GATINEAU – Rogers Communications and Corus Entertainment have told the CRTC that it must reconsider the usefulness of Terms of Trade (ToT) agreement between broadcasters and independent producers in creating independent Canadian programming. On the other hand, the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) argues that in a new broadcast environment with greater pick and pay options ToT will become increasingly important.
In their respective interventions to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV Conversation with Canadians, Rogers and Corus claim that ToT (a deal hard-fought for by the CMPA and others which was developed and demanded over a number of years) is…
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JUST BECAUSE BELL Canada, Quebecor Media, Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications are all broadcasters, specialty service operators, TV distributors, phone companies and broadband providers doesn’t mean they think alike. They do, however, agree on this generation’s “Death Star”. We’re looking at you, Netflix.
In their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, the four big vertically integrated behemoths are on board together with certain things, such as maintaining simultaneous substitution (which is actually something virtually every industry submission we’ve read demands be kept), decreasing the amount of Canadian content which must be shown, while spending more money on fewer big…
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GATINEAU – Despite the fact cable and other TV carriers in many countries are compiling and using data gleaned from customer set top boxes to modify their programming and advertising, Canadian companies seem loathe to do the same or are apathetic about moving quickly to gather that real-time information, according to their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review, slated to get under way a month from tomorrow.
The Commission asked nine different questions about establishing a set-top box (STB) audience measurement system in Canada, covering issues from consumer privacy to costs and governance. With a few exceptions (especially from…
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CAIRO/LONDON – Despite an uncertain future, Wind Mobile continues to add subscribers in good sized chunks, adding 38,875 net new customers in the quarter ended June 30th – according to the financial results of its parent company Global Telecom Holdings (part of the VimpelCom empire).
To put it into perspective that’s more net new subs than Vidéotron (one of Wind’s apparent suitors) and equal to the net new wireless postpaid subs which Rogers attracted in the second quarter.
As of the end of June, Wind Canada had 741,000 customers (20% more than the end of the second…
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MONTREAL – Though Quebecor’s Thursday morning conference call with financial analysts was ostensibly about its solid second quarter financial results, the biggest chunk of the hour on the phone was spent talking about what it would take for the company to take wireless national and when it might make a decision. Here are the main points we took away.
1. If Videotron (or some other brand) is going to go national, it likely won’t be going it alone. Company CEO Pierre Dion and CFO Jean-Francois Pruneau were pretty clear about that. The value the company brings…
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MONTREAL – Benoit Robert has been hired as president and CEO of Quebecor’s sports and entertainment group, succeeding Aldo Giampaolo, who is now CEO of Feeling Productions, which manages Celine Dion's career.
Robert (pictured) has more than 30 years of experience in management, marketing and business development with, among others, the Los Angeles Kings and AEG, one of the world's largest managers of sports and entertainment venues, says the press release. He joins Quebecor Media on August 18, 2014.
Among other things, he will be responsible for management of the Quebec City Amphitheatre, including the production and promotion of major sporting…
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MONTREAL – While net income attributable to shareholders rose to $9.2 million in the second quarter of 2014, ended June 30th compared to $7 million in the same quarter last year for Quebecor’s television and publishing division TVA Group, TV ad sales continue their downward trend.
The television segment generated operating income of $18 million, a 6% drop over last year’s Q2 due primarily to a 3.1% decline in ad revenues for the main TVA network, which is still the ratings leader in the Quebec market. Thanks to an 11.6% increase in subscription revenue, however, the operating loss at the…
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TORONTO – Though he was just coming off an announcement of hundreds of management layoffs, and numbers showing a 24% drop in net income, fewer cable TV subscribers and flat revenue, Rogers CEO Guy Laurence put an optimistic face on his company’s financial outlook on Thursday.
Wireless, by far the biggest contributor to Rogers’s bottom line, saw a 1% drop in revenue, which the company attributed largely to its new simplified plans (bundling in fees like voicemail and caller ID) and changes like lower-priced roaming plans (as it did three months ago). But the drop in…
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GATINEAU – It will surprise no one that the cost of sports television are front and centre for so many of the submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review
Telus, for example, called the amount of cash being sent to various leagues and teams for the rights to live games “irrational” and has requested the CRTC address the soaring price of sports services and eliminate penetration-based rate cards in sports packaging.
Lined up on the side of Telus, are Shaw Communications, Cogeco and Canadian Cable Systems Alliance members, distributors who own no sports channels. While vertically integrated companies like Rogers and…
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GATINEAU – Broadcast distributors and programmers are divided over rules governing television service provision in Quebec and official minority language communities across the country. Some say current rules are doing a fine job, while others argue changes are needed to ensure a diversity of programming for these two markets in their submissions to the CRTC’s TV Policy Review.
In the official notice (BNC 2014-190), the Commission noted market forces alone won’t ensure the provision of “an adequate number of services to OLMCs,” and that it has instituted several measures, including minority language programming access rights and genre protection, to address…
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