GATINEAU – CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein told the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance and Telus on Monday that the two organizations need not fear Bell Media withholding its TV signals while the independent carriers continue to try to convince the broadcaster to alter its new wholesale carriage agreement.
As Cartt.ca first reported last week, a number of Canada’s independent TV distributors have balked at signing the new contract, which encompasses up to 30 Bell Media channels (including TSN, BNN, Comedy, MuchMusic, Discovery and so on) and have complained to the CRTC that the terms demanded by…
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MONTREAL – Both of Canada's two French-language private television networks made commitments to increase local news programming as CRTC hearings concluded Friday in Montreal.
Remstar, which bought the TQS network out of creditor protection in 2008 and eliminated its news-gathering operations, read the writing on the hearing walls and committed to increase local news programming on its five owned-and-operated stations after spending the week resisting calls to do so.
In '08, the CRTC gave what is now called V Interactions three years of reduced local news minimums when the station was purchased (from…
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OTTAWA – A number of Canada’s independent cable operators have balked at signing a new omnibus carriage agreement for the up-to 30 specialty channels owned by Bell Media and instead are demanding the CRTC step in and decide who’s right.
According to sources with direct knowledge of the agreement and the ongoing battle, both Cogeco Cable and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance have been through a few rounds of official CRTC staff mediation, which hasn’t yielded much in the way of results. It now looks like the disputes are headed towards binding, final offer arbitration in front of a CRTC…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco is buying Metromedia CMR Plus Inc., a Quebec company that operates an advertising rep house in the public transit sector.
Metromedia represents over 100 public transit markets, notably in Montreal, and other Quebec regions, as well as in “major cities and numerous markets” in the rest of Canada, Cogeco said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"The acquisition of Metromedia, added to our Quebec radio station portofolio, is an excellent opportunity to diversify our media activities and create a compelling new media offering for advertisers by combining radio and transit advertising”, said Cogeco president and CEO…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion shut down its Sherbrooke-based radio station CJTS-FM Tuesday at noon after failing to find a buyer. The move puts a dozen employees out of work, the company confirmed to Cartt.ca.
After approving its acquisition of Corus’ Quebec radio stations last April, the CRTC told Cogeco to divest of three of the stations in keeping with its common ownership policy which limits the number of stations in one market owned by the same company. Cogeco sold off two of its four Quebec City area stations last week to Leclerc Communication Inc., as Cartt.ca reported.
Cogeco said…
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TROIS-RIVIERES – Cogeco officially opened its new operations centre in Trois-Rivieres on Monday.
The multi-functional $18 million facility consolidates Cogeco Cable's Quebec telecommunications nerve centre in the Mauricie region. In addition to bringing together some 500 employees under one roof and creating nearly 100 direct and indirect jobs, the new 79,000 square foot building houses a modern work environment and cutting-edge hi-tech equipment.
"Inaugurating this new centre demonstrates Cogeco's commitment to the region and our recognition for the people who live here, who have supported us for over 50 years”, said president and CEO Louis Audet at the ceremony (seen below,…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion said Wednesday that it has sold two of its four Québec City region FM radio stations to Leclerc Communication Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The sale of CJEC-FM and CFEL-FM comes at the behest of the CRTC which required Cogeco to sell off some of the stations that it acquired from Corus in order to comply with the common ownership policy in the Québec City and Sherbrooke markets.
The company said in a statement that proceedings for the sale of CJTS-FM in Sherbrooke are continuing.
In other company news, Cogeco Inc. has renewed its…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. may be trying to unload its flagging Portuguese subsidiary Cabovisao.
According to a report by telecommunications market research and consulting firm TeleGeography, Cogeco is shopping the cableco to various Portuguese and international telecom operators and private equity funds.
A Cogeco spokesperson at the company’s Montreal headquarters declined to confirm the report, noting in an email to Cartt.ca that it is the company’s policy not to comment on rumours.
But a second report by TeleGeography quoted officials at Portugal Telecom and Optimus during the Congress of the Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications, who declined interest in buying…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion Inc. (CDI) has agreed to comply with CRTC requirements around the use of musical montages in the programming of its French-language radio stations and take part in discussions about French-language vocal music requirements.
The Commission said Thursday that CDI-owned CKOI-FM and Astral’s CKTF-FM were found to be airing up to 18% of long montages composed almost exclusively of popular English-language and non-Canadian music, contrary to regulations, and imposed conditions of licence.
While pledging to adhere to the CRTC’s new requirement, CDI pointed out that CKOI-FM was still owned by Corus during the period in question, and…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is restricting the use of musical montages by two Francophone commercial radio stations, and has kicked off a learning exercise on the French-language private radio industry and the Francophone music industry “in order to more fully understand the problem”.
The Commission said Thursday that it has imposed a condition of licence on Astral’s station CKTF-FM and Cogeco’s station CKOI-FM limiting their broadcasting of montages to no more than 10% of total programming per week after the two stations were found to be airing up to 18% of long montages composed almost exclusively of popular…
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