OTTAWA – The CRTC has published the list of analog transmitters mandated for digital conversion operating in mandatory markets.
The Commission established a baseline group of mandatory markets for transition to digital by August 31, 2011, which includes the National Capital Region and all provincial and territorial capitals, as well as markets served by multiple originating stations or with populations greater than 300,000.
Applications for conversion for mandatory markets – excluding Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montréal, Québec and Halifax – are to be filed by no later than December 31, 2010.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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MONTREAL – The uniqueness of the Montreal market, the fact that there is only one AM station still operating in the region, and Astral’s significant radio holdings in the province should be all the evidence the CRTC needs to grant Cogeco an exemption to its radio station ownership policy, the company told the Commission this week.
The Regulator heard arguments this week on Cogeco’s proposed $80 million purchase of Corus Entertainment’s Quebec radio assets – and one of the major issues up for discussion was Cogeco’s ownership exemption request. If granted, it would allow the company to own three…
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GATINEAU – Three previously announced radio transactions will face the Commission in a non-appearing hearing in November, but their CRTC applications for permission show that there’s still a lot of value in Canadian radio.
Together, the three purchases total $65 million. Rogers is making two of them, buying London’s BOB-FM from CTV for $16 million and Edmonton’s The Bounce FM from a CTV and Milestone Media partnership for $22 million.
Click here and here for the hearing notice and to see the proposed benefits packages.
The most expensive station being acquired is in Toronto, of course. As Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Despite the fact that when compared to the likes of Rogers, Shaw, Bell, Telus, Videotron and Cogeco, Bragg Communications (EastLink) is pretty small, the CRTC told the company in a letter this week that it won’t be exempted from the CRTC’s requirement to file a public version of its aggregated annual return.
“In Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2009-560 the Commission determined that the disclosure of the public version of the aggregated annual return filed by the large ownership groups, including Bragg, was in the public interest, and that any harm that would result from such disclosure did…
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NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE – Absorption and agility are two qualities imbued in most Canadian Cable Systems Alliance members.
In order to compete with the ISP and video distribution behemoths, independent cable and telecom companies have to be able to respond quickly to the needs of their communities – and take a few punches from those behemoths (and even sometimes, the Regulator).
Agility plus absorption was the theme of the Monday afternoon presentation to CCSA Connect delegates from Dr. Donald Sull, professor and author of “The Upside of Turbulence”.
Dr. Sull showed attendees at the CCSA’s annual conference and trade show how our economic times…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC made public today 10 new specialty service applications made by Rogers Communications.
The company has asked for cat 2 licenses for:
Ampersand, “devoted to romance, love and relationships and would include series based on relationships, feature films, mini-series, made-for-television movies and occasional magazine-style shows focusing on this genre and its stars," reads the application.
Contessa, “devoted to programming related to relationships, lifestyle, beauty, trends and style, and would focus on the interests and needs of working women aged between 25 and 54 years.”
GGBG, “would feature entertainment programming about police, law, the courts, emergency and medical response teams,…
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REGINA and GATINEAU – Some details of Bluepoint Investments purchase of the Saskatchewan Communications Network emerged Monday when its application to take ownership was made public by the CRTC.
Bluepoint, which made a few waves last year by agreeing to, and then pulling out of, a $1 deal to purchase the now-defunct CKX-TV station in Brandon, Man., made a last minute deal to buy SCN just days before the Saskatchewan government was to pull the plug on the provincial pubcaster.
According to its application, Bluepoint plans to imitate the privatization of Alberta’s Access and has committed to spend $12.25…
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MARKHAM, ON – TVC Canada has become the exclusive provider of Trilithic’s CAP-CP based Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) suite of products for the Canadian broadband market.
The products enable service providers to improve efficiency and gain greater control over emergency alert system messaging with seamless, IP-based EAS solutions, the company said Monday.
"The desire of the CRTC to have emergency alerts distributed, combined with Trilithic’s best-in-class EAS products, provides us with both an excellent and timely solution to our customer’s EAS distribution requirements", said Luc Morissette, VP of sales and business development, in a statement. "With consulting, application and technical support,…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will review Cogeco’s proposal to acquire nearly all of Corus Entertainment’s Quebec radio stations at a hearing starting Tuesday in Montreal.
The $80 million deal, announced in April, includes 11 radio stations in markets ranging from Montreal to Quebec City to Trois-Rivieres. Click here for more on Cogeco’s proposed plans, which also includes a request for an exception to the common ownership policy in the Montreal French-language radio market.
Cartt.ca will have full coverage of the proceeding.
www.cogeco.cawww.corusent.com
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CALGARY – While it’s still falls below the norm, Shaw Communications today dramatically increased the amount of money it plans to spend on tangible benefits once its acquisition of Canwest Global is approved.
Company executives appeared before the CRTC Thursday morning in Calgary in their final oral reply to the week’s interveners and announced $72 million had been added to the company’s original package of benefits proposed coming into the hearing.
When broadcasting companies change hands, the Commission normally requires that 10% of the purchase value (in this case $2.047 billion) be set aside to spend on projects that are deemed…
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