TORONTO – Mobilicity is the latest new entrant wireless carrier to find itself in the CRTC’s ownership review crosshairs, but the company’s chief executive says it is much ado about nothing.
In a letter to the Toronto-based company dated March 5th, the Commission said that while the service provider appears to comply with the legal control requirements in the Telecommunications Act, it points to a significant debt facility from foreign interests and the “sufficiently complex nature” of its ownership structure as reason to investigate whether Canadians remain in control of the company. In ‘legalese’, this is referred to…
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TORONTO – Goldman Sachs is appealing an Ontario court’s decision to allow Shaw Communications to proceed with its takeover of debt-laden CanWest Global.
The move means that the bid put forth by Toronto-based investment fund Catalyst Capital, the Asper family and former Rogers execs Rael Merson and John Tory, is still in play.
In documents filed in court this week, Goldman Sachs, which financed CanWest’s purchase of specialty channels from Alliance Atlantis back in 2007, appears to be pulling out all the stops to protect its investment, while accusing the new buyers of trying to pick up the…
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GIVEN WHAT HAS now happened since the value-for-signal/fee-for-carriage hearing, an alert reader reminded us of something CRTC commissioner Timothy Denton pondered as the folks from Shaw Communications appeared in front of the Commission panel.
Back on November 20th, the now infamous hearing visit by CEO Jim Shaw featured a lot of, well, interesting exchanges. In the official transcript the word “Laughter” appears 23 times, more than on any other day.
It also featured the word “woosa”, which we thought was something misheard by the official transcribers – until we looked it up. It means, according to urbandictionary.com, “to calm down and…
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MONTREAL – TVA blamed its modest fourth quarter growth on the economy and the continuing sluggish advertising market.
“While we are posting positive results, the potential for future growth in advertising revenues, which still account for close to 75% of the Television sector’s revenues, is severely limited in view of the economic environment and current market trends”, said president and CEO Pierre Dion, in the statement announcing the company’s financial results.
TVA reported that its consolidated operating income increased by 43.8% to $32.2 million, compared with $22.4 million in the same quarter of 2008. For the fiscal year ended December 31,…
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DARTMOUTH – Growth in its broadcasting segment helped power Newfoundland Capital Corporation (NewCap) to its “best fourth quarter ever”.
Broadcasting revenue of $29.7 million was $1.3 million or 4% better than the same quarter last year, while for the year, broadcasting revenue of $101.8 million was $2.0 million or 2% ahead of last year. The company’s Atlantic Canada radio properties and “organic” (same-station) operations accounted for primarily all of the revenue growth in the quarter and for the year, the company said.
Consolidated revenue of $30.5 million in the fourth quarter improved by 4%, and for the year ended December 31,…
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THUNDER BAY, ON – Thunder Bay TV station CKPR-TV has told the CRTC that it wants to drop its affiliation with the CBC and become an independent.
In its application, parent company Thunder Bay Electronics said that it has been unable to negotiate a new program supply agreement with the CBC, and that as an independent local station it would “source” its non-local programming.
Thunder Bay Electronics’ other local television station CHFD-TV dropped its long time affiliation with CTV to become an independent station aligned with Canwest Global in January.
Interventions are due by April 8, 2010.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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“About a month later at a cable show in San Antonio, I bumped into an engineering legend named Israel Switzer, who worked for years at Maclean Hunter Cable. He was now consulting to upstart U.S. long-distance competitor MCI Communications. I knew and respected him a great deal.
“Israel asked me about cellular and what my plans were. I told him I was looking into it. He said he thought it was the future of telecommunications and urged me to get in before it was too late. I had to pay attention to a statement like that from a man of…
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OTTAWA – It’s a much-anticipated decision, but it won’t be released until after March Break.
For those on the regulatory side of the industry with kids off school and vacations planned, this is a good thing: Cartt.ca has learned that the target week for the release of the decision on 2009-411, the so-called value-for-signal/fee-for-carriage proceeding, is the week of March 22nd.
Click here for a little refresher…
Look for the Commission to also have something to say on VOD advertising and local avails, which will then tie into what happens with this application.
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for feedback on whether insurance agents and brokers should be exempt from the National Do Not Call List, in the same way as investment and financial advisors.
The Commission clarified certain obligations under the DNCL rules that permit investment and financial advisors to contact existing clients in December 2008. By contrast, it determined that calls by insurance agents or brokers to sell or promote insurance products or services, including to existing clients, violated the DNCL rules. In a call for comments Thursday, the Commission questioned whether this difference should be maintained.
Parties interested…
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OTTAWA – In Wednesday’s Speech from the Throne to open the latest, much delayed, session of Parliament, the federal government has committed itself to allow more foreign investment in telecom and satellite in Canada.
While saying the government “will launch a digital economy strategy to drive the adoption of new technology across the economy. To encourage new ideas and protect the rights of Canadians whose research, development and artistic creativity contribute to Canada’s prosperity,” and that “our Government will also strengthen laws governing intellectual property and copyright,” (Read: Yet another stab at copyright reform, sigh…) the speech also said the…
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