TORONTO – While revenues shot up 8%, the return of the National Hockey League and the telecast production costs from TSN meant operating income at Bell Globemedia in the second quarter of this year suffered in comparison to the NHL-free 2005.
Bell Globemedia (owners of TSN, CTV, Animal Planet, Discovery, The Globe and Mail and other assets) revenues for the quarter, ended June 30th were $431 million. Operating income decreased by 17.9% to $78 million, however. For the full six months, Bell Globemedia’s revenues grew 9.3% to $825 million.
BGM’s revenue growth reflected higher television and print advertising sales…
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OTTAWA – With several video distributors now asking to add the satellite radio channels from XM Canada or Sirius Canada to their respective channel lineups, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters has asked the CRTC to take a close look at the applications.
Responding to a request made by Bell Canada earlier this year to add the satellite radio signals to its terrestrial TV channel lineups, the CAB said "the application focuses attention on one of the fundamental principles of the Canadian broadcasting system, i.e. the requirement for a predominance of Canadian services, and that therefore a number of matters…
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MISSISSAUGA – Tuesday morning’s topic was plant powering. About what works best and most efficiently – and how to work safely.
The afternoon was concentrated on trying to put a little white ball into a slightly larger white hole – otherwise known as golf.
The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Ontario chapter’s annual golf tournament is growing in popularity and this year 148 members came to Mississauga’s Lionhead Golf Course for the event on July 25th.
Rogers Cable’s Vasile Jerca was first to speak on HFC outside plant powering. Thomas Humphrey of APC’s topic was about essential power requirements for…
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QUEBEC – Oft-sued former Quebec radio show host André Arthur, now an independent federal MP, has lost his bid for a judicial review of the libel judgement against him and his former employers Cogeco Inc and Métromédia.
In a decision released last week, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected his appeal request, meaning Arthur and his former employers, possibly including Cogeco’s directors at the time, will have to pay $370,000 to former Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson and his wife Suzanne Marcil.
Of that amount, Arthur will have to pay $50,000 himself because he repeated the libellous statements shortly after…
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TORONTO – Don Iannetta of Toronto will get a $10,000 Sony entertainment system and a free subscription for a year for being Rogers Cable’s one millionth digital cable customer, the company announced today.
The company said its "dramatic growth in digital penetration is evidenced by the 187% increase from December 2003 until the company reached its millionth customer in June 2006.
"Rogers On Demand on channel 100 is fantastic. I’ve been able to watch all kinds of programming and movies whenever I want. My favourite so far was being able to watch all of the FIFA World Cup soccer…
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BOSTON – Fifty Gold and 109 Silver Mark Awards were presented on Day One of the 2006 CTAM Summit here in Boston.
Among the Gold winners was a Canadian company: Astral Television Networks, for its On Demand TV spots for The Movie Network. Astral was the lone Canadian company to take home an award in 2006. For the full list of winners, click here.
The Mark Awards recognize excellence in consumer and industry marketing for the cable and telecommunications industry. MTV Networks received the most honors among the content providers, winning a total 19 Mark Awards, eight gold and…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today announced it’s allowing RDI to increase its hourly advertising by up to 50%, amending its licence from a former maximum of eight minutes per hour, to a new maximum of 12 minutes.
The CBC applied for the RDI change, saying it would give the French-language information channel the same maximum as its English-language Newsworld service. The CBC also pointed out that most specialty channels can air up to 12 minutes of ads in each clock hour.
The proposal was opposed by private broadcasters, including TVA, Astral, Cogeco Radio-Télévision, and Corus, who were upset that…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has approved requests to show VOD and PPV programs that include commercials if they were already aired on Canadian TV and the show is offered for free to subscribers.
The commission will amend the licence for the Bell ExpressVu’s Vu! on-demand and pay-per-view services, and Cogeco’s VOD service, to allow this limited use of advertising.
Bell ExpressVu said the amendment would allow it to compete equally with other Canadian VOD services and evolving PPV media. Cogeco said it would be in the public interest.
Rogers Cable supported the move in its intervention to the commission,…
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OTTAWA – Saying it needs to enhance its prospects among potential viewers and BDUs, Catholic TV channel Salt and Light wants to change to an English specialty service.
The category 2 digital channel targets Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Filipino, English and French-speaking audiences. Its conditions of license say that no more than 20% of its programming can be English or French.
The application requests Salt and Light be able to air 60% English with the rest dedicated to French and third language programming, which will also include Cantonese shows.
"The licensee indicates that reducing the amount of third-language…
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ONE UNINTENDED HAZARD of deregulation is that all other news outlets will be under-reporting the size of the Canadian cable industry this morning.
On Wednesday, the CRTC released the Canadian broadcast distribution industry’s statistical and financial summaries. But the report doesn’t include all distributors.
From 2004 to 2005, revenues, as well as number of subscribers, remained more or less constant for Class 1 cable carriers. However, with growing investments in voice over IP, for example – as evidenced in Shaw Communications’ third quarter report that said capex will rise at a good clip for the next 24 months…
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