WHILE SAYING HIS company has not yet decided on a course of action, Bell Canada’s regulatory chief says thanks to the CRTC’s new vertical integration policy, he wants to start over when it comes to our broadcasting laws and its regulation.
(Explained here, the new policy: prohibits exclusives on linear TV content when it comes to mobile and online platforms; bans tied selling of specialty services ensuring BDUs can buy them from programmers one at a time; calls for consumers to be able to buy more specialties one at a time in a pick-and-pay format; outlines a specific code…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC’s new policy on vertical integration, released late Wednesday, tries hard to balance the wants of Canadian television viewers with the commercial demands of the country’s largest vertically integrated broadcasters and television distributors, and the needs of the smaller and independent ones.
Following a five day long hearing in June, the new policy offers flexibility to the likes of Bell Media, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media, but also includes a number of safeguards and a code of conduct.
Highlights of the new policy include:
– Companies are prohibited from offering television programs on an exclusive basis to…
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MONTREAL – The short list of TV veterans has been whittled down to three for the position of executive vice-president, French services at the CBC, sources have told Cartt.ca.
While no final decision has yet been taken, we have learned that former TVA executive Philippe Lapointe and former Rogers exec Marc Blondeau are in the running, as is CRTC commissioner Michel Morin.
Morin (right) has over three decades of experience as a journalist with Radio-Canada and was chief editor, television news, for Radio-Canada and RDI from 2003…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor’s new French-language sports channel TVA Sports launched Monday.
Offering Bell Media’s RDS some competition, the channel plans to air more than 60 Toronto Blue Jays baseball games, 25 regional Ottawa Senators hockey matches, games from the Canadian Hockey League, the Quebec Major Junior League and Major League Soccer’s Montreal Impact. It has also signed a multi-year agreement with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for live fights and The Ultimate Fighter series.
TVA Sports is available now to Videotron customers in free preview through November. Subscribers will also be able to access the channel through illico web and mobile.
www.videotron.com
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has extended the deadline for interventions related to the development of a regulatory framework for the French-language television market.
Comments and interventions are now due by September 27, two business days later than its original deadline of September 23, 2011, the Commission said Wednesday.
Scheduled for December 5 at the Omni Mont-Royal Hotel in Montreal, the hearing will also seek to renew the broadcast licences for Astral Media, Quebecor Media and Serdy Media, plus review of certain conditions of licence for V Interactions Inc.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – Rogers Sportsnet is partnering with Quebecor-owned TVA on the new French-language sports channel TVA Sports that will launch nationally on September 12.
The new channel plans to air more than 60 Toronto Blue Jays baseball games and 25 regional Ottawa Senators hockey games (Rogers owns the English-language broadcast rights to these properties, plus the Blue Jays team). TVA Sports has declared itself the official broadcaster of Major League Soccer’s Montreal Impact, plus has signed a multi-year agreement with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) for live fights and The Ultimate Fighter series (which also airs on Rogers Sportsnet).
The…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has announced plans to develop a regulatory framework for the French-language television market.
Wednesday’s notice of consultation said that this process “will determine the most appropriate approach to take in regard to the French-language television market, to define the obligations to be imposed on French-language conventional television broadcasters and to establish the relevance of a group-based approach, in order to meet the objectives of the Broadcasting Act”.
During the hearing, which has been scheduled for December 5th at the Omni Mont-Royal Hotel in Montreal, the Commission pledged to address a group-based approach, programs of national interest, independent…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor Inc. has posted lower second-quarter net profit due to certain one-time charges, but met or exceeded analyst expectations.
Following the announcement, Scotia Capital Research’s analyst Jeff Fan reiterated the company’s one-year target price of $45 a share on improving EBITDA and cash flow trend going into 2012. Class B shares of the Montreal-based company rose 7%, passing the $30 mark, boosted by the earnings news and plans that Quebecor would buy back roughly 10% of its outstanding stock. Yesterday, TVA Group Inc., a division of Quebecor, also announced it will suspend its dividend payments as the broadcaster…
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MONTRÉAL – Videotron has announced that it now has more than 210,000 customers for its mobile services in its latest quarterly results. The Quebecor owned cable and wireless division says in its quarterly results released today that it recorded the strongest growth ever for mobile services during the second quarter, adding more than 3,500 new customers per week.
The quarterly increase of 52,700 revenue-generating units, up 75% from the 30,100-unit increase recorded in the same quarter of 2010, “demonstrated the soundness of Videotron’s decision to invest in mobile services in order to maintain strong growth although markets for its…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor-controlled TVA Group Monday reported second-quarter profits of $13.8 million, compared with $11.7 million, a year ago. Revenues grew to $117.5 million from $110.9 million. Its television sector however reported a $3.7 million drop in operating revenue, or 16.1%, compared with the same quarter of the previous year.
It attributed the losses primarily to operating expenses of its new specialty services, Sun News and Mlle, which launched in the second quarter of 2011. The loss was partially offset by a 3.9% increase in operating income at TVA Network due in large part to a 9.6% increase in advertising…
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