Canadian Film Centre, Bell Media team up for VR, AR project

Media | 06/07/2017 3:04 pm EDT

The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and BCE Inc.’s media division have teamed up to develop virtual and augmented reality projects, the duo said in a Wednesday press release. "We're very excited to...

CTV joins local news expansion parade

Media | 06/07/2017 12:15 pm EDT

An additional nine local CTV stations across the country will begin airing an early evening newscast this fall, BCE Inc.’s media division said Wednesday. “Local news is an essential institution that unites communities...

Rogers Media Sales signs with weather, food brands

Media | 06/06/2017 4:26 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. announced Tuesday its media sales division had signed two deals that “expand reach and deliver brand-safe, premium-content environments to advertisers.” In a press release, the company said the...

New TV, streaming offerings eyed to help stem piracy

Media | 06/06/2017 3:26 pm EDT

TORONTO — Products like new streaming TV services and sports-focused TV-everywhere offerings will help...

Bloc MPs push heritage minister on CRTC licence decision

Media | 06/06/2017 12:07 pm EDT

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly is facing more calls to order the CRTC to review its licence renewal decision, this time from the Bloc Québécois. On Monday, Bloc MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval noted during question period in the House of Commons that celebrated film director Xavier Dolan had “openly criticized the CRTC” at the Gala Québec Cinema in Montreal on Sunday. “Its decision regarding the licence for Séries+ and Historia jeopardizes the future of Quebec television,” Barsalou-Duval said, according to a transcript, before asking Joly if she would “do something to support our...

Videotron ‘author’ of own misfortune: consumer advocates

Media | 06/05/2017 5:01 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron made its bed and now it has to lie in it, according to consumer and digital rights advocates who opposed the company’s request for a delay in complying with the CRTC’s...

Rogers to expand CityNews nationally

Media | 06/05/2017 4:36 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc.’s media division will be expanding its CityNews program outside of Toronto...

Radio still big among Canadians: MTM

Media | 06/05/2017 2:19 pm EDT

Radio still factors heavily into the daily lives of anglophone Canadians, with local stations providing some of the most popular content, according to a new Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report. The Thursday report by MTM, a...

Shoan files for appeal of second dismissal

Media | 06/05/2017 12:13 pm EDT

Twice-fired CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan has filed his application for judicial review, appealing his second removal from his post as the regional representative for Ontario. In a notice of application filed at the Federal Court...

Bell can’t limit TV customers to one custom package: CRTC

Media | 06/02/2017 1:08 pm EDT

Allowing customers to only select TV channels à la carte after they’ve taken advantage of one 10-channel small package doesn’t comply with the CRTC’s pick-and-pay rules, BCE Inc. was told....

Public conversation needed on right to be forgotten: Google Canada

Media | 06/02/2017 12:53 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Before any right to be forgotten rules are instituted in Canada, there needs to be a fulsome public discussion, Colin McKay, head of public policy and government relations at Alphabet...

CRTC calls for renewal of broadcasting licences for TV services

Media | 06/02/2017 11:36 am EDT

The CRTC has called for those holding TV service broadcasting licences that expire at the end of August 2018 to apply for their renewal. In a notice posted Thursday, the commission said licensees...

NorthVu drops Bell IPTV patent case

Media | 05/31/2017 5:05 pm EDT

NorthVu Inc. has abandoned an appeal it filed with MediaTube Corp. in a dispute with BCE Inc. NorthVu filed a notice of discontinuance on May 23 in an appeal the two parties launched in February, against a January Federal...

Canadian content finding home in Europe: report

Media | 05/30/2017 4:23 pm EDT

Canada Media Fund (CMF)-supported content has seen a healthy export market in Europe, rivalling Canada’s number one export market in the United States, according to a new report sponsored by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). Data released in the Tuesday report tracking Canadian television pre-sales found that Europe only marginally trailed the U.S. in purchases, with $155.1 million compared to the latter’s $155.3 million over a 10-year period, between 2006 and 2016. The United Kingdom led Europe with $90.4 million. Pre-sales from the U.K. alone made up 29 per cent of...

