TORONTO – Catalyst Asset Management continues to raise objections over the proposed takeover of BCE Inc. by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and its investment partners. Catalyst is the investment banking and advisory firm that proposed an alternative bid last June that would have recapitalized BCE without altering its Canadian ownership.
Catalyst said in a press release on Monday it is concerned that an ongoing post-closing condition imposed by the CRTC on the proposed privatization of BCE may not be met, and Catalyst intends to pursue the matter if and when the privatization is completed.
In its decision CRTC…
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GATINEAU – Canadian stars Robb Wells (Trailer Park Boys) and Julie Stewart (Cold Squad) have taken the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, (ACTRA) fight for more drama on television to the CRTC’s hearings on the regulatory framework for cable and satellite
"We need more Canada on TV. If the CRTC changes the rules, not only will Canadian creators be out of work, our country will lose its capacity to tell our own stories. The rules are working. Please don’t import the drama disaster from the conventional side onto the specialty side. It takes too long to…
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GATINEAU – Cable and satellite distributors took it on the chin again Friday at the CRTC’s hearings on broadcasting, this time from Astral Media, the country’s biggest French and English specialty and pay television network.
However this time, it wasn’t over the question of carriage fees to conventional networks but over access for new entrants.
Astral pressed the Commission to consider a new model that would ensure that any new specialty service, which had already won CRTC license approval, would have guaranteed access to a distributor’s lineup of channels.
“Access is fundamental,” said…
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GATINEAU – They compete aggressively for U.S. programs, audience share, and advertisers, but in an exceptional show of unity, executives from CTVglobemedia Inc and CanWest Global Communications sat shoulder-to-shoulder Thursday to persuade the CRTC to open up new sources of funding.
Together, the two networks argued the economic viability of conventional television is “under threat”, because of lack of fair access and fair compensation. They attacked cable and satellite distributors, saying that if their vision were adopted, they and not consumers would control television programming.
“The outcome of this review will decide who will program the remote controls of…
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CALGARY and OTTAWA – Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw told Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a letter yesterday that the CRTC is bent on derailing the conservative government’s goals.
The five-page letter date April 16th, which was also sent to Industry Minister Jim Prentice, Heritage Minister Josee Verner and CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, first outlines Shaw’s broad support for the government’s deregulation thrust on the telecom front and then decries the actions, or lack of action, Mr. Shaw feels is happening on the broadcasting and cable file.
“(W)e were the only broadcast distributor to support your Government’s move…
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TORONTO – The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) appeared today at the Canadian CRTC hearing to review the regulatory frameworks for BDU’s and the specialty and pay TV services urging the commission to keep the current regulations as they are.
“Clearly, the current regulatory regime is working well with BDUs and specialty services reporting profit margins of over 20 per cent,” said DGC president, Alan Goluboff. “Dismantling any of the key components of the regime would threaten the integrity and diversity of the broadcast system,” cautioned Goluboff in his last appearance before the commission as DGC president.
The DGC…
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Rogers Mark Freedman receives CTAM fellowship
TORONTO – Rogers Cable’s Mark Freedman has been selected as the recipient of the 2008 CTAM Canada Fellowship Award to attend the 11th annual Executive Management Program at Harvard in June.
Known as CTAM U, The Executive Management Program is a week-long intensive learning program at the Harvard Business School (HBS). The program focuses on strategic marketing and business principles through a detailed case study curriculum administered by HBS professors and key industry leaders.
Mark Freedman is senior manager, video strategy and planning at Rogers Cable. Freedman identifies and develops new business opportunities for…
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OTTAWA – Industry Minister Jim Prentice says he can’t place a throttle on the new practices of telecommunications companies that target bandwidth hogs who constantly download movies and share files over the Internet.
This week Rogers informed its Internet customers it will begin billing based on usage instead of connection speed. This follows a similar announcement by Bell where it plans to restrict certain types of online traffic on its own networks and those it provides to third-party ISP wholesalers.
Speaking before the House of Commons, Prentice downplayed the concerns of Charlie Angus, New Democratic Party spokesman for digital issues, who charged…
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TORONTO – The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit has grown to become Canada’s most important annual telecommunications event, attracting more than 550 attendees from around the world.
Now in its 7th year, the three-day summit in Toronto on June 16-18 (www.telecomsummit.com) features 20 industry leaders delivering keynote addresses, offering insights into the future of Canadian Telecom, examining technology, services, consumer and business trends and policy. And another 50 experts will participate in panel discussions to explore areas of interest to all stakeholders in the Canadian information and communications industries This year’s keynote speakers will include the senior leadership of Canada’s…
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MONTREAL- New distribution services are allowing Canadians to watch TV programs when and where they want and unless Canada adjusts to this new reality it will “lock itself out of the global television industry” warns Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and chief executive officer of Quebecor Inc.
He made the comments today, arguing that the approximately 400 rules and regulations governing Canada’s broadcasting industry are stifling Canada’s potential to play a leading role in the industry.
"Within a few years, the Internet may be the main distributor of television programs, piping content over a global network that escapes regulation,” says…
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