OTTAWA and TORONTO – Reaction from the broadcasting industry to the CRTC’s plan to depose of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) was swift and virtually unanimous.
Mirko Bibic, chief legal and regulatory officer and EVP at Bell, told Cartt.ca that while his company is still “analyzing the new model and its financial impact”, the decision could serve to reignite the value-for-signal/fee-for-carriage debate.
“There’s no doubt, however, that local stations in small and medium-sized markets will receive significantly less revenue”, he said. “At a time when conventional television continues to be under tremendous financial pressure, including from a soft advertising…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given the go-ahead to Blue Ant Media to proceed with its acquisition of independent broadcaster High Fidelity HDTV.
High Fidelity owns the specialty services radX (formerly Rush HD), HIFI (formerly Treasure HD), Oasis HD, eqhd (formerly Equator HD) and three other Category 2 services not yet in operation, known as The Wedding Channel, WHD and WSD. Through its subsidiary GlassBox Television, Blue Ant already owns Bite Television and Aux TV, five other specialty Category B services, one specialty Category C service not yet in operation, plus Category A service travel + escape.
In its decision, the…
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OTTAWA – More than 2,000 Canadians have contacted the CRTC to protest the CBC’s plans to shut down 620 analog over-the-air transmitters by the end of this month, according to the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
The organization, which has urged communities and CBC viewers to demand that the transmission equipment be made available for local public use, said Friday that over 2000 of the requests specifically requested that CBC consult with the affected communities.
CACTUS has proposed that some of the affected communities could not only use the equipment to maintain free access to CBC TV,…
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THERE HAS NEVER BEEN THIS much money available at one time for the development and production of Canadian television programming.
According to the newly available 2012 report of the Canadian Television Benefits Monitor, Canadian broadcasters must spend more than $450 million on new television programming or programming-related tangible public benefits over the next seven years (by Aug. 31, 2019). When the benefits associated with the BCE-Astral Media transaction currently before the CRTC are factored in, that number will be almost $600 million. This is over and above the hundreds of millions of dollars in baseline expenditures…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will take a close look at a number of Astral Media-owned radio stations that were found in apparent non-compliance with regulatory requirements during their current licence terms.
The Commission said Tuesday that it has received broadcasting licence renewal applications for 34 stations located in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia for which the licences are due to expire on March 31, 2013.
The deadline for interventions is August 9, 2012.
www.crtc.gc.ca
www.astral.com
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WHITEHORSE – Northwestel is encouraging governments, businesses and residents in Canada’s north to express their support for Bell’s public benefits package associated with its intended takeover of Astral Media.
That benefits package, made public by the CRTC on Tuesday, includes $40 million earmarked for Northwestel’s recently proposed ‘modernization plan’ in which it pledged to invest $273 million over five years to upgrade its 96 communities in northern Canada with high-speed Internet and next-generation wireless.
“We strongly believe northerners want advanced Internet and wireless services, but we need CRTC approval of the Astral component for our Modernization Plan to move forward,”…
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CALGARY – Vista Radio is moving east with a bid to buy Haliburton Broadcasting and its 24-station Ontario radio network, which includes the Northern Ontario Moose FM brand, for $32.34 million.
The deal is pending regulatory approval and is scheduled to be reviewed by the CRTC at its September 10 hearing in Montreal. This marks the first eastern expansion for the private broadcaster which currently holds 38 broadcast licenses serving more than 50 communities across British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
Vista Radio president and CEO Margot Micallef told Cartt.ca on Wednesday that the eight year old company, which she…
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OTTAWA – Bell’s proposed takeover of Astral Media will undergo regulatory scrutiny at a hearing set for September 10 at the Palais de congrès de Montréal in Montreal, the CRTC announced Tuesday.
The $3.38 billion deal, announced in March, would see Bell acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Montreal-based Astral in addition to its specialty and pay television channels, radio stations, digital media properties and out-of-home advertising platforms. That would mean that Bell, already the country’s largest telecommunications company, would add 22 specialty television channels (13 of which are French-language) and 84 commercial radio stations, including 29…
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MONTREAL – The Montreal radio market could see the addition of a new talk radio station if an application by RNC Media receives CRTC approval.
The Quebec-based private broadcaster has proposed switching the jazz/blues format of its CKLX-FM Montreal (Planète Jazz 91,9) to 50% spoken-word citing “important financial losses related to the non-viability of the jazz and blues music format in the Montréal region”.
RNC Media currently owns 16 radio stations and 5 TV stations in the province. The CRTC will consider the application at a hearing in Montreal scheduled for September 10, and comments are due by August…
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OTTAWA – Various Canadian broadcasters spent a combined $51 million in so-called tangible public benefits during the 2010-2011 broadcast year ended August 31, 2011 associated with their acquisition of English-language television assets in recent years.
Of the cash spent in the last completed broadcast year (which was about on par with the 2009-10 year), 84%, or $43 million, went to on-screen/programming-related initiatives, primarily the creation of new Canadian programming, and the remaining 16% or $8 million went to social initiatives such as funding for television/film festivals.
The latest research is contained in the second installment (2012 report) of the annual syndicated…
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