Joly ‘studying’ CRTC licence decision after criticism

Media | 05/30/2017 1:36 pm EDT

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly told a parliamentary...

Judy Gladstone to head Documentary Organization of Canada

Media | 05/29/2017 5:50 pm EDT

The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) said in a press release Monday Judy Gladstone is taking over as its executive director. She replaces Pepita Ferrari in the role. Between 1997 and...

Few policy details from new CPC leader

Media | 05/29/2017 4:56 pm EDT

Conservatives elected Saskatchewan MP Andrew Scheer as party and official Opposition leader over the...

CBC, Netflix jump in brand trust ranking

Media | 05/25/2017 5:19 pm EDT

Both CBC/Radio-Canada and Netflix Inc. saw dramatic improvements in how Canadians view their brands over the past year, according to the latest edition of the Gustavson Brand Trust Index. The annual University of Victoria...

Rogers targets gamers with new e-sports content, peering deals

Media | 05/25/2017 4:58 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. has begun marketing itself as the Internet service provider (ISP) of choice for gamers, acquiring exclusive e-sports content for its Sportsnet streaming service and entering into peering agreements with gaming platforms. Charlie Millar,...

Videotron asks for extension on Unlimited Music finale

Media | 05/25/2017 2:13 pm EDT

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is asking the CRTC for more time to comply with...

Blue Ant buys Racat in int’l expansion move

Media | 05/24/2017 4:17 pm EDT

Blue Ant Media Inc. has acquired Racat Group, with international assets that include production houses and mobile game developers. As part of the deal, announced Wednesday, Blue Ant gets Racat’s New Zealand-based natural...

CPC members less supportive of CBC funding: surveys

Media | 05/24/2017 3:18 pm EDT

The Canadian public and the Conservative Party of Canada members have differing views when it comes to...

Guylaine Roy changes roles at Heritage

Media | 05/23/2017 5:09 pm EDT

Guylaine Roy has been named associate deputy minister of Canadian Heritage, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office Friday. Roy had been the assistant deputy minister for cultural affairs at the...

ISED PS Lametti hot property for April lobbying

Media | 05/23/2017 3:30 pm EDT

The parliamentary secretary to the innovation minister was a popular target for lobbyists last month, as...

CBC must collaborate with OTT competition: Lacroix

Media | 05/23/2017 2:34 pm EDT

CBC/Radio-Canada’s president and CEO Hubert Lacroix said the Crown corporation’s competition comes...

Joly could reconsider OTT regs over Quebec: Desjardins

Media | 05/23/2017 2:27 pm EDT

Pressure from Quebec could lead Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to consider imposing taxes on foreign over-the-top (OTT) services, according to Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi....

Facebook partners with MLB for U.S. live streams

Media | 05/19/2017 5:33 pm EDT

Facebook Inc. will live stream 20 Major League Baseball (MLB) games this season on its social media...

Netflix to have Ont. ‘download zones’ for cottage season: CP

Media | 05/19/2017 4:43 pm EDT

Netflix Inc. is setting up “download zones” in certain areas in Ontario to help the data starved pre-load movies and TV shows onto their devices, according to a Canadian Press report. WiFi hotspots will be set up at Bass Pro Shop at Vaughan Mills on Friday and the Farmers Market in Collingwood on Saturday and Sunday, the report said. Employees of Netflix will be on site to guide users through the steps, according to CP. Netflix said it will have these zones at “various Ontario cottage country locations on every holiday weekend until Labour Day,” the story noted. Netflix...

Radio will fend of challengers with local content: Simpson

Media | 05/19/2017 4:31 pm EDT

Radio will continue to thrive in a competitive environment because it...

CRTC to review pick-and-pay rollout in Oct.

Media | 05/18/2017 5:07 pm EDT

The CRTC will hold a hearing on a number of broadcast distribution undertakings’ [BDUs] licence renewal...

Two per cent of Canadians have a VR headset: MTM

Media | 05/17/2017 3:13 pm EDT

While about a tenth of Canadians have used a virtual reality (VR) headset, only about two per cent of them actually own one, according to a new Media Technology Monitor...

