Canadian entrepreneurial legend Ted Rogers founded our company in 1960. Over five decades, Ted Rogers turned our company into a converged media and communications powerhouse. While Ted unfortunately passed away in 2008 due to heart failure, his spirit lives on among our 25,000 employees.
We're committed to his “best is yet to come ” philosophy and are working to build a brilliant digital future for Canadians.
1924
Ted Rogers Sr. invented the world's first
All Electric Radio
He also started CFRB, the first all-electric radio station in the world, and obtained the first experimental television licence in Canada.
1960
Inspired by his father's legacy, Ted Rogers Jr. and three partners, started the first
Private Television Station
in Toronto, CFTO
1960
Ted Rogers Jr. bought
CHFI Radio
the first distinct-content FM station in Toronto.
2015
Rogers launched
Gigabit internet
quickly making it available to all customers across the entire Rogers footprint
2005
Rogers
Home Phone
service is introduced, adding competiton to this sector for the first time
1995
Rogers introduced the first
high-speed internet
service in North America
1979
Rogers became a
publicly traded company
and acquired Canadian Cablesystems. The following year, Premiere Cablevision was acquired making Rogers the largest cable firm in Canada.
1967
Ted Rogers Jr. starts
Rogers Cable
using cable infrastructure he bought from Norband construction. The company began with just 300 cable TV subscribers in Brampton, Ontario
1985
Cantel, the predecessor to Rogers Wireless, introduced Canada's
first cellular services
Art Eggleton, then Mayor of Toronto, made the first official wireless call on the Cantel network to the Mayor of Montreal.
1989
Rogers sold its U.S. cable assets and used the $1 billion profit to
invest in wireless
buying 40 percent of CNCP Telecommunications (later Unitel) to compete in the long-distance phone market
1998
Rogers was first to offer the
Blackberry
by Research in Motion
2004
Rogers purchased
Fido
from Microcell for an estimated $1.4 Billion. Fido was the first provider in Canada to offer a network with GSM standard, which later became the global standard
2008
Rogers launched the first
iPhone
in Canada, the iPhone 3G, the fastest-selling handset launch in the company's history at the time
2009
Rogers launched the first
Android
devices in Canada
2011
Rogers launched the first
LTE wireless network
in Canada beginning in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa
2011
Rogers created
Chatr Mobile
to cater to customers interested in low-cost talk and text plans
2015
Rogers bought
Mobilicty
folding it into the Chatr brand
1986
Rogers purchased
CFMT-Toronto
(later renamed OMNI Television), the first multicultural and multilingual TV service in Canada
1994
Rogers bought media giant
Maclean Hunter
and its cable, radio, TV, newspaper and magazine assets (including Maclean's) for $3.1 billion. It became the basis of a new division called Rogers Media.
2000
Ted Rogers purchased the
Toronto Blue Jays
He saw this as an opportunity to keep the franchise in Canada, and as an investment in both Canada and Toronto. Rogers later purchased SkyDome in downtown Toronto for $25 million, and renamed it Rogers Centre.
2001
Rogers acquired
Sportsnet
from Bell Globemedia. Sportsnet later became the #1 sports media brand in Canada
2007
Rogers acquired the
City television network
2011
Rogers took another step in sports
leadership, buying 37.5% of
MLSE
from Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.
2013
Rogers announced a landmark 12-year deal for exclusive national
NHL rights
Rogers has expanded hockey's reach to all Canadians through new platforms such as NHL GameCentre LIVE and unique analysis. It's the largest media rights deal in NHL history, and is also Canada's largest sports-media rights agreement.
2013
Rogers launched
Next Issue
in Canada, later renamed Texture
2011
Rogers launched
Smart Home Monitoring
an innovative way to control the whole home from a smartphone and other devices
2013
Rogers invested in Canada's communities through the first
Ultra-low Cost Internet
for people with low-income in non-profit housing to help bridge the digital divide
2014
Rogers created
Roam Like Home
which allows customers to use their phones in over 100 countries as if they were at home
2015
Rogers became the first company in the world to utilize
Facebook Messenger and Twitter
as platforms to help customers with their accounts
2015
Rogers launched
4K TV
broadcasting the world's first NHL game in 4K, the world's first NBA game in 4K and carrying all Toronto Blue Jays home games in 4K.
2016
Rogers launched
Worry-Free Data Management
a new way to control, customize and monitor data on a Share Everything Plan
2016
EnRoute
becomes available for Rogers and Fido customers as a way to track technicians so they can better manage their own time
2016
Rogers Unison
became available to businesses across Canada, providing them with the features of a traditional desk phone straight to their cellphones in new cloud-based service
