MONTREAL – With Parliament set to resume next week, the Liberal Party is calling on Prime Minister Harper to preserve the foreign ownership rules for Canadian broadcasting companies.
In an open letter that specifically references Industry Canada’s decision to overturn the CRTC’s ownership decision on Globalive, the Liberals said that any revisions to the Telecommunications Act must be debated in the House of Commons, and not “on the sly”.
“Any consideration of the Telecommunications Act must be done in the open, transparently and in consultation with Canadians,” said Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology, Marc Garneau, in a statement. “We must…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has tightened up the rules around telecommunication ownership and control reviews.
After establishing a new framework last July, the Commission announced Thursday that it will be modifying the data collection forms used to gather information about the ownership and control of Canadian carriers.
It also announced that it will be adding a new list of eligible telecommunications common carriers (the eligible TCC list) to its website, and detailed the procedures for carriers that do not respect their annual filing obligations.
Click here to view the full bulletin.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – While an Ontario Superior Court judge on Friday gave Shaw Communications the green light to move ahead with its plan for CanWest Global, other companies have come forward to say, “hey, we would have liked to get in on the bidding, too.”
However, companies which wanted to take a close look at the troubled broadcaster and newspaper publisher had to first sign a non-disclosure agreement which prevented them from even talking to Goldman Sachs, which is the key creditor as the 65% equity holder of CW Media Holdings, the division which owns and operates CanWest’s specialty channels.
Canwest…
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CALGARY – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has approved Shaw’s takeover bid of Canwest, despite a last minute rival bid lead by investment fund Catalyst Capital, the Asper family and two former Rogers execs.
The Calgary-based cable company has entered into agreements with Canwest and certain 8% senior subordinated noteholders for a minimum commitment to buy $95 million worth of Class A voting shares in a restructured Canwest, which represents 20% equity and an 80% voting interest.
Shaw’s initial equity interest will exceed 20% depending on the number of Canwest creditors that elect cash rather than shares in restructured…
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OTTAWA – Comments filed on the CRTC’s reconsideration of speed matching strike a familiar refrain: Would-be competitors say Canadians will suffer if the CRTC doesn’t mandate speed matching and access to higher-speed local access facilities for them, while incumbent telcos tell the Commission that doing so will threaten future network investments.
Telcos were already required under CRTC regulations to provide speed matching (also referred to as service parity) to competitors over both legacy copper facilities as well as their faster fibre, or next-generation networks (NGNs). But the implementation of the rule was put on hold following appeals to the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has announced a new area code to help manage the telephone number shortage that will affect the area currently covered by area code 819.
Starting March 19, 2011, new telephone numbers assigned in the 819 region may be given the area code 873. Existing customers will keep their current area code and phone numbers.
These measures are being implemented in response to the report that the Canadian Numbering Administrator presented to the CRTC last year, which warned that area code 819 is expected to run out of telephone numbers by February 2015.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – Add CPAC to Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.
The Cable Public Affairs Channel received CRTC approval late last week to carry the V network’s French-language coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, including commercials, to viewers across Canada.
“No other network understands the bilingual nature of Canada more than CPAC,” said Ken Stein, president of CPAC’s board of directors, in a statement. “As our country plays host to the world in Vancouver, we want to do our part by ensuring that Canadians receive full access to these historic events in their official language.”
Through CPAC, V will televise 284…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications announced this morning that it intends to purchase control of CanWest Global Communications.
The Calgary-based cable company has entered into agreements with Canwest and certain 8% senior subordinated noteholders to acquire a minimum 20% equity interest and 80% voting interest in the broadcaster, which includes effective control of a restructured Canwest. Shaw’s initial equity interest will exceed 20% depending on the number of Canwest creditors that elect cash rather than shares in restructured Canwest, says the press release.
Full financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are excited about the Investment and gaining effective control of one of the…
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OTTAWA – Wireless industry stakeholders are calling on the CRTC to initiate a separate review of the mobile data services framework and its applicability under the recently established Internet traffic management practices (ITMP) framework, rather than include the matter in a broader consultation on certain legacy telecom obligations.
They say the matter is largely administrative in nature and can be best handled separately.
“It would be a lot simpler in my mind to have dealt with that in a very small paper proceeding,” Michael Hennessy, Telus’ senior VP of regulatory and government affairs said in an interview.
“I suspect…
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OTTAWA – Three of Canada’s largest telecommunications service providers agree that it’s time to review the nearly 10-year-old contribution regime and make changes to the local subsidy that better reflect the reality of today’s telephony landscape.
Their comments come after the CRTC issued a consultation on the contribution regime and other related matters last week (Telecom Notice of Consultation 2010-43).
The current contribution regime, established back in 2000 (Telecom Decision 2000-745), requires all TSPs with revenues greater than $10 million to provide a portion of their earnings to a national pool that would be made available to telecom…
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