MONTREAL – Quebec film and television production company Remstar Corporation has won the bidding war for the financially troubled TQS television network.
TQS’s Board of Directors and the networks’ shareholders announced Monday their approval of Remstar’s offer, shortly after it was accepted by Quebec Superior Court Judge Pierre Journet.
The terms and the amount of the offer were not revealed, but Remstar’s co-president and CEO Maxime Rémillard said in a statement that “our business plan will take TQS beyond traditional television broadcasting. That’s how we believe we can best respond to the challenges facing the Quebec television industry.”
“We’re…
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CALGARY — Shaw Communications Inc. announced Monday it has submitted an application to participate in Industry Canada’s auction for spectrum licences for Advanced Wireless Services (AWS).
“There can be no assurance that Shaw’s bid will be successful in acquiring AWS spectrum in the auction. In addition, participation in the auction should not necessarily be interpreted as an indication that Shaw intends to build out a wireless network,” the TV distributor said in a statement. “If successful, the ownership of spectrum will provide strategic flexibility as it may be utilized in a variety of ways and in a timeframe yet…
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TORONTO – Radio enthusiasts are optimistic in the face of new media challenges to their traditional listenership numbers, as made evident by comments voiced at the annual Canadian Music Week conference, held last week in Toronto.
“Our biggest threat is we keep predicting the death of radio,” said Chris Byrnes, president of Byrnes Media, which owns 104.7 Heart FM in Woodstock, Ont. Byrnes was referring to the perennial navel-gazing that takes place among radio executives and on-air personalities at Canada’s yearly music industry gathering.
“Guys, that’s rubbish. We’re doing just fine, thank you. Our challenge is we just need…
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VANCOUVER – With a federal by-election in Vancouver-Quadra just over a week away, candidates should be aware of high voter concern about foreign ownership of the media, say two unions and the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
The three organizations says the results of a Harris-Decima poll show a solid majority of Canadians, and even more British Columbians, oppose increased foreign ownership of media and telecom companies.
ACTRA, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting released the survey results Friday at a Vancouver- Quadra candidates’ debate that they sponsored. The by-election will be held…
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OTTAWA – The rising incidence of childhood obesity is cause for serious concern, but banning advertising to children is not the quick-fix solution to a complex problem, says the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA).
In a presentation to a conference on childhood obesity here this week, Bob Reaume, the ACA’s Vice President of Policy and Research, said the amount of food and beverage advertising on television directed to children has actually been decreasing in recent years even as obesity rates have climbed.
Reaume’s comments stood in contrast to those of a panel, comprised of academic and community representatives, who…
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ST CATHARINES – Robert C. (Bob) Short, the founding president of the Canadian Cable Television Association, died last weekend. He was 82.
After years in the electrical equipment supply industry, rising to president of Edwards Company, Short was hired as the first full-time president of the CCTA in 1970. Later, he also served as vice-president of Canada Wire and Cable, the first president of Cancom and deputy chairman of CUC Broadcasting (which many will recall as Trillium Cable).
Short fought some of cable’s first battles during his five-year stint heading the association, such as helping win the rights to…
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OTTAWA – CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein has rejected the primary thrust of a private member’s bill to reduce violence on television, saying there is no need for the CRTC to have new powers to regulate the broadcasting of violent acts.
Appearing before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Tuesday, von Finckenstein said the existing system, which relies on industry self-regulation backed up by the CRTC as the final arbiter, “does provide an effective means to achieve the desired purpose”.
“We therefore cannot support the provisions of Bill C-327 that call for prescriptive regulation in lieu of industry self-regulation…
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TORONTO – The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) has named Leonardo Ramos Mateos, Director of High Technology with Grupo Televisa Mexico, as its new president. He succeeds Ray Carnovale, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for CBC/Radio-Canada, who’s served as NABA President since 2006.
Ramos comes to the NABA Presidency at a time of great change for the broadcasting industry, the Association said in a statement. As a longstanding member of the NABA Board of Directors and Executive, Ramos has developed a great appreciation for the rapid pace of change and innovation at work in the NABA, and “brings…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – While the CRTC said Monday it established “a new framework for wholesale services that will promote competition in wholesale and retail telecommunications markets based on sound economic principles,” market players say what, in fact, happened, was a confirmation of the status quo for the most part.
"Further to the government’s direction that the Commission rely on market forces to the greatest extent possible, we conducted a comprehensive review of our approach to the wholesale services provided by traditional companies," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC, in a statement. "We have now set out…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Canada’s private conventional broadcasters recorded their highest ever revenue total in the 2007 broadcast year (ended August 31st) at $2.17 billion, says the CRTC.
That number was up slightly from 2006 while expenses were held in check, too, which meant that profits before interest and taxes rose to $113 million, up 24% over the 2006 total. As well, the PBIT margin rose from 4.24% to 5.2% during the same period. However, these totals are pretty skinny and remained below those reported between 2003 and 2005 when it was closer to 15%.
Overall, revenues from the…
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