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I have heard through the grapevine that the radio studio will be built in 2011 to house mostly Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590 but also other radio shows.
 
Hopefully that includes some of the other detailing that they had been mulling for the original construction project:

1- There's supposed to be a wall of tv's on the torch base in the tunnel facing the studio.
2- The torch tower is supposed to be rounded out. Currently, there's a flat corrugated wall which PenEquity put there for what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt at putting more ads on the building.
3- The Tower itself was going to become a series of faceted tv screens. They left the original tower in place for lack of budget for this iconic piece.

The first two are likely to go ahead since they're part of the construction site for the radio studio. The media tower is less likely as part of the upcoming radio studio construction but it'll happen at some point. Rogers had big plans for this building to become the face of its company but it didn't end up living up to that with the cut down update of the exterior. A gleaming crystal tower composed of screens would no doubt bring attention to that side of the square.
 
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^ Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the southeast corner of YD Square is supposed to be flattened out by removing whatever's there now. That will open things up a bit towards the tower.
 
^ Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the southeast corner of YD Square is supposed to be flattened out by removing whatever's there now. That will open things up a bit towards the tower.

Unfortunately, you are mistaken. They can't flatten out that part of the square. The stage quite ingeniously incorporates the entrance to the parking garage. It has to stay. However, Rogers was in talks with the city to clear up the clutter from the crowd control gates and chairs that are stored next to the stage facing the CityTV studio.

The ugly dock crane like structure that was tacked on to create a movable stage canopy needs to be replaced though. The square is so nicely designed and they went there plopped on that industrial looking hulk of iron. Yuck. Hopefully they put in the originally designed glass and stainless steel canopy.

Before complaining too much though, Rogers needs to do their part. The radio station will go a long way to creating some activity there but doing something interactive in the tunnel is essential to livening up that dead side of the square.
 
In terms of radio stations, wouldn't 680 news be the better option seeing as them and City work hand in hand already for news? I think it would def. give then a boost for the CityNews channel.
 
Before complaining too much though, Rogers needs to do their part. The radio station will go a long way to creating some activity there but doing something interactive in the tunnel is essential to livening up that dead side of the square.

Bring back Speakers Corner? The east end of YD Sq is so dead/uninviting! And the 'torch' is so disappointing.
 
And cover up those damned MONSTER HVAC units on the roof. Wasn't that supposed to happen a year ago? I hate seeing those ugly boxes every time I walk down Yonge Street.
 
I'm really surprised they haven't covered them up. That could be used for valuable ad space!
 
khristopher, you make it sound like they could just put up some ads anywhere they want. PenEquity had requested more signage space but were denied. Yet, they were so sure they could defy the limitations put on by the city that they built an additional ad space (the corrugated flat wall below the torch).

Rogers has planned a corral around the HVACs but haven't gotten to it due to budgetary constraints. The same goes for the rest of the exterior upgrades that were/are planned.
 
khristopher, you make it sound like they could just put up some ads anywhere they want. PenEquity had requested more signage space but were denied. Yet, they were so sure they could defy the limitations put on by the city that they built an additional ad space (the corrugated flat wall below the torch).

Rogers has planned a corral around the HVACs but haven't gotten to it due to budgetary constraints. The same goes for the rest of the exterior upgrades that were/are planned.

Rogers has budgetary constraints? Yeah, right! Didn't they report making over 1 billion in profits recently? They seem to have had the money to bring in the Bills. Rogers has no excuse, as far as I'm concerned. It wouldn't cost all that much and they are rolling in dough.
 
I was going to say the same. And didn't they put in a bid to try and buy MLSE about half a year ago? If Rogers truly had any sense of civic pride they would have addressed the mess of the CityTV/Omni building next to an important, high profile public space well over a year ago.
 
464 million in QUARTERLY PROFITS
Is that the "budgetary constraints" you speak of? It sounds like they are doing rather well to me. How much would they have to spend to cover up those HVAC units? If they did it inexpensively, maybe 100,000 dollars? How much more would that bite into their BILLION+ yearly profits? Do the math. There is no excues whatsoever.


