OTTAWA – The CRTC has greenlit a new Canadian TV channel to be known as Bulb Televsion.
The specialty Category B service, headed by Evan Kosiner, is described as a national, English-language service that would offer programming consisting of innovative conferences, speakers and lectures from top Canadian and international presenters.
The channel’s licence will expire on August 31, 2018. Click here for more details.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau confirmed Wednesday that it does not plan to challenge Rogers' acquisition of an ownership position in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE). The Competition Bureau noted that it has one year following completion of such transactions during which it can bring the matter before the Competition Tribunal.
MLSE is Canada's largest sports and entertainment company, and owns and operates the Air Canada Centre, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, the Toronto FC, the Toronto Marlies, Leafs TV and RaptorsTV. Rogers announced on December 9, 2011 that it, along with Bell…
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MONTREAL and TORONTO – Citytv is going to Montreal as Rogers Media announced the purchase of Metro 14 (CJNT-TV) from Channel Zero today.
While CJNT is licensed as a multicultural station, Rogers wants to spread the Citytv brand across the country and has chosen not to brand it an OMNI station, which is what its multicultural stations in Ontario, B.C. and Alberta are called.
Terms of the sale of the station were not disclosed (but we bet the sale price is for more than the 12 bucks Channel Zero bought it for from former owner Canwest Global…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Led by specialty TV, Canada’s pay, pay-per-view (PPV) and video-on-demand (VOD) television services generated $3.7 billion in revenues in 2011, a 7.9% jump over the previous year.
According to CRTC data released Tuesday, the increase comes as a result of a 10.9% growth in advertising revenues totaling $1.2 billion, and a 7% increase in subscriber revenues that exceeded $2.4 billion. Expenses grew from $2.5 billion in 2010 to $2.7 billion in 2011.
As a result, profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) improved to $930.5 million, with a PBIT margin of 24.9%, up from $873.9 million in 2010 when the PBIT margin was…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has tweaked the process for Canadians wishing to switch providers for their television, home telephone, wireless or Internet.
After calling for comments on proposed revisions to customer transfer process last Fall, the Commission said Tuesday that it has formerly adopted amendments to the broadcasting distribution regulations around cancellation requests.
It did, however, revise the wording around minimizing any service disruption to the subscriber in an effort to adopt “an attainable standard”. The amendments came in to effect on March 5, 2012.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – Telemarketers could soon be picking up all of the costs related to the country’s national Do Not Call List if the government gets its way.
Industry Minister Christian Paradis confirmed that the government has proposed changes to Telecommunications Act allowing the CRTC to set fees designed to recover the costs of Do Not Call List (DNCL) investigations and enforcement from the telemarketing industry. Currently, telemarketers cover the costs of the operation of the DNCL while investigation and enforcement costs are funded by the government.
The amendments are still subject to approval by Parliament, but the CRTC is planning to hold consultations…
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OTTAWA – While the media and telecom world grows exponentially in the digital age, some believe the CRTC may soon become a redundant organization attempting to adapt two Acts written more than 20 years ago while faced with the drumbeat of deregulation in favour of market forces.
However, others believe the CRTC is instead growing in influence, inefficiently expanding its powers in ways it shouldn’t be, hindering the telecom and broadcasting businesses and investment in Canada.
In presenting a paper to the Law Society of Upper Canada’s New Developments in Communications Law and Policy conference on Thursday,…
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by Steve Faguy
GATINEAU – It's the most important decision about private French-language television in Canada in years, but the CRTC's renewal of licenses for major broadcasters contained few surprises.
On Thursday, the CRTC renewed broadcasting licenses for Quebecor's Groupe TVA, Astral Media and the independent specialty channel Canal Évasion. The Commission also reviewed the licenses of the V network (formerly TQS), which was given exceptional relief from its regulatory obligations in 2008 when purchased by its current ownership while in bankruptcy. For the most part, the decisions were based on proposals made during discussions at the hearings in Montreal in…
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TORONTO – Independent producers who attended a special Banff Media Festival preview event and reception in Toronto on Wednesday were likely very encouraged to hear top Canadian media executives speak about the value they place on high-quality original programming.
During a special media leader panel discussion, David Purdy, senior vice-president of content for Rogers Communications, cited several examples of successful TV channels – all of which feature a high percentage of original TV series content in their daily broadcast schedules. “If you look at A&E, they used to carry Murder She Wrote and CSI,” Purdy said. “A&E is now going…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has received CRTC approval to buy out the half of specialty channels Mystery and The Cave that it doesn't already own.
Both English-language category A channels are currently jointly controlled by Shaw Communications and Quebecor’s TVA Group. In its decision, the Commission valued Mystery at approximately $36 million and The Cave (formerly known as Men TV) at just over $4 million.
The Commission also approved Shaw’s request to spread out the payment of its tangible benefits associated with the transactions over the next seven broadcast years, and to renew the channels’ broadcasting licences through August 31,…
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