NEW YORK – The American banks that have committed themselves to backing the $52 billion leveraged buyout of Bell Canada are seeking to renegotiate the deal, says a Monday story in the New York Times.
According to the story, the banks want new terms, including higher interest rates and stronger protections for the banks, as well as a lower purchase price, which is currently set at Cdn$42.75 per share. Shares closed at $38.80 on Friday and the Toronto Stock Exchange is closed today for the Victoria Day long weekend but BCE shares trading in New York were down over $2,…
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OTTAWA – The House of Commons decided last week that Bill C-327 should not proceed further. On May 13, it adopted the April 9, 2008 Report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which made such a recommendation.
As a result, the legislative process on Bill C-327 will go no further in this session of Parliament. The bill proposed to alter the Broadcasting Act so that the CRTC would have to come up with new rules to curb violence on television. The Commission would also be required to police TV programming for any content that crossed those standards on…
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MONTREAL – BCE announced Monday it has written confirmation from the CRTC that it had met the regulator’s conditions of sale with “two minor exceptions,” just as media reports surfaced that the banks providing the financing want to renegotiate terms of the deal.
The CRTC states in the letter that its conditions set forth in its March 27 decision to approve the acquisition of BCE by an investor group led by Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners Inc., Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC, and Merrill Lynch Global Private…
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OTTAWA – Timothy Denton, a specialist in legal and policy issues related to the Internet and communications, has been appointed as CRTC commissioner, Canadian Heritage announced Friday.
He was involved with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the governance of the domain name industry and helped introduce long-distance voice competition in Canada as counsel to the Canadian Consumers’ Association.
From 1985 to 1987, Denton was involved with the creation of the Broadcasting Act and later took part in the creation of the Telecommunications Act while working as a policy advisor to the Minister of Communications from 1985…
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CALGARY – Star Choice lashed out at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Friday, accusing it of misleading the public over carriage issues around the CBC Saskatchewan TV channel and RDI.
“The CBC’s suggestion that we are breaching regulatory rules is also wrong. Star Choice carries 79 local and regional television stations, including 16 CBC network stations and local affiliates. By comparison, Star Choice carries a total of 13 CTV network stations and local affiliates,” said Peter Bissonnette, president of Star Choice-owner Shaw Communications Inc.
In a complaint to the CRTC, the CBC accused Star Choice of being in breach…
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OTTAWA – A fund aimed at supporting not-for-profit, local radio that launched Thursday will dole out $1.4 million over seven years. Seed money for the fund, called the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC), is coming from Astral Media Inc.
“Canadians may have more media choices than ever, but there has been a clear decline in the amount of programming that reflects local communities and their concerns, from both commercial and public media,” said Charles-Eugene Cyr, president of Alliance des radios communautaires (ARC) du Canada. “The Community Radio Fund will help community broadcasting reach its full potential as an…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Broadcasting Corp./Radio-Canada asked the CRTC this week to order satellite TV distributor Star Choice to immediately include RDI in its digital basic to subscribers in Anglophone markets.
It is the second complaint filed this week to the CRTC by the public broadcaster.
“Despite repeated efforts on the part of the CBC/Radio-Canada, the corporation has been unable to secure carriage of RDI on Star Choie’s basic service in Anglophone markets. RDI is not available on the ‘English Essentials package,’” CBC Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs Bev Kirshenblatt writes in a May 14 letter to the CRTC….
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is going to re-examine its decision not to regulate new media, and on Thursday it asked the public to help it determine what issues it should consider at a public hearing to be held in early 2009.
The Commission indicates in a public notice that it wants to narrow the range of issues it will consider at the hearing on broadcasting in the new media environment. The regulator proposes looking at what exactly is broadcasting in new media, the creation and promotion of Canadian broadcasting content for the new media environment, and any barriers to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC on Wednesday denied a request by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP) to stop Bell from “throttling” Internet traffic of competitor ISPs on an interim basis until it makes a final ruling on the matter.
In its decision, the CRTC denied CAIP’s request for interim relief because the regulator found CAIP did not present sufficient evidence of irreparable harm to its members as a result of Bells “traffic throttling” activities.
This is an unfortunate decision, said CAIP Chair Tom Copeland. “We feel the Commission has misapplied the test for interim relief by deeming the…
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TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) blasts Canadian broadcasters in a media release Wednesday as they gear up to spend millions on U.S. film and television shows down south at the LA Screenings.
“Once again, Canada’s private broadcasters are in L.A. spending millions of Canadian dollars on Hollywood productions, ignoring their obligations to Canada’s culture and taxpayers. They make millions off Canada’s public airwaves thanks to the CRTC, by showing U.S. programming, while letting Canada’s film and television industry wither,” said ACTRA National Executive Director Stephen Waddell.
ACTRA notes that Canada’s over-the-air private…
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