Broadcaster,  1/27/2010

Olympic Broadcast Consortium Coverage Available On Demand

Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium will offer more than 700 hours of Video On Demand coverage, in English and French, of the 2010 Winter Games, free of charge to all Rogers Cable, Shaw Cable, EastLink Cable, Delta Cable and Source Cable digital television subscribers,

The Consortium’s English and French coverage of Vancouver 2010 will be available On Demand beginning Saturday, Feb. 13 with the Opening Ceremony. 

Throughout the Games, additional coverage will include all Team Canada hockey games, event coverage carried by CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, OLN, V and RDS, and the Closing Ceremony.  All coverage will be available within 24 hours after its original airing and can be accessed On Demand until March 31, 2010.

The Video On Demand service will include user-friendly functionality and offer digital quality picture and sound, programmers described.

“Our VOD offering is yet another demonstration of our desire to give Canadians control of their Olympic Games experience – to watch what they want, when they want and how they want,” said Keith Pelley, President, Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.  “Viewers won’t miss one second of the excitement and are able to relive all the greatest moments of Vancouver 2010.”

Rogers will capture and encode the live feeds from CTV, TSN, Rogers Sportsnet, OLN, V and RDS and make them available to Shaw Cable, EastLink Cable, Delta Cable and Source Cable for distribution. 

“Rogers is thrilled to enable the delivery of the Consortium’s coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to a variety of Canadian audiences,” said John Boynton, Executive Vice President of Marketing, Rogers Communications. “Now, Canadians can catch world-class winning moments On Demand whenever it is most convenient for them.”

The Consortium’s Video On Demand offering complements the company’s recent announcements about its broadcast strategy and digital offering – the most ambitious and robust plans in Olympic Winter Games history with a record 4,800 hours of coverage. 

Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium is a unique relationship between leading media conglomerates CTV Inc. and Rogers Media Inc., which together will provide unprecedented coverage and consumer choice in English, French and multi-languages on multiple platforms for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and the London 2012 Games of the Olympiad.  Official brands include CTV, TSN, RDS, RIS Info Sports, Rogers Sportsnet, OMNI, OLN, V, APTN, ATN, CTVOlympics.ca, RDSolympiques.ca, The Globe and Mail, Corus Québec and select Rogers radio stations across the country.

Broadcaster,  1/22/2010

Hearing Needed Into Citytv Local News Cuts -- CEP

Canada's largest media union is asking whether the silence from the CRTC about the latest shutdown of local news at CITY television stations is the result of Heritage Minister James Moore muzzling the CRTC.

"Despite Canadians' overwhelming demonstration in the past several months of the importance of local news to their daily lives, the CRTC and the Harper government have been alarmingly tight-lipped about this drastic cut in local coverage," says Peter Murdoch, Vice-President Media for CEP, Canada's largest media union.

When Rogers bought the City stations in 2007, the billion-dollar media giant told the CRTC it supported the stations' "distinctive local programming." But now, just two years later, it has slashed local newscasts and laid off employees, despite the fact that from 2008 to 2009, local advertising revenues on Rogers' television stations jumped 41% - an amazing increase in the middle of a recession.

"While the Tories absent themselves from Parliament, big lobbyists like Rogers are given free rein to duck their promises to Canadians. And it appears the CRTC, Canada's broadcast regulator, has been told to go on vacation as well."

Murdoch says the CRTC should immediately conduct a hearing into the news cuts and if the Harper government didn't want to avoid Parliament, MPs on the Heritage Committee should be calling Rogers to task as well.

"There is something terribly wrong when a giant media company pays its Blue Jays baseball outfielder, $126 million and then cuts local news to save money. Shameful. Who is looking out for the interests of Canadians in this vital industry?"

Broadcaster,  1/21/2010

Put Community Back Into Community TV -- CACTUS

"Canadians have paid over a billion dollars over the last decade for community TV channels. Cable companies have responded by curtailing access," says the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations.

"The CRTC created these channels so Canadians could learn about broadcasting and produce their own programs," CACTUS spokesperson Catherine Edwards noted. "But cable companies have gutted community TV by closing studios, 'firing' volunteers, and regionalizing programming."

CACTUS is urging Canadians to tell the CRTC to reinstate access as it reviews its community TV policy. "Communities should run these channels, not profit-driven corporations," said Edwards. "But the CRTC needs to hear this from Canadians themselves-before February 1st."

National Lacrosse League action on TSN2

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) fans can now watch a game a week on TSN2.

TSN2 aired the first NLL last Saturday when the Toronto Rock played the Boston Blazers game and will eight more games this season.

The next game will be the Rock’s home opener at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow as well as games against the Calgary Roughnecks, Edmonton Rush, Buffalo Bandits, Rochester Knighthawks and Orlando Titans.

The following is a list of the remaining eight games.

• Boston at Toronto – Friday, January 15 at 10:30 p.m. (tape delay)
• Rochester at Toronto – Saturday, January 23 at 7:00 p.m.
• Toronto at Calgary – Sunday, February 14 at 6:30 p.m.
• Toronto at Edmonton – Sunday, February 21 at 7:00 p.m. (tape delay)
• Orlando at Toronto – Saturday, February 27 (broadcast time TBD)
• Calgary at Toronto – Friday, April 2 at 10:30 p.m. (tape delay)
• Toronto at Buffalo – Saturday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m.
• Rochester at Toronto – Friday, April 16 at (broadcast time TBD)

Lacrosse fans can also watch the games live on the web from the NLL website. http://www.nll.com/

Broadcaster,  1/14/2010

Rogers Supports Haiti Earthquake Relief

Rogers Communications Inc. today announced it has launched a mobile giving campaign to enable its customers to donate funds to help the relief efforts in Haiti in the wake of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake on January 12, 2010, which has left many parts of the country devastated.

Rogers Wireless and Fido customers are encouraged to help those in Haiti by donating to Partners In Health: Haiti and other Haitian relief organizations. By sending the text message "HELP" to shortcode 1291 beginning today (1), customers can donate $5.00 CDN to the Haitian relief efforts. Rogers is working with The ONEXONE Foundation to facilitate 100 per cent of donations in funds and goods to Partners In Health: Haiti and other Haitian relief organizations.

In conjunction with the text-to-donate campaign and on behalf of its more than 10 million customers across the country, Rogers Communications and The Rogers family together will donate $250,000 in funds and goods to Partners In Health: Haiti and other relief organizations in Haiti.

"We at Rogers extend our deepest sympathies to everyone affected by the earthquake in Haiti, and to Canadians who are concerned for their loved ones back home," said Edward Rogers, Deputy Chairman, Rogers Communications. "In support of Partners in Health and other relief organizations in Haiti, we encourage our customers to aid relief efforts via our text-to-donate campaign."