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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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC on Thursday renewed the licences of the French-language television services operated by TVA Group, Astral Media, and Canal Évasion, plus maintained the existing conditions of licence for V.
Noting that TVA has invested an average of 45% of its gross annual revenues in the production of Canadian programming over the last three years, the Commission approved its request to remove all requirements related to the type of programming it broadcasts.
The CRTC directed it to continue to provide the same quantity of dramas, musicals and documentaries that it currently broadcasts, plus devote 80% of its programming…
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TORONTO – Wind Mobile’s legal woes appear to be over after the Supreme Court said Thursday that it would not grant Public Mobile’s leave to appeal an earlier court decision confirming Wind’s compliance with the Canadian ownership rules.
Public Mobile’s petition sought to overturn a Government in Council decision to quash the previous CRTC ruling that Wind’s parent, Globalive Wireless, didn’t comply with the Telecom Act’s foreign ownership rules. At that time, Egypt-based wireless company Orascom Telecom owned two thirds of Globalive’s equity and almost all of its debt.
“Wind is interested in fighting in the marketplace to provide Canadians with…
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OTTAWA – If you ask anyone on the regulatory side of this industry, they’ll tell you that Bob Buchan and Peter Grant are two of the most admired legal minds in the country.
Together, Buchan, of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin and Grant, of McCarthy Tetrault, created and organized the Law Society of Upper Canada’s New Developments in Communications Law and Policy Conference, held every two years in Ottawa. It’s a must-attend for those working the regulatory trenches in Ottawa.
As stewardship of the conference has been handed over to co-chairs Grant Buchanan of McCarthy Tetrault and Laurence Dunbar of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin,…
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