By Connie Thiessen
THE CANADA MEDIA Fund’s 2021-22 Annual Report indicates that its investments in the screen-based industries triggered a record-breaking $1.9B in production.
According to the report, every $1 of CMF funding generated $5.16 in production activity, the highest leverage ratio since the public-private partnership was founded in 2010, helping create close to 217,000 jobs in Canada’s screen sector.
“The industry we serve is on the verge of a magnitude of change—and it’s long overdue,” said Valerie Creighton, president and CEO of the CMF, in a release. “We are proud to generate record-breaking production activity across Canada’s screen-based industries, but even more…
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MONTREAL and TORONTO — Independent internet service provider Distributel has agreed to be acquired by Bell for an undisclosed amount, the companies said in an announcement today.
Distributel will continue to operate independently after close of the deal — which is subject to standard regulatory approval — and Matt Stein, the CEO of the company, will remain at the helm, a press release said.
“With this announcement, Distributel is better positioned to compete and deliver on our decades-long commitment to bringing choice and affordability to Canadians from coast to coast to coast,” Stein said in the release. “We hope Canadians are…
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OTTAWA – Traditional broadcasting media rebounded closer to pre-pandemic levels for advertising revenues in 2021, but still lagged behind the last complete reporting of pre-pandemic data in 2019, according to data released this month by the CRTC.
While conventional and discretionary television service revenues increased by 6.9% ($91 million) and 0.8% ($30 million) respectively compared to 2020, those numbers are lower when compared to 2019 – whose conventional TV service revenues totaled $1.56 billion compared to 2021’s $1.4 billion, while 2019’s revenue for discretionary was $4.2 billion compared to 2021’s $3.9 billion.
Overall traditional broadcasting revenue saw a…
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By Connie Thiessen
Tara Mora has been appointed to the newly-created role of senior director of radio, talk and music programming at CBC.
Mora will lead the strategy, programming and development of the unscripted team’s audio content and schedules for CBC Radio One, CBC Music and CBC Listen, in addition to overseeing CBC Music, CBC Books, q, Now or Never, and Under the Influence. She’ll also lead development for new unscripted audio content, excluding CBC News and Current Affairs and CBC Podcasts. She will report to Jennifer Dettman, executive director of unscripted content.
Mora has been with CBC…
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STONY MOUNTAIN, Man. — Bell MTS announced today it is expanding its all-fibre broadband network to bring high-speed Internet connectivity to more than 6,500 locations across seven communities in rural Manitoba.
The expansion is part of Bell’s capital expenditure acceleration program and will bring all-fibre connections to homes and businesses in the communities of Blumenort, Ile des Chênes, Landmark, Matlock, St. Adolphe, Stony Mountain and Winnipeg Beach starting this fall, according to a Bell press release.
“Fully funded by Bell, this broadband network expansion will provide fast and high-capacity 100% fibre connections with Internet…
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OTTAWA — The Government of Canada announced last Friday it has awarded Bell Canada $404,936 in funding from the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) to improve mobile connectivity in the Atikamekw First Nation community of Wemotaci in Quebec.
The federal government’s $2.75-billion UBF includes up to $50 million in funding for mobile Internet projects benefiting Indigenous peoples, a press release explains.
“It is crucial that all Canadians, including members of First Nations, have access to stable and secure mobile connectivity,” said François-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, in the press release. “Connecting rural and remote areas of…
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THE BIGGEST STICKING point for the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications continues to be Shaw’s wireless assets.
As Cartt.ca previously reported, this is even after the companies came to a definitive agreement with Quebecor for the sale of Shaw’s Freedom Mobile. (The agreement is contingent on the Rogers/Shaw merger closing and on necessary approvals.)
Both the federal government and the Competition Bureau have been clear they have concerns about competition in Canada’s wireless market and about the impact Rogers’ acquisition of Shaw could have on it.
Industry minister François-Philippe Champagne issued a statement back in March…
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CHATHAM, Ont. – TekSavvy is calling on the Competition Bureau to “address rampant anti-competitive activity in Canada’s telecommunications industry,” according to a letter from the independent service provider to the bureau yesterday.
“Canada is suffering through a cost-of-living crisis,” the letter says. “Consumers should not continue to pay increasing, artificially inflated prices for an essential service while heavily subsidized large incumbent carriers reap record profits.”
TekSavvy’s letter references a February 2020 complaint it submitted to the bureau asking it to investigate what TekSavvy said was a pattern of anti-competitive activity in Canada’s wholesale and retail Internet markets.
As detailed in the…
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EVEN WITH A DEFINITIVE agreement for the sale of Freedom Mobile to Quebecor subsidiary Videotron on the table as a way to remedy concerns about competition in Canada’s wireless market related to the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Freedom owner Shaw Communications, a hearing in front of the Competition Tribunal on the matter appears to be all but inevitable.
“We understand that the parties believe that the sale of Freedom will address the concerns raised in our challenge of the Rogers-Shaw merger and have filed an amended response to the Competition Tribunal with this position,” a spokesperson from the…
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OTTAWA – Earlier this month, the CRTC asked Rogers for more information about its July nationwide outage, according to a letter posted on the CRTC’s website last night.
The letter, sent to Rogers on Aug. 5, asks the telecom to submit answers to a second series of questions about the outage. The request was made after Rogers filed a report on July 22 responding to a list of initial questions from the CRTC.
In the second list of questions, which is partially redacted as it refers to some information Rogers filed in confidence, the CRTC asks Rogers to “quantify…
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