IHeartMedia is already one of the media giants in North America and with a new announcement today, the company's reach is only going to get larger. IHeart announced today at CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas that it was partnering with Bell Media in a digital expansion to Canada to help mirror their products and bring IHeart to The Great White North.
The service will be a major, all-encompassing expansion of IHeart's digital radio and music streaming service to Canada. It will include everything from live and televised events, handheld devises, consumer electronics and car dashboards.
The move will modernize Bell Media's model and put them ahead of their direct competitors within the country who have a more traditional leaning and have been slow to move online and move into live events.
The move will combine millions of users from the United States and Canada. IHeart has 75 millions registered users since its launch in 2011. It recently expanded to Australia and New Zealand in 2013.
Bell owns 106 terrestrial radio stations, 30 local, five national and 34 specialty television stations. It also puts on the MuchMusic Video Awards and the Juno Awards.
Being implemented by the summer, IHeart will offer all of Bell's stations across smartphones, mobile, automobile dashboards and more, while the IHeart branded events like Jingle Ball to Canada.
"We are taking the position that we are iHeart North, so to speak, the Canadian franchise of iHeartMedia, which includes its events, its concert, its digital platform, its consumer electronics position, et cetera. We're seeing this as a positive step forward in terms of modernizing the business," says Randy Lennos, Bell Media's president, entertainment production and broadcasting via Billboard.
This will mean much more of American radio content in Canada and vise versa.
