Stories by Austin Blake

Earlier today there was a short Rogers outage that affected many customers nationwide, according to reports online from customers and third-party tracking sites like Downdetector. Many customers said signals just disappeared and iPhones started to show SOS (those that support Apple's Emergency SOS via Satellite). The Rogers outage affected cellphone and internet services. Many were...

Google is pushing back hard against the idea that YouTube should be regulated like traditional TV, telling the CRTC that Canada’s outdated broadcast rules have no place in today’s open and user-driven internet. Speaking at today’s June 25 CRTC hearing, Arun Krishnamurti, Senior Counsel with Google Canada, warned the Commission against forcing old regulatory tools...

Netflix Canada has released its list of new shows and movies coming to the streaming service in July 2025. Highlights include the exclusive premiere of Happy Gilmore 2 on July 25, classic film Forrest Gump arrives on July 5 and the WWE Evolution live event on July 25. Check out the full list of what's...

A new federal government report says that Chinese government-backed hackers—known in the cybersecurity world as Salt Typhoon—broke into the network of a Canadian telecom company earlier this year. Chinese hackers used a known flaw in Cisco equipment (called CVE-2023-20198) to snoop around, change settings, and potentially spy on data flowing through the system, sometime before...

Cogeco is calling on the CRTC to clamp down on Canada’s largest telecom and media companies, accusing them of abusing their dominance and threatening the survival of smaller distributors. The company made these statements at the CRTC's hearing on June 20. “We are dealing with large vertically integrated players who own a large number of...

Google Earth is marking its 20th anniversary with a couple of big updates that change how people explore the planet. Starting June 24, users will be able to access historical Street View imagery directly in Google Earth, letting anyone virtually time-travel through past views of cities and neighbourhoods. This feature became popular last year on...

Rogers is shutting down the Shaw WiFi hotspot network on July 21, ending public access to thousands of hotspots across Western Canada—and Freedom Mobile customers will feel the impact. A banner on the Shaw internet Wi-Fi website reads: "Rogers WiFi Hotspots will no longer be available starting July 21.” The shutdown affects Freedom Mobile users...

Rogers has finalized a $7 billion deal with Blackstone and several major Canadian pension funds, selling a non-controlling stake in a new subsidiary that owns part of its wireless network infrastructure. The move gives Blackstone and partners—including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, PSP Investments, BCI, and IMCO—an...

Spotify says it doesn’t need to be regulated like a radio station, arguing that music streaming is already working well for Canadian artists and listeners. In a presentation to the CRTC last week, Spotify said royalties paid to Canadian artists on its platform nearly doubled between 2019 and 2024, reaching $460 million in 2024 alone—more...

Paramount+ has officially renewed Mobland for a second season (and rightfully so as expected). The crime drama, which stars Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren, has pulled in over 26 million viewers since its premiere and ranked as the second most-watched original series on the platform (Landman is first). Season 1 debuted on March...

Tesla has officially launched its long-awaited Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, marking the company’s first real-world test of its fully autonomous ride-hailing network. The pilot program kicked off Thursday afternoon in a geofenced area of South Austin, with early testers now able to summon rides using the new Robotaxi mobile app. Customers currently pay a...

Corus Entertainment says Canada’s broadcasting system is broken—and blames Rogers for making things worse. Speaking at this week's hearings with the CRTC, Corus told regulators on Friday that Rogers’ growing dominance is threatening the future of independent Canadian TV channels. The company said it’s struggling to get fair treatment from distributors like Rogers, especially after...