CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – At their regular monthly meeting held on Monday, the board of directors of cable co-operative Campbell River Television met with representatives of Shaw Cable concerning the big MSO’s continuing interest in the potential acquisition of CRTV.
Shaw Cable announced just last week that it had received the go-ahead by the CRTC to overbuild in CRTV’s cable territory, if it wishes. Such a move would certainly devalue CRTV’s sale prospects.
In a press release to its 13,000 customers/members the board wrote that in “light of the fact of increased competition in Campbell River plus the reality that…
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TORONTO – Today is the deadline for final written submissions to the CRTC’s policy review on broadcast distribution undertakings and specialty services.
(Ed Note: Cartt.ca will publish a recap of these submissions from several stakeholders tomorrow, Friday, May 9.)
Rogers’ final filing recapped the company’s position presented on the first day of the hearings. The company of course, remains opposed to fee-for-carriage “as the broadcasters have failed to justify the need for, or fairness of it,” says an RCI press release this afternoon. “The over-the-air broadcasting sector is profitable, revenues continue to grow and local programming is not in jeopardy”…
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MONTREAL – It’s hoped that today’s quarterly financial report is the final one Bell Canada Enterprises has to make public, as the giant telco has almost finished the work to become a private company.
But since that’s not done yet, the company released decent results for the first quarter of 2008, ended March 31st.
"During the quarter, we made good progress on the completion of the privatization transaction and delivered solid financial results, consistent with our plan for the year," said Michael Sabia, CEO. "With respect to the privatization transaction, the Québec Superior Court approved the plan of arrangement…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has told Shaw Communications it may require the communications giant to file monthly reports on how its community channels are not violating the regs.
Twice in the past two years, Shaw Cablesystems community channels have been rebuked by the Commission for showing advertisements on its cable community channels.
In the Broadcast Distribution Regulations , cable companies are not allowed to air traditional ad spots and there are limitations on the types of sponsorship messages, or advertising, community channels can air. The regs also say sponsorship messages can contain only 15 seconds of…
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OTTAWA – A Federal Court of appeal decision last week that overturned an earlier Federal Court Trial Division ruling regarding broadcast licence fees will be appealed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the organization announced Monday afternoon.
In December of 2006, the Federal Court Trial Division ruled the CRTC Part II Licence Fees collected by the federal government from broadcasters and broadcast distributors were an illegal tax. The Crown appealed that decision to the Federal Court of Appeal, which ruled on April 28th that the fees are valid regulatory charges. The CAB launched this challenge in 2003…
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TORONTO – Limited in our questions as we were (no talking about iPhone, no talking about the advanced wireless spectrum auction), here’s a pretty good taste of what we media types who cover Rogers Communications asked about during Tuesday’s press conference just prior to the RCI AGM (we omitted the questions about the Blue Jays and their dismal start to the season, however). ************* About the AWS auction, and the fact they wouldn’t talk about it, said CEO Ted Rogers: “If you’re going to bid on a Rembrandt, you don’t want to talk about it ahead of time.” *************…
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TORONTO – CTVglobemedia today announced a $400,000 grant to the Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation/Fondation du musée canadien de la radiodiffusion (CBMF/FMCR).
This grant is part of the public benefits package that was approved by the CRTC following CTVgm’s acquisition of the CHUM properties.
"We are pleased to continue our support of the CBMF and salute their mission to ensure our nation’s broadcasting history is preserved as an important component of Canada’s cultural heritage," said Paul Sparkes, executive vice-president corporate affairs, CTVgm, in a press release.
"This sustaining commitment by CTVgm has really set the bar for Canada’s broadcasters. In…
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CALGARY – The feud between one of Canada’s largest cable companies and one of its smallest took another turn Monday when Shaw Communications announced the CRTC had issued an administrative decision allowing the company to extend the authorized service area of its Courtenay B.C. cable system to include the community of Campbell River.
Campbell River is currently served by Campbell River Television, a community-owned cable co-operative with about 13,000 customers.
As Cartt.ca reported, Shaw made an offer to buy the company last fall, but the membership turned it down, so it looks like Shaw is ready to overbuild…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications first quarter results met analyst expecations, showing good growth in all units.
RCI’s consolidated revenue climbed 14% to $2.6 billion in the first quarter, ended March 31st while adjusted operating profit rose 21% to $984 million, and net income 102% to $344 million.
Cable subscribers continued to grow, thanks to home phone additions and Rogers Wireless postpaid net subscriber additions were 97,000 in the quarter, with ARPU up 7% and churn down to 1.1%;
"This was a robust start to 2008 both operationally and financially for which I’m thankful to our loyal customers and our thousands…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada won’t be making public data to support its claim that over-the-air fee-for-carriage rate hikes will prompt subscribers to drop its ExpressVu service.
In a letter, dated April 25, to the CRTC, Bell’s regulatory affairs chief Mirko Bibic said it won’t file the data because of its “great commercial sensitivity’’ and “the Commission’s disinclination to accept it on a confidential basis,’’ even though the CRTC Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said Bell could file the data in confidence.
Bell noted that the “disaggregated monthly data’’ “could be of assistance’’ to the Commission, but refused to have information…
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