Ted Rogers, the late founder and CEO of Rogers Communications; broadcaster and activist David Suzuki; actress Anna Paquin and entertainer Stompin’ Tom Connors are among the 2017 inductees of Canada’s Walk of Fame. The six inductees, along with Allan Slaight Honour Recipient Shawn Hook, will be honoured at the Beyond Famous Gala on Nov. 15 at the Liberty Grand in Toronto. Global will broadcast Canada’s Walk of Fame documentary Beyond Famous on Dec. 3 at 8 pm. ET/PT, hosted by Emmy-winning actor Eric McCormack.
CRTC Chair Ian Scott has responded to his mandate letter from Canadian Heritage Min. Mélanie Joly, and ISED Min. Navdeep Bains. Scott writes “I look forward to fostering an open and transparent relationship with both of you…I appreciate the recognition within your letter of the nature of the CRTC as an arm’s length institution, and I am comforted that you will respect our role as an administrative tribunal. We will continue to find ways in which we can work together in order to realize the objectives of the Broadcasting Act, the Telecommunications Act and Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation for the benefit of all Canadians, while maintaining this distinction.” You can read Scott’s full response here.
Allan Hawco stepped into the role of interviewer as Heritage Min. Mélanie Joly continued her Creative Canada public relations tour with a stop in Halifax on Oct. 19. Speaking as part of the 2017 Creative City Summit, Joly promised more details in the coming weeks of how Heritage plans to modernize the Broadcasting, Copyright and Telecommunications Acts. In response to an audience question about additional support for the Canadian music sector, Joly alluded to “talks” with online music streaming giant Spotify, but said “we’re not there yet in terms of investment.”
Rogers Q3 2017 results show revenue and adjusted operating profit growth of four and six per cent, respectively. Rogers reported continued strong financial and subscriber performance in Wireless with postpaid net additions of 129,000, up 15,000. The company also reported its lowest subscriber turnover rate in eight years with postpaid churn of 1.16 per cent. Internet revenue grew six per cent with net additions of 27,000.
theScore Q4 2017 and year-end results show the company posting quarterly revenue of $4.8 million compared to $5.0 million in the same period the previous year. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to the absence of major sporting events that took place in Q4 2016, including the Rio Olympics. Revenue for the 12 months ended Aug. 31, 2017 was $26.3 million compared to $23.9 million for the same period the previous year.
During the three months ended Aug. 31, theScore’s mobile apps had 3.7 million average monthly active users, compared to 4 million year-over-year. As above, the year-over-year decrease in audience and engagement was primarily a result of the significantly quieter sports season, compared with the same period in 2016.
The 67th edition of the Western Association of Broadcast Engineers convention happens Nov. 5-7 at the Delta Hotels Edmonton South Conference Centre. This year’s speakers include Praveen Gupta from Dejero and Jay Thouvenell from WideOrbit. Find more info here.
The Canadian Journalism Foundation and the Facebook Journalism Project have announced the new CJF-Facebook Journalism Project News Literacy Award. Carrying a $10,000 prize, the award will celebrate journalistic efforts that encourage Canadians to understand and assess the quality of news in their communities. The award will open in Jan. 2018 and be presented at the annual CJF Awards in June.
Rogers is now offering LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) service in many Manitoba communities including Winnipeg, Brandon, Portage La Prairie, Selkirk, Steinbach, Gimli, Morden, Winkler, Churchill,Thompson and Flin Flon. LTE-A combines two or more bands of spectrum to create a larger pipe or superhighway for data to travel on. Rogers says it’s also turned on additional spectrum in Manitoba and increased LTE coverage.
Xplornet Communications Inc. has entered into an agreement to purchase the internet access business of NetSet Communications, based in Brandon, MB. Accelerating the Woodstock, NB company’s continued expansion across Western Canada, Xplornet will maintain the NetSet Communications tradename and retain most of its employees and business operations in both Brandon and Winnipeg. NetSet’s founder and former CEO Charlie Clark will serve in an advisory role supporting Xplornet’s business operations in the province.
