MONTREAL – While one large, vertically integrated Canadian media and distribution company vehemently told commissioners why it opposes Bell’s Astral purchase another, Shaw Communications, went before the CRTC right after Quebecor to say it did not see any reason why the deal should be denied.
“Strong, efficient and diversified operators will enhance the system by providing consumer choice, value and innovation,” Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonnette told the panel Tuesday morning.
Vice-chair broadcasting Tom Pentefountas, however, wondered if a combined Bell-Astral was too big for Shaw – big enough to allow it to corner the market on movies and the top-rated…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – There’s little doubt of who’s the biggest fish in the Quebec media pond. Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau is a rock star here, drawing reporters, photographers and others like kids to free candy floss.
We’re hard pressed to think of an executive in English Canadian media whose mere arrival at a CRTC hearing would be akin to a red carpet walk, as the assemblage of shooters blasted away when Péladeau walked in with Group TVA president Pierre Dion and Vidéotron president Robert Dépatie. After their appearance a the hearing, more than a dozen microphones and numerous still and…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – "Do you know what I did for my summer holidays?" CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais asked rhetorically to Bell Media on Tuesday. "I didn't have summer holidays. I read interventions."
Blais held up a large binder with the 774 interventions, most of them by individuals, filed in response to an application by Bell to convert Montreal all-sports AM station CKGM (TSN Radio 690, formerly 990) from English to French. “There are nine volumes like this,” Blais (pictured below on CPAC.ca holding up that binder) said of the 774 interventions filed in relation to this application.
The Commission skeptically grilled Bell…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Calling BCE’s plan to funnel $40 million to its subsidiary, NorthwesTel, as part of its merger with Astral "wrong on a number of regulatory and business levels," Ice Wireless and Iristel warned the CRTC that the scheme will harm, if not kill, the newly established competitive market in Canada's north.
Ice Wireless and Iristel, which provide vital telephony services to rural and remote communities in northern Canada, are referring to NorthwesTel plans to carry out a five-year wireless network upgrade with a significant portion tied to the CRTC allowing Bell to funnel $40 million of…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL ? With a three-hour break mid-day (we were told someone had to go to a funeral, so quit complaining&), yesterday?s long hearing day featured a ton of back and forth between Bell executives and the panel of CRTC commissioners.
Long lovely narratives explaining each exchange would be nice but time restraints mean we?re going for the bullets only of some of the highlights. We think we?ve hit some of the main points with our bulleted rundown here.
* In his first public appearance as chair of the CRTC, Jean-Pierre Blais acquitted himself well, nailing a few biting comments throughout the…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Sensing the opposition to its proposed benefits package was pretty strong, the first thing Bell Canada did Monday morning when it faced the CRTC was to boost that package – making it bigger and, in the opinion of its executives, better.
As many companies which have faced the CRTC over the years are wont to do, Bell looked at the opposition to its benefits package filed with written comments to the CRTC prior to the hearing and boosted what it originally proposed by $41 million dollars, increasing the overall value of the package to $241.3 million, to be…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – The CRTC, which is currently reviewing the level of competition in Canada’s wireless industry, should leave be a nearly 20-year-old policy not requiring formal regulation if Canada is to remain competitive.
This according to Yves Rabeau, associate professor at UQAM, who argues that contrary to other reports, Canada’s wireless industry pricing, technology and speeds are competitive with the rest of the world. His paper entitled “Is the Canadian Wireless Sector Competitive?” was published today by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).
"To evaluate the wireless industry properly, there are many variables that need to be taken into account…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Bell Canada CEO George Cope used his opening address to the CRTC Monday morning to announce that post-merger, pending Commission approval, that is, Jacques Parisien will join Bell Media’s executive ranks, largely overseeing the company’s French media assets.
“Located here in Montréal, Jacques will oversee both French and English-language media properties operating across Canada. In addition, Jacques will contribute to Bell as a key executive leader in our Québec market development efforts through his extensive relationships with stakeholders across the province,” said Cope.
When it came Parisien’s turn to speak, he added: “I would like to begin by saying…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – In the end, indie-rock won out. The CRTC has granted a licence to Rock 95 Broadcasting to launch a new Toronto radio station on 88.1 FM. Rock 95 will offer an English-language music format with a focus on independent and emerging Canadian artists. Forty per cent of the music featured on the new station will be Canadian musical selections, of which at least 60 per cent will be from emerging artists.
“Even in the age of digital media, Canadian artists who do not have major-label support face a tough road to success. Rock 95’s station will give much-needed…
Continue Reading
MARKHAM – The CRTC has approved Bhupinder Bola’s application to air a commercial FM radio station in Markham with an Adult Album Alternative/Adult Contemporary musical format. The commission denied an application for a broadcasting licence to operate an ethnic commercial AM radio station in Markham by Canada Inc.
The station will operate on frequency 105.9 MHz with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 618 watts. Bola currently owns and operates Bolson Consulting Inc., a company offering technical and business development services to the broadcasting industry.
“ to operate a predominantly English-language commercial FM radio station best meets the…
Continue Reading