Licence decision could devastate Canadian production: WGC

Media | 05/16/2017 6:03 pm EDT

A day after the CRTC released its decision on broadcast licence renewals for large ownership groups, three organizations representing the country’s production sector said they are concerned the new...

Bell’s Alt TV can ‘turn the tide’ against competitors: Canaccord

Media | 05/16/2017 3:54 pm EDT

While the primary goal of BCE Inc.’s new television product is to tackle TV sub losses, it could also be used as an “offensive tool” against its cable competitors, according to Canaccord Genuity....

David Sparrow elected national president of ACTRA

Media | 05/16/2017 12:15 pm EDT

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has elected David Sparrow as its national president for a two-year term. Sparrow, who from 2013 was...

Alt TV managed service, doesn’t violate CRTC rules: Cope

Media | 05/15/2017 5:45 pm EDT

MONTREAL — BCE Inc. has launched a new TV product hoping to appeal to a segment of the market that’s less likely to subscribe to...

Rogers’ OMNI gets temporary mandatory distribution

Media | 05/15/2017 5:13 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. will get a three-year window to run its new national ethnic channel before having to compete with other proposals for its mandatory carriage, the CRTC announced Monday. The regulator partially...

Former Videotron customers returning from Bell: Brouillette

Media | 05/12/2017 9:53 am EDT

Manon Brouillette, president of Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, downplayed the effect that BCE Inc.’s recent move to deploy fibre-to-the-home...

Mark Slone to head CAFDE

Media | 05/11/2017 5:45 pm EDT

Mark Slone has been elected president of The Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters. The lobby group announced the election of Slone, who is currently Entertainment One Ltd.’s executive vice-president of theatrical distribution and marketing, in...

Appeal court rules ISPs can’t charge for disclosing customer info

Media | 05/11/2017 4:15 pm EDT

The Federal Court of Appeal has granted Voltage Pictures LLC its appeal challenging the costs Rogers Communications Inc. was asking for to disclose customer information in...

Competition commish completes review of AT&T-TWC deal

Media | 05/11/2017 2:24 am EDT

Despite not operating in Canada, the country’s competition watchdog has reviewed the proposed merger of AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Cable...

DHX shells out for Peanuts

Media | 05/10/2017 4:38 pm EDT

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Peppermint Patty are joining Halifax-based DHX Media Ltd.’s stable of properties, as the company announced Wednesday its bid to acquire the Peanuts brand from an American management company. The deal with Iconix Brand Group Inc. includes an...

Smartphone penetration at 80% among anglophones: MTM

Media | 05/09/2017 5:42 pm EDT

The number of anglophone Canadians who have smartphones climbed up to 80 per cent in the fall of 2016 from 77 per cent a year earlier, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor (MTM). At the same time, the percentage of anglophones who specified they had basic phones dropped from 11 per cent to eight per cent over that time. “Although they are still available for purchase, the vast majority of Anglophones are opting to get a smartphone when getting a new phone,” the report said. Half of anglophone smartphone owners now use their devices to stream music,...

CRTC headquarters closed due to flooding

Media | 05/09/2017 2:43 pm EDT

The CRTC’s offices in Gatineau, Que., remained shut down for a second day Tuesday due to flooding in the area, according to the commission’s website. Among the releases the regulator was scheduled to issue...

Verizon streaming deal for NFL game to include Canada

Media | 05/08/2017 10:02 pm EDT

Canadian viewers will get to watch a National Football League (NFL) game that will be played out of London, England, this fall after Verizon Communications Inc. purchased the streaming rights to the game. The one-game...

Lab to play ‘transformative’ role in wireless spectrum: Bains

Media | 05/08/2017 8:56 pm EDT

OTTAWA — The future of wireless spectrum in Canada won’t be about who holds the largest amount of it, but rather who wields it in the...

