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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OTTAWA – The CRTC on Thursday put out a call for commercial radio applications for London, Ontario (Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-21) and Guelph, Ontario (Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-22).
Interested applicants must submit a formal application to the commission no later than May 12, 2008. As well, they must submit all the necessary technical documentation to Industry Canada by the same date.
The calls for applications were issued after the CRTC received an application for a radio licence for Guelph and another for London.
Applicants have to provide evidence that there is a demand and a market for the station…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Pension fund regulators have confirmed the proposed acquisition of Bell Canada by a consortium of private equity interests, including Teachers’ Private Capital, does not contravene Ontario pension law, the CRTC revealed earlier this week as it reconvened a public hearing Tuesday on the application.
CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein expressed surprise that the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) stated in a March 10 document filed with the regulator that the ownership structure Teachers’ was employing to acquire BCE complied with Ontario’s Pension Benefits Act.
“I must say I am astounded. The interpretation that FSCO puts on…
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LET US BEGIN BY making our position utterly clear. We do not believe that Bill C-327 is either necessary or even moderately useful in dealing with the issue of violence on television.
We have filed a written presentation with the Committee Clerk that will hopefully provide a useful tour d’horizon of the issue. I will try to limit this oral presentation to the clarification of matters raised by witnesses and Hon. Members of this Committee.
First, the nature and extent of the problem, namely, the exposure of our children to violence in the media. Is problematic violent content increasing…
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DARTMOUTH, NS – Newfoundland Capital Corporation Ltd. reported fourth-quarter net income of $5.77 million, up from the $3.29 profit recorded in the same quarter a year earlier, according to financial results released Monday. The increase was attributed to a future tax recovery related to corporate income tax rate reduction.
Revenues for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 were $27.74 million, down 1% from $28.06 million the prior year, due to a slight decrease in broadcasting revenue in the fourth quarter.
Operating expenses were $22.7 million in the fourth quarter, down $1.5 million from 2006. The decrease was due to…
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MONTREAL – Quebec film and television production company Remstar Corporation has won the bidding war for the financially troubled TQS television network.
TQS’s Board of Directors and the networks’ shareholders announced Monday their approval of Remstar’s offer, shortly after it was accepted by Quebec Superior Court Judge Pierre Journet.
The terms and the amount of the offer were not revealed, but Remstar’s co-president and CEO Maxime Rémillard said in a statement that “our business plan will take TQS beyond traditional television broadcasting. That’s how we believe we can best respond to the challenges facing the Quebec television industry.”
“We’re…
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MONTREAL – The Quebec Superior Court has approved BCE’s planned sale to a consortium led by the Teacher’s Private Capital, it was announced Friday. Some shareholders were fighting the deal, but the court “dismissed all claims asserted by or on behalf of certain holders of Bell Canada debentures.”
“We are very pleased with the Superior Court’s decisions. On every point of contention, the court ruled in favour of BCE,” said BCE and Bell Canada chief legal officer Martine Turcotte. “The court’s decisions affirm our long-standing position that the claims of these debenture holders are without merit and that BCE…
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