TORONTO – Canadian actors used CanWest Global’s upfront presentation today to protest the purchase of American programming for airing on prime time on Canadian broadcasters.
CTV and Global each revealed their fall broadcast schedules to advertisers, the media and others this week, much of which is focused on popular American fare, purchased recently in Los Angeles for hundreds of millions of dollars (although with our dollar approaching 95-cents U.S., the price may seem less steep this year).
"These private shindigs the broadcasters threw for themselves are disgraceful. And so was their latest junket to Hollywood to sell out their…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Citing the "questionable business practices" of independent cable co-op Campbell River TV Association, Shaw Communications declined earlier this year to renew the contract of its Shaw Pay-Per-View service with the small cable company.
When Shaw made it known to CRTV that the contract would not be renewed, the co-op filed a complaint with the CRTC under section 6.1(1) of the Pay Television Regulations, 1990, which prohibits a licensee from giving an undue preference to any person, including itself, or subjecting any person to an undue disadvantage.
While CRTV said the PPV or VOD options available to it…
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CALGARY – Proposed changes to bylaws coming at next week’s annual general meeting of the Canadian Television Fund "seems to fly in the face of common sense," says a tersely-worded letter sent Friday by Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw to the fund’s chair Douglas Barrett.
Shaw noted that while Star Choice received notice of the meeting, Shaw Communications did not and that after looking at what the organization has planned for the June 12 meeting during the Banff World Television Festival, "(w)e were surprised that you and the board of the CTF have decided to pursue an aggressive and…
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TORONTO – Larche Communications and Rogers Communications today announced a swap of two Ontario radio stations.
Larche, which already operates another station in central Ontario, agreed to acquire CICX FM Orillia (105.9 Jack FM), from Rogers while RCI bought Larche’s 50% ownership of CIKZ FM (The Beat 91.5) in Kitchener. (CanWest owns the other half of the station, but announced in October it was selling its two Canadian radio assets to Corus Entertainment. The Commission has not yet made a determination on that sale.)
Financial terms of today’s deals were not disclosed.
"This swap makes great strategic sense for…
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CALGARY – At a VIP luncheon at the Palliser Fairmont Hotel in Calgary, Canada’s Telecom Hall of Fame revealed the names of the four 2007 Telecom Laureates who have been nominated and selected for induction later this year into the industry’s Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2007 Telecom Laureates are: Michael Kedar, Toronto (Champion of Telecom Services Competition), Robert W. (Bob) Jones, Ottawa and Kelowna (Canada’s Radio Spectrum Ambassador), Frederic Newton Gisborne, St. John’s, (Colonial Telegraph Trailblazer), and C.R.O. (Bob) Munro, Montreal (Patron of Federally Regulated Telecom). In addition, the Hall of Fame’s coveted Special Recognition Award for…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s incumbent telcos won’t be allowed to boost everyone’s rates in order to cover off and eliminate reconnection fees for customers who move, the CRTC announced today.
As we reported last summer, Bell Canada, Bell Aliant and Telus applied to the Commission to make changes to the local telephone rates for residential customers. "The companies had proposed to eliminate the connection charges for new customers and existing customers who move in exchange for approval to increase rates for all residential customers, explains the release.
In their submissions, Bell Canada and Bell Aliant proposed to increase the monthly…
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OTTAWA – Bogged down by having to examine every case individually, the CRTC is considering spelling out which adverse events would result in changes to telco’s retail quality of service (Q of S) rate adjustment plans.
“The requirement for a case-by-case analysis to determine whether an event is adverse has added additional time and a level of complexity to processing Q of S exclusion applications. The adoption of a force majeure clause that identifies what events are adverse would reflect common commercial practice and increase the timeliness of decisions,” the CRTC states in Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2007-9.
In…
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OTTAWA – The foreign-owned, Hindi-language movie channel Sony Max is being considered for digital distribution in Canada. In Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-58, issued Thursday, the CRTC states it will “rely primarily” on comments filed on the application to determine if the channel is totally or partially competitive with existing Canadian TV channels.
The commission wants parties arguing the service is competitive to name the specific pay or specialty service with which they consider the channel would compete, and to provide details to support their views, such as comparisons of programming schedules.
The CRTC also notes that in assessing…
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TORONTO — Telehop Communications Inc. recorded a net profit of $196,315 on revenues of almost $5 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2007, according to financial results released Wednesday. Profits were down from the net income of $262,903 recorded in the same quarter a year earlier and from $253,762 made in the fourth quarter of 2006.
“Our margins are strong due to effective control of telecom costs and our marketing costs are in line with our plan. We continue to build our subscriber base and look forward to increasing revenues while maintaining profitability,” said Telehop president and…
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TORONTO – The CRTC has approved the plan of arrangement between Alliance Atlantis and CanWest Global that will run Alliance Atlantis until the Commission can decide on the purchase and transfer of ownership in a hearing.
The Plan of Arrangement will see AA Acquisition Corp. (formerly 6681859 Canada Inc.) acquire all of the outstanding shares of Alliance Atlantis for $53 cash per share, as was announced in January. AA Acquisition is primarily funded by Goldman Sachs, with CanWest Global to be controlling shareholder of the regulated assets.
AA owns (directly or indirectly) the securities of certain entities which are…
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