CRTC grants two new radio licences

Media | 05/05/2017 7:48 pm EDT

The CRTC has approved two applications for new radio broadcasting licences, for a community FM station in Kingston, Ont., and a commercial ethnic FM station in Toronto. It granted an application for the Toronto station to a...

Shoan vows court challenge of second dismissal from CRTC

Media | 05/05/2017 2:41 am EDT

Raj Shoan, the CRTC’s regional commissioner for Ontario who was fired again just four days after a return to his post, said he will be heading back to court to challenge the second order-in-council removing him from the regulatory body. In a statement issued Friday, Shoan said he was informed late Thursday that his governor-in-council (GIC) appointment, which he regained after 10 months following an April 28 Federal Court decision, would again be terminated as of midnight Friday. Justice Cecily Strickland’s decision — stemming from...

Rob Farina given expanded radio role

Media | 05/04/2017 9:01 pm EDT

Rob Farina will take on the role of head of radio content, strategy and iHeartRadio for BCE Inc.’s media division, the company announced in a Thursday press release. The position, effective May 29, will...

Cultural exemptions at risk in NAFTA renegotiations: Nantel

Media | 05/04/2017 8:42 pm EDT

NDP heritage critic Pierre Nantel is raising the alarm that cultural protection could be on the chopping block if a wholesale renegotiation of the country’s trade agreement with the United States and Mexico occurs, and is asking the heritage minister to take a stand. In an opinion piece published in French-language...

Illegal streaming on Kodi boxes in 6% of households: Sandvine

Media | 05/04/2017 8:10 pm EDT

A new report from broadband equipment maker Sandvine Corp. says about six per cent of households in North America “currently have a Kodi device configured to access...

CBC privatization bill dies in House

Media | 05/04/2017 8:04 pm EDT

A private member’s bill to privatize CBC/Radio-Canada met a decisive defeat Wednesday night, after members of Parliament voted 260-6 to send it to the legislation graveyard. Saskatchewan MP and Conservative Party...

Big three haven’t met with minister about SaskTel sale: report

Media | 05/03/2017 9:41 pm EDT

Canada’s big three wireless providers have not spoken with the minister for Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. about the potential partial sale of the company, even though last week he said he met with a major telecom, according to a Tuesday Regina Leader-Post report. SaskTel Minister Dustin...

Shoan back to work following CRTC reinstatement

Media | 05/02/2017 5:29 pm EDT

Raj Shoan, the once-former CRTC commissioner, returned to work Monday, following a 10-month gap in his role as the regional representative for Ontario. As Shoan put it in a statement issued over the weekend, his tenure was...

Valery Zamuner appointed VP of mergers and acquisitions at Stingray

Media | 05/02/2017 5:11 pm EDT

Stingray Digital Group Inc. has named Valery Zamuner to the position of senior vice-president of mergers, acquisitions and strategic initiatives, effective May 23. “With her...

Twitter to host 24/7 Bloomberg stream

Media | 05/01/2017 9:20 pm EDT

Twitter Inc. and Bloomberg LP have come to an agreement that will see the financial news outlet provide round-the-clock streaming content for the social media platform as part of 12 streaming deals...

Use of AI will bring benefits to telecoms, but also risks

Media | 05/01/2017 5:22 pm EDT

Artificial intelligence is a tool telecoms will increasingly use to manage networks and enhance various products, but its susceptibility to hacking will also pose big security-related concerns, especially if used for critical infrastructure, according to experts. AI, which is software programmed to think and operate like humans, is a fast-growing technology that will help automate functions in the economy previously done by humans. It’s also a technology that’s been drawing government attention. The federal budget, which committed to growing “Canada’s advantage...

Shoan wins appeal of CRTC dismissal; judge sends decision for reconsideration

Media | 04/29/2017 12:23 am EDT

Raj Shoan was denied procedural fairness when he was fired from his job as the CRTC’s regional commissioner for Ontario last summer, three years into a five-year term, a Federal Court justice...

Gov’t info requests to Facebook fall in second half of 2016

Media | 04/28/2017 8:41 pm EDT

Facebook Inc. received 773 requests for customer information from Canadian law enforcement and government agencies in the second half of 2016, down from 1,004 requests in the...

