Rogers 2014 Annual Report Download - page 35

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
CABLE
Internet competes with other ISPs that offer residential and commercial
high-speed Internet access services. Rogers Hi-Speed Internet services
compete directly with:
• Bell’s Internet service in Ontario;
• Bell Aliant’s Internet services in New Brunswick and Newfoundland;
and
• various resellers using wholesale telecommunication company DSL
and cable Third Party Internet Access (TPIA) services in local markets.
Television competes:
• increasingly with alternative, Canadian multi-channel Broadcasting
Distribution Undertakings (BDUs) including Bell, Shaw, other
alternative satellite TV services, and Internet Protocol television;
• with over-the-air local and regional broadcast television signals
received directly through antennas, and the illegal reception of US
direct broadcast satellite services; and
• with television shows and movies streaming over the Internet
through providers like Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV, and CraveTV and
channels streaming their own content.
Phone competes with:
• Bell and Bell Aliant’s wireline phone service in Ontario, New
Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador;
• Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) local loop resellers and
VoIP service providers (such as Primus and Comwave), other VoIP
only service providers (such as Vonage and Skype) and other voice
applications riding over the Internet access services of ISPs; and
• substitution of wireline for wireless products (commonly referred to
as cord-cutting), including mobile phones and wireless home phone
products.
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
A number of different players in the Canadian market compete for
enterprise network and communications services. There are relatively
few national providers, but each market has its own competitors that
usually focus on the geographic markets where they have the most
extensive networks.
In the wireline voice and data market, we compete with facilities- and
non-facilities-based telecommunications service providers. In markets
where we own network infrastructure, we compete with incumbent
fibre-based providers. The following are our main competitors, but
there are also regional competitors:
• Ontario: Bell, Cogeco Data Services and Allstream;
• Quebec: predominantly Bell, Telus, and Videotron;
• Atlantic Canada: Bell Aliant and Eastlink; and
• Western Canada: Shaw and Telus.
MEDIA
Television and specialty services compete for viewers and advertisers
with:
• other Canadian television stations that broadcast in their local
markets, including those owned and operated by the CBC, Bell
Media, and Shaw Media, some of which have greater national
coverage;
• other specialty channels;
• other distant Canadian signals and US border stations given the
time-shifting capacity available to subscribers;
• other media, including newspapers, magazines, radio, and outdoor
advertising; and
• content available on the Internet.
Our radio stations compete mainly with individual stations in local
markets, but they also compete:
• nationally with other large radio operators, including satellite radio
operator Sirius/XM, the CBC, Bell Media and Corus Entertainment;
• with other media, including newspapers, magazines, television and
outdoor advertising; and
• with new technologies such as online web information services,
music downloading, portable media players and online music
streaming services.
The Shopping Channel competes with:
• retail stores, catalogue, Internet and direct mail retailers;
• infomercials that sell products on television; and
• other television channels, for channel placement, viewer attention
and loyalty.
Our magazines and other publications compete for readership and
advertisers with:
• other Canadian magazines;
• foreign, mostly US, titles that sell in significant quantities in Canada;
and
• online information and entertainment websites.
Competition in Sports Entertainment includes:
• other televised and online sports programming for viewership of
Rogers Sports Entertainment teams;
• other Toronto professional teams for attendance at Blue Jays
games;
• other Major League Baseball teams for Blue Jays players and fans;
• other local sporting and special event venues; and
• other professional sports teams for merchandise sales revenue.
2014 ANNUAL REPORT ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC. 31