CALGARY and TORONTO – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice today issued a order sanctioning the restated consolidated plan of compromise, arrangement and reorganization relating to Shaw Communications’ $2 billion purchase of Canwest Global Communications television assets.
Previously, Shaw announced that it had entered into agreements regarding the acquisition of 100% of the over-the-air and specialty television businesses of Canwest, including all of the equity interests in CW Investments Co., the Canwest subsidiary that owns a portfolio of specialty television channels.
"This is another important step forward with respect to the CMI Entities emerging from the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act…
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TORONTO – In a little over two weeks, Canadians (assuming carriage agreements are in place…) will have another TV sports option to pick from.
Rogers Communications today announced Rogers Sportsnet One, a new sports specialty that will feature over 800 hours of live events, all in high definition, will launch August 14th.
The national live-event line-up features the Toronto Raptors, National Basketball Association, the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Major League Baseball and Barclay’s Premier League.
This also marks the return of pro basketball to Sportsnet. Rogers Sportsnet and Sportsnet One and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment have signed a deal to…
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GATINEAU – A local company in each of Montreal and Sudbury, Ont., were granted BDU licenses for their communities by the CRTC today.
A numbered company owned by Northern Ontario-based ISP and VOIP provider Vianet is the new license holder in Sudbury. It plans to launch an IPTV-based TV system to complement its phone and internet offerings.
The Montreal license recipient is another VOIP provider and ISP called Ormuco, which also plans to launch an IPTV video service.
www.vianet.cawww.ormuco.com
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Effective October 20, 2012, 10-digit local dialing will be required for all local calls made in Manitoba, the CRTC said today. As well, a new area code, 431, will be introduced in the province, effective November 3, 2012.
The transition to 10-digit dialing will begin on July 29, 2012, and will be gradually introduced over the following weeks. It will become mandatory by October 20, 2012.
At the same time, in order to prevent running out of telephone numbers in the “glorious and free” province, the CRTC is introducing a new area code, 431 as of November 3, 2012….
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CARTT.CA’S UPDATED STORY on the Shaw/Canwest deal seeks to fill in “incomplete data” on Shaw’s proposed benefits package of $23 million for a transaction reported at $2 billion. That’s not a typo. We estimate that this comes to 1% of the value of the transaction. Since Commission policy dictates 10% for benefits it’s fair to ask: Are we missing $177 million? Let’s look at the numbers.
In their main application, Shaw ascribed a value of the transaction at $475 million. At that point, they were proposing a benefits of $23 million, which would be spent on the conversion to…
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GATINEAU – Barring a last-minute agreement, Torstar and Rogers Communications will ask the CRTC to finally settle the dispute between the two companies over the carriage of Torstar shopping channel ShopTV.
Earlier this year, Torstar applied for dispute resolution under Section 12 of the BDU Regulations, claiming Rogers was refusing to come to a fair agreement over the carriage of ShopTV by Rogers Cable.
Because Rogers owns The Shopping Channel (TSC) and offers it system-wide, Torstar says it has to be carried across all Rogers Cable systems due to the Commission’s 1:1 regulation which says for each BDU-owned channel carried,…
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GATINEAU – Thanks to the “certainly created in the industry by the new Canada Media fund and the need to give this fund time to establish itself,” the CRTC today called off its proceeding looking into amending its benefits policy.
Two years ago, the Commission decided it would examine the policy that says 10% of the value of any business transaction involving broadcast companies must be set aside for “benefits”, that is, something the acquiring company might not normally spend on. So, if a broadcaster is purchased for $100 million, the rule of thumb has said that $10…
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GATINEAU – The five-year term of commissioner Michel Arpin, the CRTC’s vice-chair broadcasting, expires at the end of August and according to sources, the Prime Minister’s Office has been firm in saying it won’t be extended.
We’ve heard many rumours from a number of sources who asked not to be named about potential replacements, a few of whom were mentioned in our original story speculating on who may replace him in that role. We’ve also heard speculation that the position may just be left vacant for a while.
Arpin is a well-respected broadcast policy veteran with a long history in…
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GATINEAU – The squeaky wheel gets the, well, the expanded regulatory proceeding.
Today the CRTC said it would restart its look at regulatory symmetry in the telecom world when it comes to the handling of customer cancellations and transfers (BTNC 2010-406) so that it will include wireless as well.
As reported by Cartt.ca here and here, Rogers Communications repeatedly asked for the Commission to expand the scope of the proceeding, arguing it didn’t make any sense to examine how the transfer of TV, land-line telephony and internet customers from one company to another is handled, but to exclude…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will have the opportunity to bless the marriage of CanWest and Shaw at a hearing scheduled for September 20, 2010.
The $2 billion deal was approved by an Ontario court in June, but still requires approval by the Commission and the Competition Bureau.
The Regulator said Thursday that it will first consider an application by CanWest Global Communications for a multi-step corporate reorganization which would see its broadcasting and specialty channel assets fall under one entity.
Next up will be Shaw’s application to transfer the effective control of Canwest Global’s broadcasting entities to a wholly-owned Shaw…
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