CRTC COMMISSIONER MICHEL MORIN apparently didn’t like much about his first CRTC hearing.
He disagreed with the companies that got the licenses (Vista Radio and Sun Country Cablevision, instead of CTV, Corus or Deep Waters Media), sharply criticized a cynical format flop ploy by the two ownership groups already in the market and said the whole process of calling for applications and hearing them isn’t transparent enough.
In a scathing dissenting opinion following this month’s decision on granting a pair of new radio station licenses, the former broadcaster unloaded on both Astral Media and Jim Pattison Broadcast for their…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. announced Tuesday that it has been entirely released, without costs, from its obligations to CIBC as guarantor of Groupe TQS, contracted on December 14, 2008.
The release of Cogeco follows the repayment by Remstar Corporation of all sums owed by Groupe TQS to CIBC, Cogeco said in a statement.
Remstar won the bidding competition for the financially-troubled Quebec TV network earlier this month, and is now in the process of finalizing details of the purchase and presenting its proposals to creditors. TQS is 60% owned by Cogeco and 40% by CTVglobemedia.
Creditors will vote on…
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TORONTO – It’s all about the users. That’s the underlying theme to this year’s Canadian Telecom Summit, taking place June 16-18 in Toronto.
Bringing together the people who are transforming Canada’s telecommunications industry, the 2008 Summit will feature 20 keynote speakers and 50 panelists discussing the theme “Maintaining relevance for the customer”.
Leaders of some of the major players in the mobile wireless auction will share their perspectives, including Nadir Mohamed, President and COO of Rogers Communications, who will open the conference on June 16, Pierre Blouin, CEO of MTS Allstream, and Robert Depatie, President and CEO of Videotron….
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WE HAVE SOME questions for everyone. Feel free to answer, if you like, at editorial@cartt.ca. Answers will remain confidential – unless you’d like us to make them public… ************ 1. Quick, what’s a two-syllable word, ending in “o” that is a low-cost Canadian wireless brand? With the launch of a new name, Koodo, on the Telus network, we now have three answers to that question – counting Bell’s Solo and Rogers’ Fido. Can someone in marketing can explain to me the reasons why cheap Canadian wireless brand names apparently must end in o? Why is that such a…
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OTTAWA – Saying that “community radio stations will continue contributing to the visibility and vitality of Canada’s minority official-language communities,” the federal government today announced a number of grants totaling $539,471 for a number of French language community radio projects.
Pierre Lemieux, Parliamentary Secretary for Official Languages and Member of Parliament (Glengarry-Prescott-Russell), on behalf Josee Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, made the announcement today, the International Day of La Francophonie, in Ottawa.
The funding will, among other things, be used to establish and manage community radio stations
"The Government of Canada knows that…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada has announced the schedule established by the Québec Court of Appeal for the legal proceedings related to the appeals initiated by certain holders of Bell Canada debentures.
The schedule established by the Court of Appeal provides for three and a half days of hearings, over a maximum period of five days, beginning on April 28, 2008. The Court has indicated that it expects to render a decision expeditiously.
"We are very pleased that the Court of Appeal has agreed to a schedule that will allow for the expeditious resolution of these appeals," said Martine…
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OTTAWA – It will take three weeks to plough through the various issues to be presented by 74 intervenors who wish to speak during the CRTC hearing into the policies governing specialty channels and broadcast distribution undertakings in Canada.
Beginning on April 8th with Rogers Communications, commission staff has estimated it will take until April 28th to get to Lee Weston, the final intervenor (who has community TV on his mind) listed on the lineup released Friday.
The Regulator also released some preliminary financial data on the sector to help people prepare.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – The Ad Hoc Committee of the 1976 and 1996 Bell Canada debentureholders said late Monday it has launched appeals against the court judgments rendered on March 7, 2008 by the Quebec Superior Court of Justice.
The decision granted permission for the proposed leverage buyout of BCE Inc. by a consortium led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board ("Teachers") and dismissed the bondholders’ proceedings contesting the Plan of Arrangement, “seeking enforcement of their contractual protections and for oppression remedies. Inscriptions in appeal were filed today with the Quebec Court of Appeal in Montreal,” reads the committee’s press…
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GATINEAU – On Monday, the CRTC officially approved the Equitable Portrayal Code as proposed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB).
The newly written code contains standards for the portrayal of all identifiable groups and replaces the CAB’s nearly two-decades old Sex-Role Portrayal Code for television and radio programming.
The new code was developed in order to respond to the findings of the private broadcast industry’s research concerning the portrayal of ethnocultural minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council will apply the new code when dealing with future complaints.
Click here for the release.
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC put on the public record Friday a slew of applications for new radio stations in Ottawa-Gatineau, along with several new TV proposals (Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing 2008-1).
Telelatino Network is looking for Category 2 digital TV licences for four new stations, while Rogers Broadcasting is seeking to operate a national English-language digital TV station devoted to baseball, called appropriately Baseball TV.
Among the 11 applications for radio licences in the Ottawa-Gatineau area are: Reel-Radio for a French-language campus radio station, Fiston Kalambay for a French-language Christian music service, Corus Radio Company for an English-language…
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