GATINEAU – The way the dance works in these CRTC proceedings is the applicant draws a few lines in the sand in its application and presentation, a few in granite, listens to a few days of appearances by intervenors, gauges the reaction of the commissioners to various ideas presented – and then re-draws those sandy lines for their final public follow up appearances.
BCE was no different Friday morning during its appearance on the closing day of the CRTC hearing into its acquisition of CTV.
Right off the bat, its executives told the CRTC it is ready to endorse the Commission’s…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and TORONTO – The Federal Court has quashed the government’s decision that found Globalive Canadian enough to operate its Wind Mobile wireless service.
According to a Globe and Mail report, Mr. Justice Roger Hughes of Federal Court said Friday that the Cabinet’s decision “was based on errors of law and must be quashed”. The decision does not go into effect for 45 days which allows Globalive to keep operating for now, and allows it the chance to go back to the CRTC.
Globalive chair Anthony Lacavera said that he is “very disappointed” with the decision but vowed not throw in…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – If BCE is going to own CTV (and with it, French sports channel RDS) plus the piece of the Montreal Canadiens it currently holds, then there must be special rules put in place governing sports programming exclusives in Quebec, according to Quebecor Media CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau.
Péladeau was speaking in front of the CRTC this morning as the Commission’s hearing into the acquisition of CTV by BCE continued.
While first stating that the valuation BCE put on CTV is too low (the CRTC says it is worth $2.67 billion, BCE says $2.2 bil) and must be re-evaluated by…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The Federal Government can add Globalive to the list of companies supporting a review of the CRTC’s usage-based billing (UBB) decision.
Gloablive, which offers Internet services under its Yak brand, said Thursday that the CRTC ruling would have stifled competition in the Internet market, and called the government’s stand against UBB “a big victory for Canadian consumers".
"Globalive has always been an advocate for the consumer and for fair competition so we’re very pleased that the Government is stepping in to ensure that competition survives in the Internet market," said chairman Anthony Lacavera, in a statement. "Canadians have told us they…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments on a consolidated list of satellite services to be authorized for analog and digital distribution.
Specifically, the Commission hopes to combine the different sections, appendices and parts of the two lists, resulting in one list of non-Canadian services authorized for distribution by all Canadian distributors, regardless of the size or the technology used by the distributors. It also plans to remove references to Canadian services and harmonize the rights requirements for non-Canadian services.
Written comments are due by March 4, and replies to any of the comments must be received by March…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) asked the CRTC to stick to its guns on the tangible benefits policy resulting from BCE’s proposed acquisition of CTV.
Appearing Thursday morning at the hearing into the transaction, the group said that “a strong benefits commitment to development is a commitment to both the industry and the audience”.
“This is not a fire sale – the CTV assets are strong businesses which BCE is acquiring for shareholder benefit”, said executive director Maureen Parker, in a statement. “It is building a fully integrated organization to carry it into a cross-platform future. BCE needs to live up…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable urged the CRTC to keep close watch over the potential merger between Bell and CTV in order to “preserve competition and protect consumer interests”.
Appearing Wednesday morning at the hearing into the transaction in Gatineau, president and CEO Louis Audet stressed the importance of obtaining specific regulatory safeguards as soon as possible, and definitely before the upcoming vertical integration policy hearing in June, to “prevent abuse of the dominant position” that the new conglomerate would have if the transaction is approved.
"Ultimately, Canadian consumers risk footing the bill for concentration and vertical integration in the absence of greater oversight”, he…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC has released its new rules for video-on-demand (VOD) services, plus exemptions for small VOD undertakings.
Highlights from the decision include:
– the definition of gross annual revenue for the purpose of calculating a VOD undertaking’s contribution to Canadian independent production funds;– the competition of subscription VOD (SVOD) packages with Canadian linear discretionary services;– the limits on advertising;– the prohibition relating to the acquisition of exclusive program rights;– the introduction of a reverse onus provision;– the obligation to remit to rights holders of Canadian feature films 100% of revenues earned from…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology wants to talk to CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein about usage-based-billing.
Faced with a public furor over the issue, the committee has called a 90-minute meeting Thursday afternoon with von Finckenstein and telecom vice-chair Len Katz as the only ones scheduled to appear. They want the pair to explain the Commission’s stance on the usage based billing Internet Service Providers are allowed to charge their wholesale and retail clients.
We expect a lot of political grandstanding as politicians attempt to grapple with an issue they have demonstrated (except for one…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Seems as though Telus has a thing for former Canadian Cable Television Association presidents…
Former CBC executive vice-president Richard Stursberg made his first official industry appearance since he was let go by the Corp in the summer Wednesday in Gatineau.
He was appearing for Telus as an expert consultant during the big carrier’s appearance in front of the CRTC during day two of its hearing into the acquisition of CTV by BCE.
(Stursberg was president of the now defunct CCTA in the late 1990s and Telus’ SVP regulatory and government affairs, Michael Hennessy was the final CCTA president. The company…
Continue Reading
