These are stories Report on Business is following Friday, Aug. 2, 2013.
Viewing habits to change
The definition of a couch potato is about to change.
It's not that said potatoes will be getting off the couch, necessarily. It's that the remote is being overtaken by computer mice and fingers.
Indeed, 2013 is on track to be a landmark year for the digital revolution, according to eMarketer.
For the first time, the research firm says in a new study, Americans will spend more time with digital media than they do watching TV, posing issues for broadcasters and advertisers alike.
On average, American adults will be online for five hours and nine minutes a day this year, up from last year's four hours and 31 minutes.
Time spent watching TV will dip, eMarketer says, to four hours and 31 minutes, down from 2012's four hours and 38 minutes.
"The most significant growth area is on mobile," the study says.
"Adults will spend an average of two hours and 21 minutes per day on non-voice mobile activities, including mobile Internet usage on phones and tablets – longer than they will spend online on desktop and laptop computers, and nearly an hour more than they spent on mobile last year."
- Read the study
- TV subscriptions not threatened by ‘cord-cutting,’ report says
- Netflix rearms for a Canadian onslaught
Regional differences mark Canada's economy
Canada's economy will continue to pick up, particularly next year, but the recovery is going to vary across the country, a new forecast suggests.
Bank of Nova Scotia projects the economy will expand by 1.7 per cent this year, and 2.3 per cent next, while unemployment dips to 7.1 per cent in 2013 and 6.9 per cent in 2014.
The overall rates, however, mask the regional differences.
British Columbia's economy is forecast to grow by 1.3 per cent this year and 2.3 per cent next, Alberta's by 2.9 per cent and 3.6 per cent, Saskatchewan's by 2.8 per cent in each year, Manitoba's by 1.8 per cent and 2.1 per cent, Ontario's by 1.4 per cent and 2 per cent, Quebec's by 1.1 per cent and 1.8 per cent, New Brunswick's by 0.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent, Nova Scotia's by 1.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent, Prince Edward Island's by 1.3 per cent and 1.6 per cent, and Newfoundland and Labrador's by 5 per cent and 1.8 per cent.
The forecasts for unemployment also vary: B.C. at 6.6 per cent and 6.5 per cent, Alberta at 4.5 per cent and 4.3 per cent, Saskatchewan at 4 per cent in each year, Manitoba at 5.1 per cent and 5 per cent, Ontario and Quebec each at 7.6 per cent and 7.4 per cent, New Brunswick at 10.5 per cent and 10.3 per cent, Nova Scotia at 9.1 per cent and 8.8 per cent, PEI at 11 per cent and 10.8 per cent, and Newfoundland and Labrador at 11.4 per cent and 10.8 per cent.
Rogers' defensive strike against foreign wireless rival Verizon
Canada's largest wireless company, Rogers Communications Inc., is in talks on two deals designed to sidestep Ottawa's restrictions on industry mergers and discourage U.S. giant Verizon Communications Inc. from entering the domestic market. Rogers is backing a Toronto-based investment firm, Birch Hill Equity Partners Management Inc., on a proposed acquisition of Wind Mobile, a financially struggling wireless company with about 600,000 customers across the country, according to five sources familiar with the matter.