MONTREAL – Quebecor's Videotron is making its first step toward eliminating analog cable television service throughout its network.
Last Friday, the company issued a stop-sell order for new analog television subscriptions. The end goal is the transition of its approximately 412,000 remaining analog TV customers (many of which are hotel rooms or other business customers) to the company's illico digital service.
"We need more space in the network," said Videotron vice-president Isabelle Dessureault. In areas like western Montreal, where analog cable is still prevalent, Videotron devotes about 55 of its 135 6-MHz television channels to analog service. Ending analog service completely…
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WHILE WE HAVE NO inside information to give you, we have covered enough CRTC hearings featuring the current crop of Bell executives and regulatory folks to guess at what the thrust of their presentation will be when they face the panel of CRTC commissioners in Montreal come September 10th.
They are probably going to ask what all the fuss is about. The media industry has consolidated at a rapid pace with the likes of Bell, Rogers, Shaw, and Quebecor owning significant carrier as well as media assets. With one more company, Astral Media, assimilated into Bell…
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OTTAWA – The ‘Say No To Bell’ coalition is taking issue with interventions filed by Telefilm Canada and the Terrace, BC detachment of the RCMP in support Bell’s proposed takeover of Astral Media.
In a letter addressed to Heritage Minister James Moore, the heads of Cogeco, Eastlink and Quebecor expressed surprise that the publically funded federal agencies would submit interventions that “go beyond their respective competence and mandate”.
“In our view, these federal public bodies should have known better than to take sides on this public policy debate before the federal regulators in charge of reviewing the proposed merger”, reads the letter…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has green-lit the sale of sports channels owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) to a company co-owned by Rogers and BCE, effectively closing the $1.32 billion transaction that will see the two communication companies take a majority stake in the sports and entertainment giant.
While the transaction involved several sports-related properties including the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, the CRTC's review was limited to the five television services owned by MLSE – Leafs TV, Gol TV and NBA TV Canada, as well as un-launched services Mainstream Sports and Live Music Channel.
"When deciding…
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SO IT?S NOT JUST Quebecor, Cogeco and EastLink demanding the CRTC say no to Bell Canada'?s $3.38 billion purchase of Astral Media after all. Telus, Rogers, MTS Allstream, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and others want this latest edition of the ongoing vertical integration story erased.
(An earlier version of this story said Friends of Canadian Broadcasting were also opposed to the merger. That us not the case and Cartt.ca regrets the error.)
Still, other groups such as ACTRA, the Writers Guild, the CMPA and Directors Guild, while not ultimately opposing the…
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VANCOUVER – Add Telus to the list of stakeholders opposing Bell’s planned purchase of Astral Media.
The telco issued a statement Tuesday backing the ‘Say No To Bell’ coalition, and voicing its concern over the “unprecedented concentration of market power in the broadcasting sector would have on Canadian consumers”.
“All Canadians should be able to access the content they want through the provider they choose; we all benefit from competition between a variety of organizations and no one company should be in a position to take away choice or access to content for consumers,” said president and CEO Darren Entwistle,…
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OTTAWA and MONTREAL – How can you compete with free?
That’s one of the questions that Eric Boyko, president and CEO of Montreal-based Stingray Digital Group, is asking after the CRTC rejected his company’s complaint Tuesday against CBC’s six month old digital music service CBCMusic.ca.
Stingray filed a Part 1 application with the Commission in April alleging undue preference by the national broadcaster’s ad-supported service, citing its dependence on government funding that is not available to private enterprises and its reliance on preferential copyright licence fees. Stingray is a private, subscription-based, multi-platform music service provider that owns digital music…
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OTTAWA – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais will deliver a keynote address to kick off this year’s International Institute of Communications (IIC) Canada 2012 conference.
Under the theme ‘Innovation, Investment and Infrastructure’, the event is scheduled for the Ottawa Convention Centre on October 29 – 30 and will feature dynamic speakers and informative panel discussions to engage communication business leaders and policy makers in topics affecting the Canadian communications sector from an international perspective.
Conference delegates will also have the option of participating in a symposium presented by Telefilm Canada, the CRTC, and the Canada Media Fund on the promotion of Canadian…
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OTTAWA – Michel Morin wrapped up his five year term as CRTC Commissioner this week with an extensive note to Commission staff highlighting his many accomplishments and contributions to the Regulator, as well as to the broadcasting and telecom system.
Morin, a former Radio-Canada broadcaster who holds the distinction of penning the longest minority opinion written to date (over 50 pages), and who often proved himself quite the contrarion when on a hearing panel, wrote that he believes that he was successful in being true to the following four main principles:
– The importance of adapting the regulatory framework to take better account of consumer…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada’s proposed acquisition of Astral Media will not benefit consumers, and will most likely lead to higher prices for television service subscriptions, say four Canadian consumer and public interest groups in comments filed with the CRTC.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), who also acts as counsel for Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC), Canada Without Poverty (CWP), and Council of Senior Citizens’ Organization of British Columbia (COSCO) submitted a joint filing listing several concerns about the deal.
Those issues include the impact of the proposed transaction on the diversity of voices in the Canadian broadcasting system; increasing levels…
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