DARTMOUTH, N.S – Newfoundland Capital Corporation announced today its wholly-owned subsidiary, Newcap Inc, has received approval from the CRTC for the purchase of 70.1% of the shares of Nova Scotia Limited which holds the CKCH-FM radio broadcast licence in Sydney, Nova Scotia. This transaction increases Newcap's ownership interest to 100% and is expected to be completed within the next 60 days.
"The acquisition of The Eagle in Sydney provides a great complement to our existing station, The Giant, and we look forward to expanding our presence in the community," commented Rob Steele, President and Chief Executive Officer of NCC.
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MARKHAM, ON – “Re-commercialization of CBC Radio is a terrible idea” and would be “extremely detrimental to smaller market operations” says Douglas E. Kirk, President, Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB).
In a letter to the CRTC dated Dec. 11, Kirk responds to the CBC’s proposal made at its recent license renewal hearing that it be allowed to run commercial ads on its radio properties and responded to the CBC’s claims regarding revenue growth.
In the letter Kirk questions whether CBC Radio is actually facing a “financial crisis” given the $327.3 million in parliamentary appropriation it…
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TORONTO – With the Supreme Court ruling the CRTC does not have the authority to require cable and satellite companies to negotiate with local broadcasters it now needs to focus attention on local stations says the Canadian Media Guild.
“The CRTC must now focus its attention on helping the local stations that really need it: those run by public and community broadcasters,” says Marc-Philippe Laurin, president of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild.
The so-called value-for-signal scheme, proposed by the CRTC in 2010, would not have included CBC/Radio-Canada, the largest national network…
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OTTAWA – In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada said Thursday that the CRTC does not have the jurisdiction to allow conventional over-the-air broadcasters pursue a wholesale fee from BDUs for the carriage of their signals. The court’s decision should just about bring to a close the so-called fee-for-carriage (FFC) or value-for-signal (VFS) debate.
The court heard the case back in April which was essentially between the big BDUs, which had always stood against VFS, and Bell Canada. Canwest Television was listed as a respondent, but that was a leftover artefact of the earlier case as Canwest’s new…
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GATINEAU – Friends of Alain Gourd say the Canadian media industry has lost a humanist and optimist, a fierce defender of Canadian talent, as well as a persuasive debater who often earned the respect of his opponents – and a dedicated family man who made time to comfort those with cancer even as he fought the same disease.
Gourd passed away at the age of 66 this past Saturday. After battling cancer for nearly a decade, which was in remission, he died last weekend of complications due to pneumonia.
Andrée Noël, national chair of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council calls Gourd…
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OTTAWA – Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame has announced that Omer Girard, a founding father of Canadian cable television, is the 2012 recipient of the coveted Neotelis Canadian Telecom Career Service Award for material contributions to the promotion of telecommunications in Canada. Girard, soon to celebrate his 92nd birthday, was selected to receive the Canadian Telecom Career Service Award for industry leadership and vision, innovation in service and dedication and sacrifice in advancing the interests of the Canadian cable television industry.
Omer Girard's outstanding career in the Canadian telecom industry began 55 years ago…
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GATINEAU – Corus Entertainment executives strongly defended the choices it has made in in bringing Oprah Winfrey’s cable channel to Canada in front of the CRTC Tuesday.
The company brought all of its big guns to the Commission hearing earlier today after being called on the carpet for being in non-compliance with the license that applies to the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) Canada – a channel which was Canadian Learning Television a decade ago.
John Cassaday, president and CEO of Corus, was accompanied by Doug Murphy, executive VP of Corus Entertainment and president of Corus Television, regulatory chief Gary Mavaara, John…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is using intimidation and bullying to “stop Mobilicity’s conversation that you don’t need a contract to get wireless” charges Stewart Lyons, Mobilicity President and COO. He was responding to a lawsuit that Telus has filed against the new carrier for “false and misleading” TV ads.
The ads claim that “unlimited plans” offered by the incumbent carriers don’t cover all costs such as text messages, while positioning Mobilicity’s own voice and data services as truly unlimited.
Lyons told Cartt.ca the lawsuit was “bizarre” given that his company has “been repeating the same message…
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OTTAWA – On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada will release its ruling on whether or not the CRTC has the jurisdiction to let conventional, over-the-air local broadcasters pursue a fee for the carriage of their signals by subscription television providers. The appeal was heard back in April, as Cartt.ca reported.
The ability for local broadcasters to charge a cable, satellite or telco TV provider a wholesale fee (and by extension of course, Canadian subscribers) has been something TV station owners have pursued off and on for decades. The CBC asked for the ability to pursue…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has ruled that Telus has placed OUTtv at a competitive disadvantage by marketing the Category A service more like a B service, by making it an optional package on its Optik TV service. It found that Telus violated undue preference regulations related to the packaging and marketing of OUTtv Network Inc. by providing operators of other programming services a preference, contrary to section 9 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations. It has given Telus until February 8 to provide a detailed marketing plan on how it will remedy the unfair advantage.
The decision sets…
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