VANCOUVER – Telus has decided not to try and buy Bell Canada after all right now – and it will re-revise its official opinion on the advanced wireless spectrum auction.
After less than a week of angst and speculation and polls and Telus CEO Darren Entwistle attempting to sell such a merger to the country as a "Canadian strategy" the company announced this morning that it has elected not to submit an offer to acquire BCE by the 9 a.m. deadline this morning.
"The inadequacies of BCE’s bid process did not make it possible for Telus to…
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THOSE IN FAVOUR OF an advance wireless spectrum auction that imposes limits on the big incumbent wireless operators were given a huge gift last week when word leaked out that Telus would make a bid to buy Bell Canada.
After weeks of pounding away at a message that said any auction which placed spectrum caps or set aside some spectrum for newcomers was an unconscionable subsidy for large corporations that Canadians would ultimately pay for, Telus dramatically changed tactics once the news broke about its involvement with Bell.
Suddenly Telus CEO Darren Entwistle and his senior executives said they…
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OTTAWA – If the level of radio today’s teenagers now listen to stays consistent as they age, the long-term future of radio appears a little bleak.
Numbers released today by Statistics Canada show that overall, Canadians devoted less time listening to their radios as a form of entertainment in 2006 than in previous years (see chart below), especially teenagers and young adults, many of whom appear to be switching to digital music players and online music services.
"On average, Canadians tuned in to their radios for 18.6 hours during ‘measurement week’ in fall 2006, down from 19.1 hours…
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by Myron Love
WINNIPEG – Peter Liba, a broadcasting industry leader and former Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, died suddenly on Thursday, June 21, at the age of 67, He had been recovering from recent heart surgery.
"Manitobans, and indeed Canadians, have lost a truly great man," said Leonard Asper, president and CEO of CanWest Global Communications Corp., in a statement he issued upon learning of the passing of his late father’s (Izzy Asper) long-time partner. "His contributions to his community, his province and his country were immense.
"Peter Liba was a pillar on which CanWest Global was founded and…
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OTTAWA – A Parliamentary committee endorses the federal government’s move to criminalize the unauthorized camcording of a movie in cinemas in its report released this week. The endorsement by the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in its Counterfeiting and Piracy are Theft report falls under the broader recommendation that criminal sanctions be added to combat counterfeiting and piracy.
The report recommends the federal government enact “clearly defining offences for commercial circumvention activities and making persons who distribute pirated digital works and who manufacture and/or distribute circumvention devices for commercial gain liable.”
Other suggestions include strengthening civil remedies…
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By Greg O’Brien
IF THERE WERE NO big bogeymen around to scare the federal government into re-jigging an open wireless spectrum auction to favour such things as spectrum caps, or spectrum set-asides – and then mandated roaming – there is now, with the announcement that Telus is an active participant in the expected sale of Bell Canada Enterprises.
The press release arrived just after 8 p.m. last night and even though it means little right now, you’ve got to believe that the folks in Ottawa at Industry Canada who are deciding on the rules for the advanced wireless spectrum auction…
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TORONTO – Internet access and advertising are expected to see the largest growth as the overall Canadian entertainment and media market reaches US$47 billion in 2011, according to a report released Thursday by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The figure in 2006 was US$36 billion.
PwC’s latest edition of Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2007-2011 forecasts a consistent 5.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between now and 2011; the figure is comparable to the global projected growth rate of 6.4%.
The Internet access and advertising segment is expected increase 12.2% CAGR to reach US$4.5 billion in 2011 from US$2 billion in 2006.
Internet advertising leads…
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TORONTO – The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television will sponsor Canada’s top film and television graduates in 12-week hands-on industry placements through its National Apprenticeship Training Program (NATP). NATP provides an honorarium to the apprentices.
The academy has sponsored over 227 apprentices through the NATP over the last 20 years, and notes that more than 80% of them secured further employment and remained in the film and TV industry.
For information on 2007 NATP recipients, visit www.academy.ca.
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TORONTO – Astral Media The Harold Greenberg Fund announced Wednesday it was financially supporting the Whistler Film Festival and CFC Go West Project Lab. No indication was given of the amount of financial support provided.
The project is a week-long program, running from June 18-22, that is aimed at producers in western Canada (B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Yukon).
“Programs such as the Whistler Film Festival and CFC Go West Project Lab are imperative if we are to build a stronger film and television industry and foster the creative talent we have in this country,” said John Galway,…
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BANFF – Although the combination of two major regulated TV assets was the talk of the 2007 Banff World Television Festival (Hello, Rogers/Citytv), the focus of the event’s final panel was on the potential impact of unregulated new media vs. the fortunes of old media.
In fact, the first question posed by moderator (and festival CEO) Robert Montgomery during his closing session on the BWTVF green Paper to the diverse collection of opinion leaders was: Will the TV industry collapse in the face of broadband Internet and other unregulated platforms?
The question may sound like a Chicken Little approach…
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