Digital platforms open to cultural diversity message: Joly

Media | 04/28/2017 8:29 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said she found a receptive audience for her message of cultural diversity on digital platforms among the executives of the digital media giants she...

AI, 5G, rural broadband funding in Ont., N.S. budgets

Media | 04/27/2017 9:27 pm EDT

The Ontario government said it will support the latest technologies in the coming years, with funding for artificial intelligence and 5G networks included in its 2017 budget. Finance Minister Charles Sousa tabled Ontario’s...

CRTC to launch women-in-production talks

Media | 04/27/2017 4:33 pm EDT

The CRTC will explore the topic of generating more participation of women in media production, according to Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais. Speaking at the annual awards gala for Women in Communications and Technology Wednesday night in Ottawa, Blais said the regulator will “use its convening power to initiate a broader discussion” on having women fairly represented in production activities, according to a copy of his remarks. “In the coming months, we will be planning an event on women in production, with a particular emphasis on women in leadership positions.”...

Sirius privatization plan gets final OK from CRTC

Media | 04/26/2017 8:37 pm EDT

Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. received the final nod required in its bid to privatize, with the CRTC granting its approval Wednesday for the transaction it said was worth $479 million. The deal is in the public...

Bell to launch new TV service to combat cord-cutting

Media | 04/26/2017 7:04 pm EDT

BCE Inc. will introduce a new television service aimed at customers who have been turning away from traditional TV to online alternatives, president and CEO George Cope said on a conference call with analysts discussing the...

Shaw, Corus closing 3 community TV stations, shifting to Global

Media | 04/26/2017 6:06 pm EDT

Shaw Communications Inc. and Corus Entertainment Inc. will close three Shaw local TV stations in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, and redistribute the annual funding to Global News...

Canadian music streaming brings in $128M US: report

Media | 04/26/2017 5:43 pm EDT

Canada has become the world’s sixth-largest market for recorded music, according to a new report from the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The group’s 2017 Global Music Report said...

Rogers buying Vancouver station for Sportsnet brand

Media | 04/25/2017 6:14 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. said Tuesday it intends to purchase a Vancouver radio station from Newcap Inc., adding it to its stable of all-sports stations. In a press release, the company said the transaction...

Telus investing $80 million in Quebec fibre network

Media | 04/24/2017 8:50 pm EDT

Telus Corp. announced Monday a new investment of $80 million in its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in Quebec. It said in a French-language press release that the investment would affect almost 20 communities in...

Sirius ordered to make up $300K CanCon contribution shortfall

Media | 04/24/2017 7:04 pm EDT

Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. has to pony up more than $300,000 to make up a deficit in its Canadian content development contributions, the CRTC said. In a letter dated April 5, the regulator...

CCSA leads March lobbying pack

Media | 04/21/2017 8:39 pm EDT

The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) led the telecom field for lobbying the federal government in March, logging 15 communication reports for the month, according to the federal lobbyists’ registry. Those...

Telus intros $20, no contract IPTV service

Media | 04/21/2017 7:13 pm EDT

Telus Corp. has quietly launched an IPTV service that will allow subscribers to watch live TV and on-demand content for $20 a month with no contract. The box itself, which is powered by Alphabet Inc.’s Android, will cost $100 and is currently available to subscribers in seven communities in British Columbia and Alberta, according to an email from Telus spokesperson Richard Gilhooley. Gilhooley said the service will officially launch in Alberta and B.C. “in the coming months.” A Telus community manager announced the service’s availability on a forum...

Telecoms to compete on service after zero-rating decision: analysts

Media | 04/21/2017 4:11 pm EDT

The CRTC’s decision Thursday to ban most forms of zero-rating means telecoms will have to rely on service in order to stand out from the competition, analysts said. The...

Int’l broadcasters team up for export portal

Media | 04/21/2017 4:04 pm EDT

CBC/Radio-Canada is leading a collaboration between public broadcasters and other media distributors to boost video exports via a new online platform, it said Tuesday. The platform, called Panora.tv “aims to...