Aaron Lynett
Rogers Communications Inc said on Tuesday that second-quarter earnings rose 21%, as the communications company's key wireless and cable operations divisions boosted profits.

Comments Twitter LinkedIn Digg Buzz Email Jamie Sturgeon, Financial Post · Tuesday, Jul. 27, 2010

TORONTO -- Rogers Communications Inc. reported a 21% rise in second-quarter profit Tuesday, sharply beating analyst expectations.


The better-than-expected results perhaps allayed some fears that new competition had a negative effect in the quarter. However, some interpreted the results as evidence that the second half of the year will take its toll on the telecom giant and the industry overall, notably in wireless.


Rogers earned $464-million (80 cents a share) in the last quarter, compared with profit $412-million (65 cents) in the same period a year ago. Earnings were well above estimates with analysts anticipating profit of 67 cents.


Revenues from fixed-lined services like cable and Internet were in line with the consensus view, while Rogers' media properties beat expectations. Overall, Rogers reported revenues of $3.029-billion, or about what analysts anticipated.


"Rogers reported a mostly in-line quarter," Greg MacDonald at National Bank Financial said in a note to clients.


"Though it is too early to be conclusive, clearly the new entrant impact is not yet evident," he said.


The country's largest wireless carrier reported a gain of 98,000 postpaid or contract wireless subscribers. That's 50% lower than a year earlier, but the drop was not surprising, as the market slows and incumbents split remaining share more evenly, especially in light of Bell and Telus's new network activation last November.


“We are not particularly concerned with lower wireless subscriber gains versus last year, as the trend is in line with our belief that wireless net additions will be more evenly spread among the major players," said Maher Yaghi at Desjardins Securities.


Slowing sales of the iPhone also contributed to the slide as customers wait for the next version of the popular handset to launch in Canada on July 30. About half of all Rogers smartphone sales come from the popular handset, while BlackBerrys and phones carrying Google's Android platform make up the bulk of the rest.


Yet total net wireless additions fell to 119,000 in the spring quarter, versus 142,000 during the same period in 2009 reflecting slightly higher "competitive intensity," the company said in an earnings release.


Smartphone additions, the area where Rogers has been most keenly focused on until very recently, were up 385,000 in the 12-week period. Subscribers in the category, which usually spend up to twice as much on their wireless bill for things like Web surfing and email, now make up about 35% of Rogers eight-million-plus base, the company said.


Wireless data revenue grew by 39% to $439-million in the quarter, more than offsetting declines in voice revenues, which have been systematically lowered by incumbent carriers over the past year and a half or so as a way to boost sales in a slow economy and head off new competition from upstarts like Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile.


Overall, profit margins were up across Rogers three main business segments.


But Rogers perhaps fuelled uncertainty over the operational outlook by failing to raise its full-year guidance, something the market was anticipating. Instead, Rogers opted to maintain its present earnings and revenue picture for the year.









Read more: http://www.financialpost.com/Rogers+profit+jumps+outlook+cautious/3327250/story.html#ixzz1DZlQLLOH
 
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I'm not arguing that Rogers doesn't have the money to cover up the HVAC units, I'm simply reporting that they haven't allocated a large enough budget to the building, thus there are "budgetary constraints". It'll happen eventually but right now Rogers hasn't prioritized it.
 
From internally I can confirm there has been some talk about putting in a radio station here, there was even some talk about moving 680 news down here but that idea died quickly from what I understand.

As far as budgets are concerned yes Rogers has a ton of money but they didn't become such a huge corporation by just throwing money away. Keep in mind CityTV laid off almost 1/3rd of it's staff just over a year ago and only in the last few months have they started hiring again (at much lower salaries I should add)

As for Yonge Dundas Square, in the last few weeks there has been a lot of activity as there has been construction on the "ass" end of the square.
 

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