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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GATINEAU – Broadcast distributors and programmers are divided over rules governing television service provision in Quebec and official minority language communities across the country. Some say current rules are doing a fine job, while others argue changes are needed to ensure a diversity of programming for these two markets in their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review.
In the official notice (BNC 2014-190), the Commission noted market forces alone won’t ensure the provision of “an adequate number of services to OLMCs,” and that it has instituted several measures, including minority language programming access rights and genre protection, to address…
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BEVERLY HILLS and TORONTO – Netflix’s library of kids and family-themed programming in Canada is about to get deeper after the streaming service nabbed the exclusive Canadian rights for first-run Disney live-action and animated feature films starting next year.
Beginning with 2015 theatrically released feature films, Netflix said Thursday that its Canadian subscribers will be first to see new titles from Disney Live Action, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Disneynature and DreamWorks Studios, about eight months after the titles leave theatres. That's faster than the traditional Canadian premium pay-TV model, according to Netflix.
Financial terms of the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC approved three new additions to the list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution, on Wednesday.
The new channels include:
– Canal Antena 3 Internacional, sponsored by Bell Canada, is a 24-hour general interest service (100% Spanish) that features programming including entertainment, actuality, news, and series (fiction). Its target audience would be Spanish-speaking Canadians, and its programming sourced from Spain;
– Africa Sports, sponsored by Soundview Entertainment Inc., is described as a 24-hour 100% English-language niche service providing sports programming with a unique focus on coverage of African soccer sporting events. The target audience would be African-Canadian soccer fans and…
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GATINEAU – Independent broadcasters are telling the CRTC that they will lose their spots on the broadcast dial if the Commission decides to eliminate genre protection rules and access rights for certain types of programming because the big Vertically Integrated (VI) media and carriage companies have the incentive to muscle their way in with copycat channels, causing “significant harm to the system.”
Genre protection has been a staple of the Canadian broadcasting system for many years, giving niche services the opportunity a protected space in which to build audience share along with a stable source of subscriber revenue, but also…
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OTTAWA – Telus has received a broadcasting licence to operate a national terrestrial pay-per-view (PPV) programming undertaking, just weeks after news broke that PPV service Viewer’s Choice would be shutting down in September.
The CRTC approved Telus’ application on Monday, noting that it was satisfied that the application complied with the revised regulatory framework for PPV services.
According to the application, the service will offer live and tape-delayed professional and amateur sports events, as well as live and tape-delayed special events including programs of comedy sketches, improvisations, unscripted works, stand-up comedy, music and dance, variety, and general entertainment…
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GATINEAU – The quest of both the CRTC and the federal government to ensure consumers have more choice in their TV packages is running into some difficult headwinds. Vertically integrated broadcast distributors as well as content developers acknowledge that Canadians do say they want more channel flexibility, but they don’t want a so-called “skinny basic” tier of TV channels.
In the official TV Policy Review Notice of Consultation (2014-190), the Commission has proposed a basic cable package that only includes local Canadian TV stations, the 9(1)(h) must-carry channels, provincial educational services if they exist, and in some cases, the community…
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GATINEAU – Canadian prices for wireline, wireless and Internet services are generally competitive when compared to other G7 countries and Australia, with the exception of entry level mobile wireless service and high-speed Internet, according to an annual report commissioned by Industry Canada and the CRTC.
Prepared by Ottawa’s Wall Communications, the 2014 update Price Comparisons of Wireline, Wireless and Internet Services in Canada and with Foreign Jurisdictions is an annual telecom services price comparison study that combines and averages wireline, mobile wireless, broadband Internet, and mobile Internet service rates, as well as bundles of these services along with basic digital TV…
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TORONTO – Some of the big American media companies that participated in the Let’s Talk TV initiative pulled no punches when evaluating the perils of a possible mandated pick and pay subscriber model in Canada.
Representatives at Walt Disney, Turner Broadcasting, Viacom and A&E Television Networks (AETN) declined to appear at the September 8th hearing, but had plenty to say in their submissions to the CRTC.
Disney, the world’s second largest broadcasting company in regards to revenue, discussed how broad distribution makes for better “channel packaging” for growing advertising, quality production, lower subscriber fees and long-term planning. The mass media company also pointed to…
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