Corus Entertainment announced Monday the early retirement of its president and CEO, Doug Murphy, effective immediately.
The media company’s board has appointed Corus executives Troy Reeb and John Gossling as co-chief executive officers.
“These appointments are effective immediately and reflect the strength of Corus’ leadership bench and a forward focus on managing through a challenging environment,” reads a Corus press release announcing the changes.
Murphy had been with Corus for 21 years, first joining the company in 2003 as executive vice president of business development and holding successively more senior positions until 2015 when he was promoted to president and CEO.
“During his…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers and TekSavvy have come to an agreement to avert an impending disconnection of wholesale customers at two Toronto buildings.
Earlier this week, TekSavvy requested that the CRTC suspend a Part 1 application it filed late last month asking the regulator to intervene in a case where its customers at two buildings on Sherbourne Street were at risk of disconnection as Rogers transitions to pure fibre connections.
The CRTC sent a letter dated Wednesday to both telecoms outlining that TekSavvy sent a letter on June 11 saying that an agreement had been reached between the two companies “to…
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By Howard Law, author of Canada vs. California, and MediaPolicy.ca
Last week the CRTC released its anticipated “Phase One” ruling on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11. The headline was the $200 million price tag put on Canadian content contributions assessed by the commission on large foreign online audio and audio-visual streamers operating in Canada.
Following the commission’s decision, many industry players and public policy commentators were quick to declare victory or disaster, something we can expect in a regulatory drama that never quits.
This drama is chronicled in my book, Canada vs California: How…
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By Connie Thiessen
Layoffs at Global News announced this week will impact about 35 unionized staff in newsrooms from Toronto to B.C., Cartt sister publication Broadcast Dialogue has learned.
Calgary has been hit the hardest with 13 jobs in the bureau eliminated, followed by eight in Edmonton, seven in Toronto, three in Ottawa, three in Lethbridge and one in B.C.
An unknown number of non-unionized positions are also impacted.
According to a report by the Western Standard, which obtained a recording of a staff meeting in Alberta led by Global Calgary News Director and Station Manager Carmela Gentile earlier this week,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Canadian Media Producers Association is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to hear an appeal challenging the CRTC’s decision to grant Corus regulatory relief of its Canadian content spending obligations, alleging the media company has been delinquent on its obligations to independent content.
The CRTC in May reduced until the next licence renewal date Corus’s obligations to programs of national interest (PNI) from 8.5 per cent of previous year’s revenues to five per cent, which is exactly what the pure play media company asked for because it was struggling financially against the backdrop of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Supreme Court of Canada has approved late last month the applications of four organizations to submit interventions in its hearing on whether the CRTC has jurisdiction over wireless access to municipal infrastructure.
The Canadian Telecommunications Association, the attorney general of Quebec, the Business Council of Canada, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce will have the opportunity to submit arguments in the case that could hold significant consequences for the roll-out of 5G technology – or at least that’s what the large telecoms have argued.
Telus is the telecom that won the appeal to the country’s…
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The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) on Wednesday said it is “very disappointed and frankly shocked” by the CRTC’s decision to exclude community television from the base contributions to the Canadian broadcasting system that will be required from online streaming services.
The CRTC announced June 4 that foreign and standalone online streamers that make $25 million or more in annual contributions revenues will be required to contribute five per cent of those revenues into certain funds supporting the broadcasting system in Canada.
In its breakdown of how the base contributions from audio-visual online streaming…
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Bell Canada announced Tuesday its intention to sell its subsidiary Northwestel to Sixty North Unity, a consortium of indigenous organizations from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, in a transaction worth up to $1 billion in cash.
The deal will see Northwestel become fully indigenous-owned, making it the largest telecommunications company worldwide with full indigenous ownership, a Bell press release says.
The strategic transaction will create more opportunities for investment and ownership in critical infrastructure and communications projects for northern indigenous communities, the release says. In addition, the acquisition “will provide Indigenous communities with greater access to…
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A group of multicultural, community, local, and national news publishers and trade associations, representing hundreds of publications, is calling on the CRTC to make regulations with respect to the Online News Act “that will ensure consistency and fairness, maximize newsroom investment, enhance transparency and minimize misrepresentation,” says a Tuesday press release.
The news publisher coalition’s call for CRTC regulations follows Google’s announcement Friday that it has chosen the Canadian Journalism Collective-Collectif Canadien de Journalisme (CJC-CCJ) to distribute the digital giant’s annual $100-million contribution to eligible news businesses under the Online News Act.
None of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell is telling the CRTC it has not received approval on a proposed tariff that would address the issue of the cost of prep work for its poles to which a Montreal municipality wants to attach.
The Municipalité régionale de comté (MRC) de D’Autray, located in the Lanaudière region northeast of Montreal, filed a Part 1 application in April asking the CRTC to force Bell to make adjustments to its existing attachment applications so that the telco, not MRC, is absorbing the costs of corrective work incumbent upon it.
The demand stems from a Continue Reading
