please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message rogers communications inc. rogers communications logo used since 2015 rogers building in toronto ontario type public traded as tsx rci.a rci.b nyse rci s & p tsx 60 component industry conglomerate founded 1960 1 founder rogers vacuum tube company edward s. rogers sr. rogers cablesystems edward samuel rogers headquarters 333 bloor street east toronto ontario m4w 1g9 canada key people alan horn chairman guy laurence ceo products landline and mobile telephony internet services digital television broadcasting cable tv publishing revenue cad 13.414 billion 2015 2 net income cad 1.490 billion 2015 2 total assets cad 29.175 billion 2015 2 total equity cad 5.745 billion 2015 number of employees 26 000 2013 2 subsidiaries chatr cityfone fido solutions mobilicity rogers bank rogers cable rogers media rogers telecom rogers wireless website www.rogers.com rogers communications is a canadian communications and media company . it operates particularly in the field of wireless communications cable television telephone and internet connectivity with significant additional telecommunications and mass media assets . the company is headquartered in toronto ontario 3 the company claims the heritage of the rogers vacuum tube company founded in 1925 by edward rogers which started the cfrb radio station in toronto which was later acquired by outside interests . the present enterprise dates to 1960 when rogers son ted rogers founded rogers radio broadcasting ltd. that company acquired chfi that year 4 as well as aldred rogers broadcasting a partnership with joel aldred which helped launch cfto in 1961 . rogers later bought out aldred and started the current cable and wireless operations known as rogers cablesystems ltd. the chief competitor to the company is bell canada which has a similarly extensive portfolio of radio and television media assets as well as wireless television distribution and telephone services particularly in eastern and central canada ; the two companies are often seen as having a duopoly on communications services in their regions as both companies own a stake of maple leaf sports and entertainment . however the company also competes nationally with telus for wireless services and primarily indirectly with shaw communications for television service . however rogers and shaw have since launched an online movie and television streaming service called shomi . citation needed contents 1 history 1.1 entry to broadcasting 1.2 2000s 2 corporate governance 3 assets and divisions 3.1 rogers cable 3.2 rogers wireless 3.2.1 rogers smart home monitoring 3.3 rogers media 3.3.1 publishing 3.3.2 broadcasting 3.3.3 sports 3.4 national hockey league 3.5 digital products and services 3.5.1 outrank by rogers 3.5.2 vicinity by rogers 3.5.3 rogers smart home monitoring 3.6 rogers bank 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit in 1925 rogers sr. invented the world s first alternating current ac heater filament cathode for a radio tube which then enabled radios to be powered by ordinary transformer coupled household electric current . this was a breakthrough in the technology and became a key factor in popularizing radio reception . after this invention radios became far more commonplace in the world . the all american five is an example of a vacuum tube radio that utilized five tubes with heater filaments series connected to produce a total ac voltage demand that matched the 120 volts ac supplied at the wall socket . no power transformers were needed in these radios in 1931 rogers sr. was awarded an experimental television licence in canada . he was working on radar when on may 6 1939 he died suddenly due to complications of a hemorrhage . he was 38 years old . he left a widow velma and a five year old son edward ted rogers . while his business interests were sold his son later determined to carry on his father s business . citation needed entry to broadcasting edit while ted rogers was an articling student with tory tory deslauriers & binnington he started rogers radio broadcasting limited which acquired canada s pioneer fm station chfi fm . in 1962 he pioneered stereo broadcasting in fm with chfi and also founded cftr in toronto . 5 by making available fm radios to boost fm penetration which was only at 3 % at the time ted rogers was able to make more canadians aware of fm transmitters . chfi fm quickly became one of canada s most listened to fm radio stations and one of the most popular and profitable fm radio station in canada . rogers s interests in radio led him to cable television in the mid 1960s . he wanted canada s fledgling cable operators to carry chfi on a spare cable channel and the more he studied the cable world the more he became attracted to the potential for programming choices on cable television . he entered the cable business in 1967 and was awarded television licences for areas in and around toronto brampton and leamington . citation needed in 1974 rogers cable communications expanded past 12 channels including several multicultural channels . through a reverse takeover in 1979 ted rogers s company rogers cable tv limited acquired control of canadian cablesystems limited . in 1980 the company purchased premier communications limited which almost doubled the number of cable subscribers and made rogers communications the largest cable television company in canada . as a founding shareholder of rogers cantel inc. which commenced service in 1985 the company entered the mobile phone market . the company operated a national cellular telephone network in canada in competition with the established telephone companies . rogers cantel mobile communications inc. which is now called rogers wireless is now a public company 