And what still stands in their way
By Greg O’Brien
THE PURCHASE OF SHAW by Rogers has been a steady recurrent rumour which would crop up from time to time over the past 23-plus years this reporter has been tracking the industry, meaning Monday’s $26 billion purchase deal by Rogers was a long, long time coming.
In fact, when I first spoke with former Shaw president Peter Bissonnette in late 1997 (so long ago I don’t think he had yet been appointed president), I asked him then about the rumour I heard Rogers would buy Shaw. Too soon. Much too soon,…
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By Konrad von Finckenstein and James Mitchell
THE PRINCIPAL AIM of Bill C-10, an Act to amend the Broadcasting Act, is to bring online broadcasting (i.e., “streaming”) under the aegis of the Act.
Today, online broadcasters – Netflix most prominently – are already highly visible in Canada and currently not subject to any regulation, even as they compete vigorously with Canadian broadcasters and Broadcast Distribution Undertakings (BDUs).
In Canada, broadcasters and BDUs must obtain a licence from the CRTC and comply with a host of regulations regarding content, exhibition, and contribution – all designed to foster the production and distribution of Canadian…
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Minister makes draft policy directive public
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – In a somewhat surprising move, the Heritage Ministry on Thursday decided to share the draft policy directive to the CRTC which is to be delivered to the Regulator once the bill aimed at updating the Broadcasting Act is passed.
The draft direction (as in, not final) was supposed to provide more clarity into what the government expects from the CRTC after the passage of C-10, a bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act. But, to be honest, there isn’t much direction in the directive which hasn’t already been examined during our reportage…
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CALGARY and TORONTO — Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications announced today they have reached an agreement for Rogers to acquire all of Shaw’s issued and outstanding Class A and Class B shares in a transaction valued at approximately $26 billion.
The deal agreement will see Rogers pay $40.50 per share in cash, amounting to approximately $20 billion. The transaction total includes approximately $6 billion of Shaw debt.
The Shaw Family Living Trust has already agreed to vote in favour of the transaction, which still requires the approval of two thirds of votes cast by Class A and Class B shareholders at…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Quebecor has asked the CRTC and the Competition Bureau to conduct an inquiry into whether the three largest wireless providers, Bell, Telus and Rogers, are violating the Wireless Code by how they price devices as well as the charges incurred when consumers want to terminate their contract.
Through its own investigation, Vidéotron says in a letter to the CRTC it has collected the prices of various wireless devices on the websites of the Big Three and the conditions attached to them. The conclusion is clear, says the Quebec company. Compared to the prices offered by manufacturers,…
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OTTAWA – The Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, François Champagne and Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu sent a letter to the CRTC in January asking the Regulator if the telecom industry could come up with a three-digit phone number Canadians could dial for suicide crisis support, similar to how you can dial 911 for emergencies or 411 for information.
The FCC in the United States last year approved 988 as the number for those experiencing a suicide crisis to call. It will begin in 2022.
In a March 9 return letter to the ministers, CRTC chair Ian Scott…
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Some changes look to be permanent
By Steve Faguy
LAST YEAR WAS A bad one for radio.
According to data compiled by Standard Media Index, which tracks national advertising sales in Canada, ad revenue in the industry dropped 35% in 2020, almost three times how much it dropped in 2019 overall. In the second quarter, as lockdowns hammered the economy and closed businesses and events, it was down a staggering 76% from the previous year (see above, and below).
In August, a report released by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters warned 50 radio stations could close in four to six months and…
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Fund announcements could come by spring, documents show
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – It appears the federal government is so serious about opening access to telecom infrastructure to competitors that it is expecting “commitment letters” from executives of companies applying for the Universal Broadband Fund, according to Innovation Canada.
A spokesperson for the department told Cartt.ca as “part of the UBF application process, open access to passive infrastructure is a comparative criteria, assessed via commitment letters submitted by the applicant’s executive management, with details on access practices to be undertaken.”
That’s part of a broader view of how the federal government should utilize…
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By Greg O’Brien
THE PRIOR ITERATIONS OF our Broadcasting Act are carefully written, specific, documents.
The first, passed in 1968, was an Act meant to, among other things, “safeguard, enrich and strengthen the nation of Canada from sea to sea,” as quoted in the History of Canadian Broadcasting. That version of the Act also established the CRTC, empowering it with the responsibility to make sure the system stays under Canadian ownership and control.
American companies who had ownership positions in our broadcasters and then-nascent cable companies were forced to divest (down to a maximum of 20% ownership, but many left completely)….
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By Steve Faguy
“THE SYNDICATION OF LOCALIZED programming is nothing new,” says Troy Reeb, executive vice president broadcast networks at Corus Entertainment. “My career began at 17 years old at CFOK in Westlock, Alta., which was a hub station for a network of rural stations across Alberta and northern B.C., where we had this primitive robot — it was huge, it took an entire room and it looked like something out of Space Odyssey. It had reel-to-reel tapes that turned off and on automatically, and clackity cart machines, and it would deliver differentiated programming and weather forecasts and everything else…
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