By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – Rogers president and CEO Joe Natale surprised more than a few observers on Monday with the announcement his company would purchase Shaw Communications. Not with the deal itself since that had been a rumour for two decades, but with the level confidence he displayed when saying he believes Canadian regulators will, in the end, approve.
That confidence hadn’t wavered when Cartt.ca spoke with him on Wednesday.
The company went out of its way to offer major incentives to Canadians as sweeteners to the deal: A $1 billion broadband fund to deliver broadband to 600,000 un- or…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Rogers Communications’ proposed $26-billion purchase of Shaw Communications will reduce competition in Canada’s broadband and wireless sector at a time when the industry’s top players are enjoying record profits, and therefore needs to be opposed by the federal government, according to Windsor, Ontario Member of Parliament Brian Masse, the New Democrat critic for telecommunications.
“We need to have strong direction for the industry that buying each other out is not a solution for lowering prices, increasing access for Canadians and bringing greater accountability to consumers,” he told Cartt.ca in an interview.
The federal government should use…
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Bill C-10 and Canadian ownership rules
By Len St-Aubin
BILL C-10 WOULD REMOVE from the Broadcasting Act the requirement that “the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians”.
Would that change lead to foreign ownership of Canadian broadcasters? Answer: No.
But it’s the wrong question to ask. The better questions, so far left unasked, are:
Would Bill C-10 make it easier to remove Canadian ownership rules? Answer: Yes.
Would Bill C-10 drive broadcasters to seek removal of Canadian ownership rules? Answer: Yes, and C-10 would make it tough for the government to refuse.
Would that impact Canadian ownership in…
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Cumulative revenue for Canadian TV and radio has declined by $1.36 billion since 2016
By Robert Malcolmson
THE DIRE SITUATION FACING Canada’s television and radio industry – the lifeblood for Canadian content, including local, regional and national news – is hurting our communities and weakening a far-reaching sector of the Canadian economy, a sector that employs approximately 25,000 and contributes enormously to our cultural landscape.
With Bill C-10, the government of Canada is laying the groundwork for a much-needed rebalancing of available support for the Canadian broadcasting system.
This rebalancing would see online players like Netflix, Amazon’s Prime Video, Disney+ and others –…
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By Ken Kelley
AS CANADIANS WEARILY commemorate the first anniversary of the Covid-19 crisis, we’ve witnessed companies, schools and other services migrate to the digital world in unprecedented fashion. While the internet wouldn’t be considered a luxury by most Canadians, it is exactly that to a segment of the population facing the rising cost of home internet service while their household budgets are growing increasingly tighter.
On Tuesday, consumer group OpenMedia virtually hosted the Day of Action for Affordable Internet, bringing together more than two-dozen civil society and social justice groups, policy experts, activists and independent ISPs to highlight not…
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And what still stands in their way
By Greg O’Brien
THE PURCHASE OF SHAW by Rogers has been a steady recurrent rumour which would crop up from time to time over the past 23-plus years this reporter has been tracking the industry, meaning Monday’s $26 billion purchase deal by Rogers was a long, long time coming.
In fact, when I first spoke with former Shaw president Peter Bissonnette in late 1997 (so long ago I don’t think he had yet been appointed president), I asked him then about the rumour I heard Rogers would buy Shaw. Too soon. Much too soon,…
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Minister makes draft policy directive public
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – In a somewhat surprising move, the Heritage Ministry on Thursday decided to share the draft policy directive to the CRTC which is to be delivered to the Regulator once the bill aimed at updating the Broadcasting Act is passed.
The draft direction (as in, not final) was supposed to provide more clarity into what the government expects from the CRTC after the passage of C-10, a bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act. But, to be honest, there isn’t much direction in the directive which hasn’t already been examined during our reportage…
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ESTÉREL and LAC-DES-SEIZE-ÎLES, Que. — The federal ministry of Innovation, Science and Industry announced today 774 households and 12 businesses in the Laurentides Region of Quebec now have access to high-speed Internet, made possible by a combined investment of more than $1.5 million from the government of Canada, the government of Quebec and Cogeco.
Government funding for the project was provided through the Connect to Innovate and Quebec branché programs, with the federal and provincial governments each investing $57,160 in this backbone network. Project partner Cogeco Connexion, which also invested in building a last-mile network, contributed more than $1.4 million.
With…
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CALGARY and TORONTO — Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications announced today they have reached an agreement for Rogers to acquire all of Shaw’s issued and outstanding Class A and Class B shares in a transaction valued at approximately $26 billion.
The deal agreement will see Rogers pay $40.50 per share in cash, amounting to approximately $20 billion. The transaction total includes approximately $6 billion of Shaw debt.
The Shaw Family Living Trust has already agreed to vote in favour of the transaction, which still requires the approval of two thirds of votes cast by Class A and Class B shareholders at…
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OTTAWA – The Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, François Champagne and Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu sent a letter to the CRTC in January asking the Regulator if the telecom industry could come up with a three-digit phone number Canadians could dial for suicide crisis support, similar to how you can dial 911 for emergencies or 411 for information.
The FCC in the United States last year approved 988 as the number for those experiencing a suicide crisis to call. It will begin in 2022.
In a March 9 return letter to the ministers, CRTC chair Ian Scott…
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