OTTAWA – Rural and remote broadband was back on the agenda at the Parliamentary Industry committee this week.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) used its appearance to call on the federal government to take the next step in ensuring that Canadian consumers and businesses in rural and northern communities have access to the same networks and broadband speeds as those in urban regions of the country.
Daniel Rubinstein, a policy analyst at the FCM, told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on March 19 that while programs such as Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians has…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada announced yesterday a new public offering of $1 billion of medium term debentures that it says will be used to fund some of the cost of its parent company’s pending acquisition of Astral Media.
The 3.35% debentures, Series M-26, will be dated March 22, 2013 and will mature on March 22, 2023. At an issue price of $99.831 per $100 principal amount for a yield to the investor of 3.370% per annum compounded semi-annually, they will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by BCE Inc., Bell Canada’s parent.
The company says the net…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment Inc. has received clearance from the Competition Bureau to proceed with its acquisition of the remaining ownership interest of Teletoon, as well as French-language specialty Historia and Séries+.
Corus will acquire the 50% remaining ownership interest in Teletoon, which includes Télétoon (French), Teletoon and Télétoon Retro and Cartoon Network, as well as the 50% ownership interests in the French-language specialty channels, Historia and Séries+, that Bell will acquire as part of the acquisition of Astral Media Inc., which was also recently approved by the Competition Bureau.
Corus…
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TORONTO – While the owners of Wind have announced control and executive changes they want to make, without Industry Canada approval of those shifts, someone still has to be at the wheel – and for now, it is a re-energized Tony Lacavera.
Lacavera, the normally ebullient driving force behind Wind in Canada, was seen by many over the last number of months to be the odd man out and in some of his public appearances, he seemed, well, glum. Plus, Wind’s primary financial backer, Egyptian wireless company Orascom (a part of the massive VimpelCom empire), has…
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HOURS BEFORE THE CMPA’s Prime Time in Ottawa convention assembled Canada's English and French producers, broadcasters, funders, regulators and digital platform experts, Bell Media made public its second application to the CRTC buy Astral Media, considered the last “independent” big Canadian broadcaster – and one with a long history of supporting Canadian film.
As it did when it reviewed and rejected Bell Media's first bid to purchase the Montreal-based TV, radio and outdoor ad company in 2012, the regulator will once again assess “the concentration of ownership and potential market dominance” that the larger company would…
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OTTAWA – Canadian Media Production Association past-president Norm Bolen focused the final presentation at Prime Time in Ottawa 2013 on the presence – or lack – of Canadian feature films on Canadian TV. It's the theme underpinning the application he and a team of production industry heavyweights will present to the CRTC on April 23 in support of Starlight, The Canadian Movie Channel.
It's a subject many convention delegates have heard and debated numerous times before, spanning decades for some. On the event's first day, Starlight backers and veteran production executives Robert Lantos and Victor Loewy slammed…
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OTTAWA – Jean-Pierre Blais, chair of the CRTC, challenged Canada’s independent producers to think unconventionally when it comes to promoting their creations, reaching audiences and attracting new advertising revenue.
In a keynote to the Canadian Media Production Association’s annual Prime Time event in Ottawa on Friday, Blais highlighted a quote from the late Thomas Bata, the former head of the Bata shoe empire, to indicate how Canadian content creators should be viewing the world in which their businesses operate. “Executives should be people with a sense of urgency, a demand for excellence and a healthy discontent with the way things…
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OTTAWA – Robert Lantos, noted filmmaker and one of the men behind a new Canadian film channel application now before the CRTC, squared off against Pam Dinsmore, vice-president, regulatory at Rogers Communications during a session at Prime Time on the challenges of the Canadian feature film industry.
Their exchange likely provided a good preview of what people can expect when Starlight and Rogers appear before the CRTC for its 9(1)(h) hearing in April. Starlight has asked for carriage on all Canadian BDUs with a must-pay wholesale fee for consumers of $0.45 per month.
Lantos noted that Canada, in his view, is…
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MONTREAL – Bell Media says it’s game on when it comes to saving Montréal’s only English-language sports station TSN 690. In its latest effort to salvage its takeover of Astral Media, Bell says it’s icing previous plans to convert it into a French-language radio station following rallies by loyal listeners to save it.
Last year, Bell had proposed to convert TSN Radio 690 to a French-language RDS sports station to meet CRTC rules, a move that prompted a backlash from both Montreal sports fans and the CRTC, which ruled against the Astral takeover in October. Bell…
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MAGOG, QC – Omer Girard, one of the founding fathers of Canadian cable television, died Saturday at his home in Magog, Que.
A remarkable entrepreneur in Canada’s telecommunications industry who made a name for himself in the 1960s and ’70s with his epic battle for open access to telecom infrastructure was 92.
In 1957, Girard founded Transvision Magog, one of the most storied cable companies in Canadian history. Between 1960 and 1967, he launched five other cable businesses and cofounded the Canadian Cable Television Association, of which he became president in 1968. However, Girard stood out as the one who would…
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