WINNIPEG – MTS shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the proposed $3.9 billion acquisition by BCE.
The deal was approved Thursday by 99.66% of the 43,098,172 votes cast by shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the special meeting of shareholders held in Winnipeg.
"MTS shareholders have overwhelmingly supported the BCE transaction," said MTS president and CEO Jay Forbes, in a statement. "This strong support reflects the meaningful value that shareholders will receive as a result of this transaction, which also provides compelling benefits to MTS customers, employees and to the province of Manitoba. With these shareholder approvals…
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BANFF – Canada has a long history of playing catch-up when it comes to setting policy for electronic media, starting with radio in the early part of last century and then with conventional television and cable TV through the 1950s, 60s and 70s. We can’t afford that any more.
The U.S. generally pushed the envelope in launching new media, Canadians adopted the technology and governments here played regulatory catch-up, often preferring early monopolies in radio or TV over competition in the marketplace.
“By first delaying the introduction of television, and then delaying the introduction of competing services, government policy almost guaranteed…
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TORONTO – Ontario CRTC Commissioner Raj Shoan got his day in court Tuesday in his attempt to quash a finding of workplace harassment levelled against him last year.
That complaint, brought by former executive director of communications Amanda Cliff against Shoan over seven different email threads sent over seven months in 2014, was investigated by an outside third party firm hired by the CRTC. After conducting multiple interviews with Commission staff, commissioners and chairman Jean-Pierre Blais (and uncovering a workplace seemingly in turmoil, with plenty of blame to go around, if you read the report, as…
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MONTREAL – Stingray Digital Group is buying music video channels MuchLoud, MuchRetro, MuchVibe and Juicebox from Bell Media, the companies announced early Tuesday morning. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Stingray called the four specialty services a “valuable addition” to its slate of TV music services that already includes Stingray Ambiance, Stingray Lite TV, Stingray Concerts plus the recently acquired Brava and Djazz. Upon completion of the transaction, expected in the third quarter of this year, the channels will be rebranded and relaunched under the Stingray brand.
“In an industry where consolidation is the watchword, and where growth and…
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TORONTO – The Federal Court dismissed Bell Canada’s appeal of a CRTC decision over its former mobile TV service offering.
According to a report in the Globe and Mail, the three judge panel came down on the side of the CRTC and ruled it had the jurisdiction to make the ruling it did against the mobile TV service.
The CRTC had ruled Bell violated the Telecommunications Act by giving undue preference to its Bell Mobile TV subscribers when it exempted the mobile TV service from the data caps generally applied to customers of…
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DEMORESTVILLE, ON – Broadcast industry veteran, former CRTC director-general, and community advocate Peter Fleming passed away June 15 after a brief battle with cancer. He was 66.
Fleming spent close to 25 years at the CRTC between 1973-1997, holding a variety of positions including director-general of radio and television broadcast policy. He went on to become a consultant to the broadcasting industry, helping various television and radio companies in Canada in preparing applications, policy positions and presentations to the broadcast regulator. Early on his consulting career, he helped the Government of South Africa to develop its post-apartheid broadcast legislation.
Fleming also served on the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will head to Edmonton this September to consider 11 new radio applications vying to serve that market.
The Commission said Monday that it will hold a hearing beginning September 27 at the Radisson Hotel & Convention Center Edmonton to consider applications from the likes of VMS Radio Group, Dufferin Communications, Multicultural Broadcasting Corp., and South Fraser Broadcasting, among others.
When it first issued the call for new applications, the CRTC said that its preliminary view was that the Edmonton market would be best served by proposals targeting ethnic communities. However, it did not preclude any other types of…
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TORONTO – A new program at Toronto’s public libraries is allowing residents to check out home Internet service in addition to their books.
Thanks to a partnership with the City and Google, the Toronto Public Library (TPL) has launched a WiFi hotspot lending pilot program at six branches located in neighbourhoods with large numbers of low income households. Participants can borrow the hotspots for up to six months at a time and can use 10GB of data per month, though TPL said that it’s “actively investigating if vendors are willing to provide more flexible data services as this is critical to…
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BANFF – Okay, how do you know you've got a great tax accountant? Well, it's obvious – she's got a loophole named after her!
Yup, the title "Digital Content Taxation: Levelling the Playing Field with Foreign Competition" didn't announce well as a barn-burning session. However, I wasn't expecting jokes about tax lawyers deducting ExLax as a moving expense either.
There was a principle involved.
Bernard Lord, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (and former Premier of New Brunswick), has a bee in his bonnet: Foreign digital content providers are not required to register and collect Canadian GST/HST, and thus…
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CRTC addresses financial viability of news in local and community TV decision
GATINEAU – The CRTC is redrawing the local news and community TV landscape, however, it stopped short of creating a new funding mechanism for all local news operations.
Rather, the Commission is giving vertically integrated entities added flexibility in how they allocate money, while independent broadcasters will get access to a new fund and some immediate financial help (however, the full, new funding mechanisms don’t start until September 2017).
The Commission argued in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2016-224 that the VI companies (Rogers, Bell, Quebecor, Corus) have the wherewithal to…
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