Industry speculation that Rogers Communications will be raising basic cable rates by a dollar with the launch this week of specialty services CTV Sportsnet and Crossroads Television System on basic, is unfounded says Rogers vp communications Jan Innes.

‘No, we haven’t made any decisions to increase our rates at this time,’ says Innes. ‘We did our last increase in March and we’ll look at that when we do our budgeting for the end of the yearÉthere are no plans to raise them again this year.’

However, by adding the new services to basic, Rogers is entitled to raise basic fees for its customers with crtc approval, Innes points out. ‘When you add services on basic you can increase your rates,’ Innes says. ‘But those are published rates from the commission.’

Rogers is waiting on crtc approval to increase its ownership stake in Sportsnet from 20% to 40%.

In July, the crtc denied a Shaw Communications request for a minority ownership stake in specialty Headline Sports.