MONTREAL – Decreases in the publishing and movie distribution sectors led TVA to report an 8.2% decrease in operating income for their third quarter, according to the company press release issued today.
Quebecor Media-owned TVA reported a consolidated operating income of $10.8 million for the third quarter of 2008 ending September 30, compared with consolidated operating income of $11.8 million for the same quarter of 2007. The company did report a 14.5% increase in the television sector’s operating income over the same quarter of 2007, however.
"Given the slowdown in the advertising market in Canada, we are satisfied with…
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SAVE FOR THE CONVENTIONAL broadcasters who wanted their new fee, many in the industry are, if not slapping the Commission heartily on the back, recognizing that coming up with new regulatory frameworks for BDUs and discretionary TV channels wasn’t likely an easy task and that the Regulator has done a decent job in addressing the myriad issues.
Click here for our summary of Thursday’s release.
Sure, cable, satellite and telco TV companies don’t want to divert another 1% of revenue to yet another programming fund, the broadcasters’ bet on fee-for-carriage didn’t come through and many wish advertising in…
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QUISPAMSIS, N.B. – The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance gave its thumbs up to the CRTC’s new policy framework released yesterday, particularly – and predictably – the initiatives designed to assist smaller cable companies in launching new digital and high definition television services.
“We had feared that this proceeding had been overtaken by conventional television’s renewed demands for new carriage fees,” said Chris Edwards, the CCSA’s regulatory vice-president in a press release today.
“It is clear to us that, throughout this massive public proceeding, the CRTC paid very close attention to our submissions on behalf of small distributors and their…
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GATINEAU – The telecom glitterati (yes, yes, insert your joke here…) graced Gatineau for the Canadian Telecom Hall of Fame annual awards last night at the Museum of Civilization, right across the river from Parliament Hill.
Bell Canada president and CEO George Cope (just a FEW people were trying to get a word with him!), CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein, MTS Allstream president and CEO Pierre Blouin, SaskTel CEO Bob Watson, RIM co-founder Mike Lazaridis, Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg, new CWTA head Bernard Lord and former Industry Canada DM Michael Binder were just a few of the over 250…
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OTTAWA – There will be no new fee for the carriage of broadcast signals in Canada. But a new levy is being imposed to help boost local programming.
No fee, but a new fee * One of the first items in the press release announcing the new policies governing broadcast distribution undertakings and specialty services (and the over-the-air fee-for-carriage issue) was the Commission’s desire to boost local programming. “The desire for better local programming in Canada’s smaller markets was clearly made evident during this proceeding,” CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said in the Commission release today. “We have taken…
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SO WILL WE SEE fee-for-carriage, or not?
A blizzard of issues were discussed, argued and dissected in the over half-a-million words spoken (seriously, we counted…) six months ago in Gatineau during the CRTC’s hearing into the policies governing broadcast distribution undertakings and specialty & pay TV channels.
But the most buzz-worthy question during the 12 hearing days was one that wasn’t fully related to either. It was the question of whether subscription fees will have to be paid to conventional over-the-air broadcasters by those BDUs (cable, satellite and telco TV).
Of course, we’ll have to wait until 4 p.m….
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has re-opened – and gone to the Federal Court of Appeal for a ruling about – a decision it made back in November 2006 on levies paid to it by Canadian telecom companies.
Back in 2006, telcos Bell Canada and Aliant applied to the CRTC to have the fees they pay to the CRTC reduced or reconsidered, given changes in the overall telecom marketplace and rules they feel should apply to Commission levies.
In a public notice issued October 15th, the Commission said “that it appears that: (a) it failed to consider a basic principle…
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TORONTO – A mini new media hearing took place yesterday at the St. Andrew’s Club and Conference Centre as delegates at Insight Information’s Entertainment Industries Summit practiced advocating their positions in preparation for the real thing when the CRTC’s new media hearing begins in February 2009.
Stakeholders from the arts community predictably called for cultural protections and funding mechanisms in any new media broadcasting legislation, while broadcasters – equally predictably – advocated an industrial strategy for new media that is separate from any arts strategy discussion.
What all delegates seemed to agree on is that a review of new…
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TORONTO – The advantage of Bill C-61 dying on the floor of the House of Commons last month for the election is it provides another opportunity for the federal government to get Canadian copyright reform right this time. That was the opinion expressed during a panel discussion at Insight Information’s third annual Entertainment Industries Summit, held in Toronto on Wednesday.
Casey Chisick, partner at Cassels Brock in Toronto, said the “never-ending story” of Canadian copyright reform has seen two major attempts at bringing forward new legislation since 2001. In both cases, the bill in question (Bill C-60 introduced by…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC said Tuesday it will publicly disclose the aggregate financial data of large broadcast distribution undertakings (cable and satellite companies) and large conventional television and radio broadcasters.
“Although it was set out in Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-6 as its preliminary view, the Commission is now convinced, based on the comments received at the proceedings on the Diversity of Voices and the BDU regulatory frameworks, that the public disclosure of the aggregate financial data of both large BDUs and/or MSOs and large OTA television and radio broadcasters by ownership group would serve the public interest and would…
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