51 % of which is owned by rogers communications . between 1979 and 1982 rogers communications acquired and built a number of cable television systems in the united states . in march 1989 the company completed the sale of its us cable television interests for cdn 1.581 billion . in 1986 rogers cablesystems changes its name to present day rogers communications inc. this led to rogers communications inc. acquiring 40 % of unitel communications formerly cncp telecommunications in september 1989 . unitel was granted permission by the canadian radio television and telecommunications commission in june 1992 to compete with the canadian telephone monopolies in the long distance market . in january 1993 20 % of unitel communications was sold to at & t corporation . as a result of this transaction rogers communications inc. s interest in unitel was reduced to 32 % . in september 1995 unitel communications reached an agreement in principle with at & t and certain of its bankers to restructure unitel . at the close of this transaction rogers communication no longer had an equity investment in unitel . citation needed on march 31 1994 rogers communications inc. completed an offer for the shares of maclean hunter and on december 19 1994 the canadian radio television and telecommunications commission crtc approved the transaction . the publishing assets of maclean hunter were subsequently combined with its existing radio and television operations to form rogers media inc. on january 1995 rogers along with several other cable companies added a number of new cable channels under a negative option billing plan . subscribers opting out of paying for the new channels stood to lose much of their existing speciality channel programming . the participating cable companies were hit by both regulatory and public opinion backlash and ultimately were forced to split the negative option channels into two separately purchasable blocks a move which rogers had initially opposed as not technologically feasible . citation needed 2000s edit rogers logo used from 2000 2015 . prior to the late 2000s a non flat version of the mobius strip was used . rogers communications inc. unveiled its new mobius strip logo on january 17 2000 marking the departure of its original logo . 6 in 2000 rogers acquired cable atlantic 7 from newfoundland businessman danny williams . the deal worth 151.8 million brought rogers approximately 75 000 subscribers . with the purchase of cable atlantic rogers scrapped its plan to buy vid otron which was later purchased by quebecor . that same year they acquired the toronto blue jays baseball club . in 2004 they acquired skydome which is the blue jays home venue and largest covered indoor entertainment complex in canada . the complex was renamed rogers centre in february 2005 . also in 2000 rogers bought the arena football league team the new england sea wolves and after the 2000 season rogers moved them to toronto and renamed the team the toronto phantoms . due to lack of interest and poor ticket sales the team ceased operations in 2002 . in july 2001 rogers media acquired ctv sportsnet and renamed rogers sportsnet that november . the fan 590 sports radio station joined rogers media in august 2001 along with 14 northern ontario radio stations . 8 rogers on demand was launched as a home video library over cable in february 2002 and in november 2003 rogers cable made personal video recorders pvrs available to its subscribers . in summer 2004 rogers partnered with yahoo to create rogers yahoo which offers yahoo premium features to rogers broadband internet customers . in fall 2004 several strategic transactions were executed that significantly increased rogers exposure to the potential of the canadian wireless market . rogers acquired the 34 % of rogers wireless owned by at & t wireless services inc for 1.77 billion . 9 soon thereafter rogers wireless acquired microcell telecommunications inc. along with its popular fido brand which created canada s largest wireless operator and only gsm provider . in december rogers communications repurchased the shares of rogers wireless that were publicly held and proceeded to take the company private which significantly enhanced the company s operating and financial flexibility . coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of rogers launch of wireless services on july 1 2005 rogers home phone voice over cable local telephony service was introduced in the greater toronto area and also successfully completed the acquisition of call net enterprises inc. now rogers telecom holdings inc. a national provider of voice and data communications services . citation needed in 2007 rogers entered a tentative deal to purchase the a channel stations ckx tv access canadian learning television and sextv the channel from chum limited as part of the latter company s pending takeover by ctvglobemedia . this transaction was contingent on crtc approval of ctvglobemedia s takeover of chum . however on june 8 2007 the crtc approved the ctv transaction conditional on ctv divesting itself of citytv rather than a channel effectively voiding the deal . on june 12 it was announced that rogers had made a new offer of 375 million for the citytv stations . the transaction was approved on september 28 2007 the same date when rogers park in brampton ontario was officially opened . citation needed on june 28 2007 rogers further offered to sell the two religious licensed omni stations in winnipeg and vancouver as part of the citytv deal although the company stated that it intended to retain the multilingual licensed omni stations . on july 7 rogers also announced a takeover offer for vancouver s multicultural station chnm . the transaction was approved on march 31 2008 . in september 2007 rogers