Rejects newspaper report on investor Catalyst Group concerns
TORONTO – Late Tuesday, Corus Entertainment slammed a newspaper report which quoted one of the company’s shareholders saying it had serious concerns over disclosure of information to minority shareholders currently deciding whether or not to support the $2.65 billion purchase of Shaw Media.
Corus issued a press release saying the National Post story featured “a number of misleading claims by The Catalyst Capital Group (“Catalyst”) regarding Corus’ proposed acquisition of Shaw Media Inc. (“Shaw Media”).”
The release then re-stated the company’s belief that the acquisition is “a game-changing opportunity to…
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GATINEAU – Many of the 40 companies and individuals who filed interventions in response to the CRTC’s call for comments on the proposed $2.65 billion purchase of Shaw Media Inc. by Corus Entertainment say at the very least the CRTC should hold a public hearing on it – while some said that the sheer size of the deal and the increased concentration of media under one roof means the Commission must apply its tangible benefits policy, too.
The Commission’s tangible benefits policy usually calls for 10% of the value of any TV…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today announced that it has received 12 applications to operate radio stations serving urban Indigenous Canadians in major markets.
The regulator has received two applications for stations in Vancouver, three for Calgary, three for Edmonton, two for Toronto and two for Ottawa. Five organizations have submitted applications: the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta, Watwatay Native Communications Society, Northern Native Broadcasting, VMS Media Group Ltd. and First Peoples Radio Inc.
Frequencies became available in these markets after the CRTC revoked, in June 2015, Aboriginal Voices Radio’s licences for its radio stations. The…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has unveiled a new online tool designed to help connect Canadians with the phone, mobile, Internet and TV service provider that best meets their needs.
The new Communication Service Providers in Canada online tool, launched just days ahead of the Commission's skinny basic TV deadline of March 1st, allows consumers to search for providers in their area, includes facts about switching providers, and links to third-party websites that rate and compare the quality and value of various communication packages.
Anyone can provide information to help update the Communications Service list by logging onto the web link.
“During our consultations…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has denied a request by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) to mandate both full Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) national wholesale access services and wholesale tower and site sharing services.
CNOC made the request last August, asking the CRTC to “review and vary” its Regulatory framework for wholesale mobile wireless services (a.k.a. Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-177). That policy decision, issued in May 2015, saw the Commission opt to regulate wholesale roaming services but continue to forbear from the regulation of MVNO and tower and site sharing services. CNOC submitted that multiple issues, including…
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CALGARY – Two weeks ahead of the CRTC’s March 1st deadline for all Canadian carriers to offer a stripped down “skinny” starter TV package to customers, Shaw Cable this week soft-launched Limited TV, its $25/month group of local broadcast stations and mandated must-carry channels.
As readers can see from the image (and this link), the package (this is what a customer from Edmonton would see on the Shaw web site) includes all Canadian broadcast stations (in HD and SD), as well as must carries APTN, AMI, Voiceprint, TVA and the Weather Network.
Expect other carriers to follow…
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TORONTO – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais brushed aside certain complaints and complainants Wednesday (saying they come from entitled establishment groups unwilling to change) in a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto where he addressed the Commission’s recent policy decisions and public proceedings.
Blais (pictured above on BNN after his speech) addressed the various grievances lobbed towards the Commission and its recent regulatory actions, quoting author Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you’re wrong,” noting that his Regulator can relate.
“Some disapprove of the course the CRTC…
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OTTAWA – Ice Wireless and its affiliate Sugar Mobile are seeking the CRTC’s help to salvage both its roaming agreement with Rogers and what it says is “meaningful competition” for Canadian wireless consumers.
In a Part 1 application posted Tuesday, Ice Wireless says that Rogers wants to terminate the reciprocal roaming agreement and to disconnect Ice Wireless and Sugar Mobile from roaming on its network, despite negotiations to resolve the dispute.
Ice Wireless operates a mobile network that includes coverage in the three Canadian Territories and some communities in Northern Quebec. Sugar Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that…
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CHATHAM, ON – TekSavvy is calling on its customers to ask the CRTC to implement rules around “competitor quality of service”, also known as Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
In an open letter on its website, TekSavvy CEO Marc Gaudrault apologized for the company’s recent Internet service outages and then used the opportunity to suggest that wholesale network access providers should face CRTC-imposed consequences as an incentive to collaborate with independent telcos like it on troubleshooting.
“I believe we have delivered a high-quality service over the years. We are now working harder than ever to make it that way going forward”, reads…
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OTTAWA – Sixty-nine campus and community radio stations will receive close to $3 million from the latest round of funding of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s (CRFC) Radiometres program.
The CRFC said that the 61 projects that it is helping to fund “are necessary to the sustainability of community radio stations”. They include the creation of a series of special shows on youth; shows that will explore the evolution of Cape Breton music; recorded broadcasts of live community theatre stage productions; music shows taking place in a train car; and an annual festival featuring artists from Alberta. Click…
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