registered under the Lobbying Act, The Lobby Monitor reported Thursday. The article (subscribers only) said...
The Department of Canadian Heritage said Wednesday that the Audiovisual Coproduction Treaty between Canada and India takes effect July 1. A press release from Canadian Heritage said the agreement will allow producers in both...
Twitter Inc.'s chief operating officer, Ali Rowghani, has resigned his position, a move that has been linked with slower-than-expected growth the company has seen lately. Rowghani posted on Twitter Thursday morning: "Goodbye Twitter. It's been an amazing ride, and I will cherish the memories." A story published a day earlier on...
BlackBerry Ltd. said Thursday it has reached a three-year deal with a consortium comprised of Canada's three incumbent wireless providers to support financial transactions conducted through...
Amazon.com Inc. announced Thursday the launch of a new music-streaming service in the United States. It said in a press release that the product is called Prime Music and is available at no extra cost to existing U.S. customers...
The number of “interactions” about television on social networks operated by Facebook Inc. or Twitter Inc. increased 12 per cent in the past year, according to a report from social TV ratings company Seevibes. “The most striking growth was observed on Twitter (+63% of interactions over a year), the newest social network still gaining more users,” it said. The report said that in the three-month period from January to March of this year, Canadians generated “nearly 57 million interactions about television” on the two social networks, with 77 per cent of...
The number of anglophone Canadians who are streaming television content on their smartphones increased 71 per cent from a year earlier, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM). In 2013, 12 per cent of...
The CRTC has approved an application by a Thunday Bay, Ont., broadcaster to disaffiliate from CBC/Radio-Canada. Thunder Bay Electronics Ltd. said in a Feb. 28 letter filed with the CRTC that it was seeking the disaffiliation...
Google Inc. said Tuesday it had reached a deal to buy satellite company Skybox Imaging Inc. and hopes it can help it improve Internet access in some areas. Google said in a press release it is buying Skybox for $500 million US in...
Data transmitted over Internet protocol networks with devices in Canada will be about 2.4 times more in 2018 than what it was last year, according to a new report from Cisco Systems Inc. Highlights...
A recent report from PwC showed Internet advertising revenue in Canada surpassed television ad revenue last year for the first time. The report found Internet advertising was worth $3.75 billion last year, compared to $3.52 billion for television, PwC spokeswoman Emily Abrahams said in an interview Tuesday. The press release that coincided with that report, released last Wednesday, said Internet advertising would reach almost $7.2 billion by 2018, representing average annual growth of almost 13.9 per cent between now and then. Mobile advertising revenue is expected to grow 21.8 per cent, on...
Rogers Communications Inc. climbed out of the bottom ranking among 14 Canadian ISPs measured in latest speed index from Netflix Inc. Rogers had an average speed of 2.52 Mbps, according to Netflix's index for May that was...
BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division said Monday that its TSN Radio network will have the radio rights to the FIFA World Cup that starts this week. Bell said in a press release that TSN Radio's coverage would kick off on...
CBC/Radio Canada on Monday said Sally Catto has been named its new general manager of programing for CBC Television. The public broadcaster said in a press release that Catto had been its executive director of commissioned and scripted programming, where she oversaw dramas, comedies, children's shows and some...
The Canadian Media Production Association said Jamie Brown has been appointed the organization's chairman. Brown is the founder and executive producer of Frantic Films, the CMPA said in a press release issued Saturday. The...
A report appearing on the CRTC's website Friday indicated that Canadian television service providers are offering more choice and flexibility than ones in the United States in selected markets....
MONTREAL —Videotron’s new iPad application, which allows users to access live TV, free and paid video-on-demand (VOD) content and programming stored on a personal video recorder (PVR), in...
In a blog post on its website Wednesday, Verizon Communications Inc. accused Netflix Inc. of "misleading" consumers about the source of buffering issues that viewers may have experienced. The post from David Young, Verizon's vice-president of regulatory affairs, cited a Twitter posting showing a...
Broadcast commercial radio remains popular in the face of competition from online streaming services and satellite radio because it’s a “point of connection” for listeners rather than just a music-delivery service, says analyst Jeff Vidler. The latest figures from the CRTC, released Tuesday, showed...
Rogers Communications Inc. on Tuesday announced the launch of an online streaming service and mobile application for Sportsnet programing. The company said in a press release the service is called Sportsnet Now, and for the time being is available as a "preview" to Rogers customers. Rogers spokesman Sebastian Gatica clarified in an email that this means those who subscribe to Sportsnet on Rogers cable. Rogers said the service provides live streaming of all seven Sportsnet Channels on up to four screens at once for a single user. The app is available now at the App Store for Apple...
