OTTAWA – Quebecor Media Inc. surprisingly revealed yesterday that the company was no longer going to seek “must carry” status for its Category 2 English language all news specialty channel Sun TV News.
The revelation marks a stunning reversal from previous statements that the channel required must carry status to be able to compete with the other specialty news stations, CTV Newsnet and CBC Newsworld (the company’s last application to the CRTC said without must-carry, the business case couldn’t work). Now the company says it will work within current CRTC rules, which will require Quebecor to negotiate carriage…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Be careful, dig deeper and have a look around at what other information is out there, the final submissions from several interveners tell the CRTC as the Regulator writes its decision allowing Shaw Communications to buy Canwest Global.
No CCAA discount
The Directors Guild of Canada insists in its submission that Shaw should be forced to pay the full 10% tangible benefits package – and for that matter, the company should be paying based on an even higher valuation of Canwest.
While the Commission and Shaw settled on a transaction valuation of $2.047 billion, that’s actually an amazing bargain, writes…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The CRTC will wade into the choppy waters of a dispute between The Fight Network and its former owners, despite its earlier reluctance to do so.
As Cartt.ca reported in May, the Commission originally decided not to undertake a review of an application made by current owners, Fight Media, to effect a corporate reorganization so that the new company could acquire the category two digital specialty channel The Fight Network from its previous owners, The Fight Network Inc.
At that time, the Commission noted the existence of an ongoing civil proceeding in the Ontario Superior Court and…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC has asked CTV, Corus, Rogers and Canwest to explain how MTV Canada, Viva, G4 and TVTropolis do not violate their nature of service conditions of license.
Letters sent to the broadcasters in July (except in the case of Viva, which has been in a regulatory back-and-forth with the Commission on this issue dating back to its 2008 rebrand from Canadian Learning Television) by the CRTC’s executive director of broadcasting, Scott Hutton, ask each of them basically the same question.
To paraphrase, the CRTC wants to know how – given the programming on the channels and the way…
Continue Reading
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
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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,…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
