GATINEAU – With Len Katz now vice-chair telecom, his old post of executive director of broadcasting and telecommunications was open.
Instead of filling the post with another, CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein announced this week that Katz and vice-chair broadcasting Michel Arpin will together carry out the co-ordination activities Katz used to do.
As well, Ian Scott, von Finckenstein’s chief policy advisor, has assumed a similar co-ordinating role “with respect to issues relating to policy development and research, as well as issues that impact our business such as legislative proposals, acquisitions, dispute settlement, international affairs, new media and revised…
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GATINEAU – “No amount of tinkering” can save this deal in the minds who run ACTRA, the actors union, whose president, Richard Hardacre addressed the CRTC this morning during day 2 of the hearing into CanWest Global and Goldman Sachs’ purchase of Alliance Atlantis’ broadcast assets.
Despite assurances yesterday by CanWest and GS leaders that CanWest will run the broadcast company, make all the operational decisions and that the U.S. investment banking firm which will inject 65% of the equity into the purchase won’t interfere with the day-to-day decision making by the new combined company, many members of…
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GATINEAU – In its final appearance back in front of the CRTC this afternoon, CanWest Global responded to requests and demands raised by the Commission panel and interveners over the past couple of days – and presented several alterations to its shareholders agreement covering the purchase of Alliance Atlantis with the help of Goldman Sachs.
As previously reported on several occasions by Cartt.ca, investment banker Goldman Sachs is providing the bulk of the equity financing ($650 million-plus) for this $1.4 billion acquisition while CanWest is kicking in some money ($260 million) and its own broadcasting assets. The deal also…
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GATINEAU – That sentence was one of the first few spoken by CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein this morning as the hearing into CanWest Global`s proposed purchase of the regulated broadcasting assets of Alliance Atlantis began.
And for much of the morning, the discussion settled on clauses and pieces of the transaction that talk about what CanWest can and can`t do when it comes to the operation of the new business, which will include the Alliance Atlantis stable of specialty channels as well as CanWest`s broadcasting assets.
As previously reported on several occasions by Cartt.ca, investment banker Goldman Sachs…
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GATINEAU – “Is this really the best deal we can get from a public interest point of view?” asked Alain Pineau of the Canadian Conference for the Arts this afternoon when facing the CRTC during the hearing into the purchase of Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting by CanWest Global and Goldman Sachs.
Pineau wondered whether there was a better, Canadian option, for the sale of Alliance Atlantis. In his speech this morning, CanWest CEO Leonard Asper characterized the deal as the “best possible under the circumstances.”
The CCA, along with the Council of Canadians, ACTRA, the Directors Guild of Canada, and…
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TORONTO – Late this afternoon, Rogers Media announced it had purchased 100% of Outdoor Life Network Canada in separate deals with co-owners CTVglobemedia and Versus.
The three media companies had each owned a third of the channel. Versus, which is owned by American cable behemoth Comcast, had been named OLN and concentrated on outdoor programming (sharing both its brand and programming with the Canadian operation) before switching to Versus in 2006 and refocusing its programming to more mainstream sports. It is the primary outlet for the National Hockey League in the U.S., for example.
It is not known at…
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OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada has organized a demonstration for Monday at the building where the CRTC will hold hearings into the CanWest purchase of Alliance/Atlantis.
At Place du Portage IV, 140 Prom. du Portage (corner of Laurier), the unions will be “calling on the CRTC to respect its mandate and regulate in the interest of Canadians,” says the press release.
The unions are concerned that investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, which is providing the lion’s share of the equity, will have too much say, even though CanWest will control the board of directors….
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TORONTO – Pierre Karl Péladeau will be a featured player in less than two weeks at nextMEDIA, where he is scheduled to discuss content strategy and the launch of the new Canoe.TV in a presentation at the two-day conference.
“Canoe.ca has quickly become a leader in video content production and distribution,” said Mark Greenspan, director of digital media, Achilles Media Ltd., the show’s organizer.
Earlier this year, Canoe.ca launched a new video section, which gives users access to content from Sun Media newspapers, along with content from CP-AP, WatchMojo, Jokeroo.com, Source Media, Just for Laughs, Moment Factory, IBC (Reuters,…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today called for applications for new radio stations serving Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta.
The Commission received an application for new stations in each city and as is its policy, has opened the call to others.
The deadline to apply or otherwise respond is January 23.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – Broadcasters will take centre stage during one of the sessions at nextMEDIA, to be held in a couple of weeks in Toronto.
Globe and Mail columnist Mathew Ingram will moderate a panel that looks at the threats and opportunities coming out of the digital media space and examines the divergent strategies being adopted by Canadian and U.S. broadcasters in response to a changing business environment.
Ingram will be joined on stage by Leonard Brody, CEO of Vancouver-based Now Public, Jonathan Dube, Director of Digital Programming for CBC News, and Mark Lukasiewicz, Vice President, NBC News, Digital Media…
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