CRTC effectively bans most zero-rating in differential pricing decision

Media | 04/20/2017 8:04 pm EDT

As the CRTC banned most forms of differential pricing practices Thursday — including declaring that telecoms can’t pick and chose Internet content to zero-rate and...

OTT revenues north of $970M by 2018: Convergence

Media | 04/20/2017 5:27 pm EDT

Annual subscription revenue from over-the-top (OTT) providers is estimated to be inching toward the billion-dollar mark in Canada, according to a new report from Convergence Consulting Group Ltd., which estimated a...

Natale says ‘more work to do’ as he takes the reins at Rogers

Media | 04/19/2017 8:25 pm EDT

In his first day on the job, newly minted Rogers Communications Inc. president and CEO Joe Natale gave few details about his priorities, but said he’ll be working on a strategy in the coming weeks. “To be clear, it’s not my intention to set up my plan today,” Natale said during the company’s annual general meeting in Toronto on Wednesday. “Over the next few weeks, I want to hear from our team, from our customers and our shareholders to formulate our...

Canada signs coproduction agreement with Luxembourg

Media | 04/19/2017 2:52 pm EDT

The federal government has signed an audiovisual coproduction treaty with Luxembourg. “This treaty will further position Canada as a partner of choice in audiovisual coproductions, and strengthen our cultural and...

Telecoms shouldn’t be gatekeepers, Blais says ahead of differential pricing decision

Media | 04/18/2017 8:30 pm EDT

The CRTC may very well complete the record on net neutrality policy in Canada when it releases its decision Thursday afternoon on differential pricing practices,...

ISED releases timeline, allotments for 600 MHz transition

Media | 04/18/2017 8:16 pm EDT

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) has released a schedule and details how it plans to shift the use of 600 MHz spectrum from over-the-air (OTA) television to wireless. ISED...

Bell asks CRTC for clarity on stolen-device tariff clause

Media | 04/18/2017 4:11 pm EDT

BCE Inc. is asking the CRTC to reinsert a phrase into its terms and conditions removed in last month’s decision on mobile wholesale mobile wireless roaming service tariffs that the company...

Cathia Badiere joins ACTRA

Media | 04/18/2017 3:47 pm EDT

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has hired Cathia Badiere as its national director of research. Effective immediately, Badiere will oversee the organization’s collective bargaining, policy and industry research “to support ACTRA’s objective of...

Digital ads only in their infancy, Google’s Gingras says

Media | 04/13/2017 9:01 pm EDT

MONTREAL — Digital advertising will continue to evolve into new forms we can’t yet predict, Richard Gingras, vice-president of Alphabet Inc.’s Google News,...

Digital media finances on CRTC’s three-year plan

Media | 04/13/2017 7:01 pm EDT

The CRTC will begin measuring the books of digital media operations in the country, with the aim of eventually publishing data on their finances, the regulator said in its new three-year plan. Published on its...

Joe Natale to join Rogers next week

Media | 04/13/2017 4:29 pm EDT

After a series of high-profile departures from the company, Rogers Communications Inc. announced Thursday that it will welcome its new president and CEO next week. Former Telus Corp. head Joe Natale...

Rogers-CBC extend HNIC deal to 2019

Media | 04/12/2017 7:15 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. has extended its deal with CBC/Radio-Canada to broadcast its flagship Hockey Night in Canada program for one more year, spokesman Andrew Garas confirmed to The Wire Report. Rogers and CBC struck the deal when it signed its 12-year deal with the National Hockey League in 2014 for the public broadcaster to continue to air the Saturday night show for four years. According to a Monday Globe and Mail report, Sportsnet president Scott Moore said “he would like to extend the relationship with CBC beyond the 2017-18 season...

Anglophone TV subs drop to 75 per cent: MTM

Media | 04/12/2017 5:41 pm EDT

Analog and digital cable’s share of the TV market declined from 40 per cent to 36 per cent in 2016, while IPTV subscriptions picked up among English-speaking Canadians, according to new research from Media Technology Monitor...

