GATINEAU – Local TV is struggling mightily. Ad revenue is down and showing no signs of growth, while the ever growing lineup of new specialty channels and the rapid rise of Internet-based alternatives are blasting away at what has always been the bedrock of the television system in Canada.
Some are telling the CRTC that it’s time to adopt a radically different approach for local TV, one that would bolster the revenue side of the ledger while also helping to encourage the development of compelling Canadian content.
For example, Bell Canada and CBC/Radio-Canada suggest shutting down over the air infrastructure completely…
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WOODSTOCK, N.B. – Satellite and wireless broadband provider Xplornet Communications said Monday it will provide homes and businesses with internet download speeds up to 25 Mbps to 100% of the rural population by 2016.
“CRTC and Industry Canada have forged a vision and an action plan to ensure all Canadians have equal access to high speed broadband,” the company noted in a press release. “Xplornet has embraced this vision and is executing a plan to provide customers outside big cities with the most attractive Internet experience that technology can provide. Xplornet has started rolling out a new Long Term Evolution…
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TORONTO – Though he was just coming off an announcement of hundreds of management layoffs, and numbers showing a 24% drop in net income, fewer cable TV subscribers and flat revenue, Rogers CEO Guy Laurence put an optimistic face on his company’s financial outlook on Thursday.
Wireless, by far the biggest contributor to Rogers’s bottom line, saw a 1% drop in revenue, which the company attributed largely to its new simplified plans (bundling in fees like voicemail and caller ID) and changes like lower-priced roaming plans (as it did three months ago). But the drop in…
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OTTAWA – DHX Media received CRTC approval Thursday to proceed with its purchase of Family, Disney XD, and the English- and French-language Disney Junior channels from Bell Media.
The company said that the acquisition has now met key regulatory requirements for completion, having also received approval from the Competition Bureau last December, and is expected to close on or about July 31, 2014. First announced last November, the deal comes as part of Bell Media's requirement to divest some properties to comply with regulatory conditions attached to its acquisition of Astral Media.
As part of its approval, the Commission revised the value of…
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TORONTO – Leonard Asper’s Anthem Media Group Inc. plans to launch EdgeSport, a sports channel featuring the best in extreme action programming.
Anthem listed no timeline for the launch, which it mentioned in its submission to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review. EdgeSport will broadcast AMA Super Cross, World Snowboard Tour, and ASP Surfing, as well as the most important tournaments and leading events in these fields. The service will provide documentaries, films, athlete profiles and biographies – and will also be available in a multiplatform distribution.
EdgeSport would be the third programming service for AMGI, a Canadian company that also owns…
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GATINEAU – It will surprise no one that the cost of sports television are front and centre for so many of the submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review
Telus, for example, called the amount of cash being sent to various leagues and teams for the rights to live games “irrational” and has requested the CRTC address the soaring price of sports services and eliminate penetration-based rate cards in sports packaging.
Lined up on the side of Telus, are Shaw Communications, Cogeco and Canadian Cable Systems Alliance members, distributors who own no sports channels. While vertically integrated companies like Rogers and…
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OTTAWA – Netflix and Google will be among the first three stakeholders to weigh in on the Canadian television system when the CRTC kicks off phase 3 of Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation With Canadians.
The public hearing is scheduled to begin September 8 at 9:00 AM at the usual Gatineau spot, Conference Center, Portage IV, 140, Promenade du Portage – just down the street from the CRTC offices. According to the agenda, the proceedings will last 10 days and will include presentations by 121 interveners.
Cartt.ca will be there and provide detailed coverage.
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has summoned the country’s telcos and TV service providers to a meeting next month to review their practice of charging extra fees to customers who receive paper copies of their bills.
Based on the results of last year’s fact-finding exercise on these practices, the Commission said that it discovered “a wide variation” in how companies approach paper bill fees. For example, 36 companies said last November that they do not charge any fees, but 27 companies claimed that their fees range from $0.99 to $5.95 per month for paper bills. While certain companies provide exemptions to these…
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MONTREAL and HALIFAX – BCE is buying the stake in Bell Aliant that it doesn’t already own and will take the regional telco private, the company announced Wednesday.
The deal, valued at approximately $3.95 billion, has already been recommended by independent Bell Aliant directors. BCE already controls Bell Aliant and is acquiring the remaining approximately 127.5 million common shares that are owned by the public minority shareholders.
Bringing Bell Aliant wholly into BCE simplifies the company's structure, eliminates redundant public company costs and will increase overall operational efficiency, the company said. BCE expects annual run-rate free cash flow accretion after common…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Four companies in the Toronto area have paid $84,000 in administrative monetary penalties as part of settlements over violations of the telemarketing rules, and have agreed to put a stop to their current telemarketing practices, the CRTC said Wednesday.
The Commission launched an investigation into the marketing practices of Ecosmart Home Services Inc., Loyal Seal Windows and Doors, Home Comfort Group and Mr. Brian Jones (using the trade name Pegasus Peaks) for alleged violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules. The CRTC determined that these companies were making, either directly or through a third-party firm, unsolicited telemarketing calls to…
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