GATINEAU – CanWest Global’s unusually structured deal to acquire the broadcasting assets of Alliance Atlantis was approved today by the CRTC.
CanWest is buying the 13 specialty channels owned by Alliance Atlantis (BBC Canada, BBC Kids, Discovery Health, Fine Living, Food Network Canada, HGTV, History Television, Independent Film Channel Canada, National Geographic Channel, Showcase, Showcase Action, Showcase Diva, and Slice ) for about $1.4 billion.
The deal also includes the acquisition of partial ownership in The Score, One: Body, Mind and Spirit, Historia and Series+.
The acquisition is being financed through debt, $260 million from CanWest and $650…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has scheduled a public hearing into the transfer of Bell Canada Enterprise’s broadcast licenses to an Investor Group led by Teachers Private Capital, Providence Equity partners, Madison Dearborn and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity.
Since Teachers owns 25% of CTVglobemedia and BCE owns 15% of the media company (bringing the new company’s CTVgm stake to 40%) and all of Bell ExpressVu, the Commission must approve this part of the transaction to ensure, among other things, that non-Canadians don’t control those assets.
While the overall price tag on taking Bell private is $39.8 billion, the deal…
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OTTAWA – Right now, we would just call it “rumoured rumblings,” so one can never tell the veracity of the statements, but sources tell Cartt.ca they believe a decision from the CRTC on the CanWest Global purchase of Alliance Atlantis could come as early as Thursday.
What we do know is that CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein was pushing staff to get the decision done and released prior to the end of 2007 – and the timing of a release this week would place it right in the range of other 2007 broadcasting acquisition decisions. For example, the regulator…
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MONTREAL – Seems as though in the burgeoning new media world, holding a broadcast license is less of “a license to print money.”
Quebec broadcaster TQS today said it has “obtained an order by Québec Superior Court under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act with a view to protecting TQS and its subsidiaries from claims by creditors and allow it to reorganize its operations,” in the official press release.
In other words, TQS – a broadcaster 60%-owned by Cogeco Inc, and 40% by CTVglobemedia, is now under bankruptcy protection.
Issued for a period of 30 days, the order also applies…
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TORONTO – There are two large cable operators based in the province of Quebec, but each have their own different ideas of where growth will come from.
One, Videotron, envisions building itself into an important wireless player. The other, Cogeco Cable, has so far shunned wireless investments in favor of pursuing growth outside of North America.
Its 2006 acquisition of Cabovisao, which now serves over 300,000 customers in Portugal has been nothing but positive for the company as revenue and margins have risen throughout 2007. The integration of the new division is now complete.
The company launched digital cable…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has told the CRTC it will implement high definition simultaneous substitution as the Commission has previously told it to.
A December 7th letter to the Commission says the HD sim-subbing Shaw Cable and Star Choice weren’t doing, will begin being done by December 31st. Two weeks prior to that letter the CRTC set a January 15th, 2008 hearing date for Shaw to appear and explain its non-compliance.
After a complaint filed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in June that said neither Shaw Cablesystems nor its sister satellite company Star Choice were performing their…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications is again in hot regulatory water over the sponsorship messages that have appeared on its cable community channels out west.
Last week, the CRTC issued a letter decision to the company saying some of the ads appearing on Shaw TV aren’t allowed under the regulations and applied new reporting requirements to the big cableco, since this is the second such violation.
When we reported on this in 2006, we noted that the Broadcast Distribution Regulations , say cable companies are not allowed to air traditional ad spots and there are limitations on the types…
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OTTAWA – About a year after receiving the original application for a new national over-the-air high definition television network, the CRTC called a hearing today, set for February 11, to talk about it, but this isn’t a license many are clamoring for.
The CRTC opened a call for competing applications in June and received none, save for a regional license application from a company calling itself YES TV.
Entrepreneur and XM Canada chairman John Bitove wants his new proposed company, HDTV Networks, to be a free, over-the-air broadcaster with transmitters in each of Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa,…
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WINNIPEG – MTS Allstream says it expects growth across all metrics in 2008, not huge overall growth mind you (1% to 3% on the EBITDA line), but the company projects a solid performance in 2008.
“For the first time since 2004, MTS expects to achieve overall revenue growth for the company and each of our divisions, making 2008 the year we set MTS on a new growth trajectory,” said president and CEO Pierre Blouin.
"Clearly, our strategy is working. In 2007 we have twice increased our earnings per share target, and we are positioned to achieve the upper end…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC on Friday approved two additional category two digital channel licenses to Channel Zero, owners and operators of Movieola and Silver Screen Classics.
The first is Short Form TV, which will offer short form content ranging in length from 30 seconds to 48 minutes. Programming would feature the best of current musical, dramatic, comedic, experimental, animated and user-generated short form content shot on film or video, or created with computer animation.
Plus, the channel will be a showcase for professional, amateur, student and experimental animators, filmmakers and storytellers in Canada.
The second license approved was Movie…
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