Mobile ad spending on the rise: report

Media | 04/12/2017 4:53 pm EDT

Canadian advertisers are catching up to their American counterparts, with the market share of digital ad spending on mobile platforms forecast to hit 77.6 per cent by 2021, according to research firm eMarketer Inc. This...

Bell says retroactive regulation can’t be basis for simsub ban

Media | 04/11/2017 9:11 pm EDT

The CRTC can’t retroactively apply regulations established almost a year after the fact to justify its prohibition simultaneous substitution during the broadcast of the National Football...

Joly to discuss promoting CanCon with Google, Facebook

Media | 04/11/2017 8:41 pm EDT

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly will travel to California later this month to meet with representatives from Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc., her office has confirmed....

Rogers must make 4K channel available to Telus: CRTC

Media | 04/11/2017 4:45 pm EDT

The CRTC has resolved a dispute between Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. over 4K content, telling the companies in an April 5 letter that Rogers has to provide its 4K content to Telus immediately. Telus argued that the 4K version of Sportsnet is defined as a “new programming service” under regulations that specify companies must make new services available to other companies even without a commercial agreement. It also said “that if the Commission does not act quickly, [Telus] subscribers who have invested in 4K television sets will not be...

Debate resumes on CBC-privatization bill, vote deferred

Media | 04/10/2017 6:57 pm EDT

OTTAWA — A Conservative backbencher’s bill to privatize CBC/Radio-Canada found a little more support from party colleagues in the House of Commons Monday, but it likely...

Twitch asks for court order to identify Shaw customer

Media | 04/10/2017 5:52 pm EDT

Amazon.com Inc.’s Twitch is asking the Supreme Court of British Columbia to order five companies, including Shaw Communications Inc., to identify a customer Twitch is accusing of “malicious spambot...

5G wireless substitution ‘not in the cards,’ says Cogeco’s Audet

Media | 04/07/2017 8:14 pm EDT

Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet said Friday that he’s not concerned about customers substituting wireline Internet service with wireless with the advent of 5G, and that the company...

Trudeau meets with YouTube head

Media | 04/07/2017 4:29 pm EDT

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with the CEO of Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube Thursday, and used the opportunity to express “his appreciation for Google and YouTube’s continued investment in Canada and...

Eliminating digital ads would harm TV: CBC

Media | 04/06/2017 9:22 pm EDT

Getting rid of digital advertising on CBC/Radio-Canada online platforms would undermine its television arm, the public broadcaster said Wednesday. It argued in a posting on its website that “going ad-free on only one platform is a half measure. It doesn’t provide any of the advantages of being completely ad-free, and it...

10 web series get $2M from CMF

Media | 04/06/2017 9:13 pm EDT

Canada Media Fund (CMF) is providing $2 million for 10 web series as part of a pilot project. The organization said in a press release Thursday the funding is “the result of the pilot program the CMF had put in place to...

Chris Jones joins CWTA

Media | 04/06/2017 9:11 pm EDT

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association has hired Chris Jones as its new director of regulatory affairs, policy and research. Jones replaces Kurt Eby, who left the role at the CWTA in January to take a position in Toronto. According to emails from CWTA spokeswoman Sophie...

Ad pulls from YouTube show money shift to TV: Corus CEO

Media | 04/06/2017 8:05 pm EDT

The fallout from Alphabet Inc.’s placing of advertisements next to unfavourable content is in line with an ongoing trend of some advertisers shifting money from digital back to traditional...

Amazon scores NFL deal, Canadian rights still under negotiation

Media | 04/05/2017 9:50 pm EDT

Amazon.com Inc. has secured the streaming rights to 10 Thursday Night Football games from the National Football League (NFL), according to a Wall Street Journal report. The deal is reportedly worth $50 million US and will only be available to subscribers of Amazon's $99-per-year Prime service, the report said. CBS Corp. and Comcast Corp.'s NBC Universal each have broadcasting rights to five of the games in the U.S., and the games will also be broadcast on television. The fate of both the broadcast and digital rights in Canada to...