I’VE NEVER BEEN ONE to fear large corporations. I don’t think big oil is out to get anyone. I don’t think fast food chains want to kill their customers with fat. I don’t think chemical companies sell lawn fertilizer that will blind the neighbour’s cat.
And I don’t think big media companies are out to tell the world what to think. With the level of competition we have, that’s impossible anyway.
I do think that by their very nature, however, big companies, especially publicly traded ones, can be selfish. They can be cutthroat, to be sure, but also a little…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – It’s been nearly two years, a court appeal and many complaints since the original decision, but the CRTC today revealed how the $650 million or so in the so-called deferral accounts will be spent.
The Commission approved several initiatives that will benefit Canadians with disabilities and expand broadband services to rural and remote communities. The major local telephone companies were also directed by the Commission to finalize proposals for the dispersal of the funds in their deferral accounts.
"Today’s decision will not only make telecommunications services more accessible to all Canadians, but also…
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MONTREAL – Two potential buyers signalled enough interest in financially strapped Quebec television network TQS this week to convince a Quebec Superior Court judge to give the network another 45 days of court protection from creditors.
Judge Pierre Journet said the receipt of two letters of intention from the two unnamed suitors was an indication that TQS’s financial situation has not worsened to the detriment of creditors, and that a further delay constitutes a “reasonable and credible” condition to finding a long-term solution.
TQS was granted 30 days’ protection in December. The new delay gives controller RSM Richter…
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KENORA – Bell Aliant will expand further west as Kenora City Council has approved the big telco’s $27 million purchase offer for the Kenora Municipal Telephone System, as reported by Cartt.ca earlier this month.
"Bell Aliant is the right choice for KMTS employees, customers and our community as a whole," said Mayor Len Compton, in a press release. "The City of Kenora has followed a very diligent process and reviewed several options in order to come to this decision. We are confident in the continued success of KMTS in Kenora."
There had been some noise up north made by…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC told Rogers Broadcasting this morning that it doesn’t think Parry Sound can support any more radio stations.
It denied the company’s application for a broadcasting licence to operate an new rock format FM station in the cottage country town of about 5,800 people.
“After considering the positions of the parties in this proceeding, the Commission finds that the primary issue arising from this application relates to the Parry Sound commercial radio market and its ability to sustain an additional radio station,” says the Commission decision.
There’s only one radio station in Parry Sound itself, Haliburton Broadcasting’s…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – For the first time, the CRTC will look at newspaper ownership when considering the diversity of media voices in Canadian markets.
As reported by Cartt.ca earlier this morning, the CRTC released its new policies on diversity of voices in Canadian media.
"With these new policies, we have developed a clear approach to guide us in assessing future transactions in the broadcasting industry," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC, in the Commission’s press release. "It is an approach that will preserve the plurality of editorial voices and the diversity of programming available to…
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GATINEAU – This morning the CRTC will release its policy decision on the levels of media concentration in Canada, Cartt.ca has learned, just four months after holding a hearing, dubbed the “Diversity of Voices” proceeding in September.
While existing rules were used to make decisions in 2007 on Canwest’s purchase of Alliance Atlantis, CTVglobemedia’s acquisition of CHUM Ltd., Astral’s Standard Broadcasting buy and Rogers Media taking over the Citytv network, new rules will apply to any other mergers.
The old rules, for example, prevented CTVgm from taking the Citytv stations in its deal for CHUM…
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MONTREAL – Quebec’s Culture and Communications Minister Christine St-Pierre dropped a firecracker into the middle of the debate over the future of financially troubled broadcaster TQS last week, saying that if the private broadcaster disappears, Radio-Canada will be partly to blame.
“I think that if TQS dies, they’ll find a bullet from Radio-Canada close to the heart,” said St-Pierre who, until her election last year, was a Radio-Canada journalist in Ottawa and Washington.
Radio-Canada vice-president Sylvain Lafrance immediately dismissed the comment, saying the publicly-owned network has nothing to do with TQS’s liquidity problems.
Last year, Radio-Canada announced it would…
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TORONTO – Culture industries should be treated differently that other industries when it comes to competition policy say ACTRA and the Writers Guild of Canada
The two groups filed a joint submission last week in response to the discussion paper, “Sharpening Canada’s Competitive Edge”, issued by Industry Canada’s Competition Policy Review Panel. The two entertainment-industry associations say Canada’s cultural industries will face “devastation” should government remove protections.
"The current foreign ownership rules as they apply to broadcasters do not ensure that Canadian news and entertainment programming are made from and reflect a Canadian perspective, "says Maureen Parker, executive director,…
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MONTREAL – While bankrupt convention television broadcaster TQS has been a drag on the company, Cogeco Inc. continues to grow thanks largely to its cable division.
"Cogeco’s first quarter financial result is very positive,” said company CEO Louis Audet in a release late Wednesday afternoon touting the company’s first quarter results.
“In the cable sector, Cogeco Cable has continued on its growth trajectory and is in an excellent position to achieve superior growth in 2008… With regards to the court order involving TQS, after careful thought, the time has come to end our participation in the general interest…
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