MONTREAL – Some would-be Montreal television producers have had it with Vidéotron's community television service in the city, so much so that they have filed a complaint with the CRTC and are demanding that the cable provider give them $23 million a year so they can create their own community channel.
The group, composed mainly of people whose resumes include Concordia University Television or CKUT Radio McGill, alleges that MAtv, the French-language community channel run by Vidéotron, airs no community access programming whatsoever, despite CRTC policy (set in 2010) requiring that 45% of programming aired on…
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MONTREAL – Growth in both its television and publishing division helped to drive up 2013 profits at TVA Group.
For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, consolidated adjusted operating income was $60.6 million, up from $42.5 million in 2012, due to a 42.6% increase from the television segment ($14.5 million) and the publishing segment ($3.6 million).
The Quebecor–owned communications company said its TV increases are attributable to the exclusion of Sun News’ results, which have not been consolidated since July 2012, recognition of retroactive royalties for distant signal retransmission, and the implementation of an expense reduction plan, which offset decreases in…
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OTTAWA – Let’s get this out of the way right now… Most of us were wrong. Many had assumed we would have a nice orderly, low-priced auction once there were no wild cards left in the bidding.
Analysts and other observers (us, too) made the mistake in thinking that these ultra-competitive companies would somehow quietly and quickly divvy up spectrum which boasts such excellent distance and barrier-penetrating properties as yet unseen in wireless telephony in Canada, spending only perhaps half of what was spent in the last auction – the $4.2 billion for AWS spectrum in 2008.
Not. Even. Close. Rogers…
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OTTAWA – Quebecor doesn't mince words in its complaint against the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund: "The decisions made by the board of directors of the Bell Fund in regard to three projects submitted in 2013 and set to be broadcast on TVA channels were not made in an objective manner and were discriminatory against TVA."
In a letter to the CRTC dated February 5 and made public on Monday, Quebecor's regulatory affairs director Peggy Tabet argues that the fund's decisions to refuse the three projects were made for "non-justified reasons" and concludes that they were made in a…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian government got its wish for four wireless carriers in each region of the country in its recently completed 700 Mhz spectrum auction, which netted federal coffers $5.27 billion.
Overall, the results of the auction show that it was the Big Three that divvied up the majority of the spectrum even though they were limited on buying prime spectrum in the B, C, C1 and C2 blocks. While Rogers Communications focused on the prime B band and the A block, Bell Canada and Telus licence purchases appeared to complement each other in the C2 and the unpaired…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Communications refuted accusations of charging unjust wholesale rates for Canadian wireless carriers and denied undue preference for U.S. Wireless carriers in its 32-page reply to the CRTC’s proceeding investigating domestic wholesale wireless roaming rates.
The Commission is investigating whether there has been discrimination in higher wholesale rates charged to domestic wireless companies while American carriers receive preferential deals.
The CRTC received interventions and replies over the past two weeks from Bell Canada, Quebecor Media, Telus, EastLink, Wind, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Benjamin Klass, Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC), Commissioner of Competition, Fibernetics, Lynx Mobility Inc., MTS…
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MONTRÉAL – Six production and distribution companies have been awarded a total of $667,500 in financial support through the Quebecor Fund’s Event and Film Production Assistance Program (EFPAP).
The six projects selected will be produced and distributed by: Lyla Films inc., micro_scope inc., Corporation ACPAV Inc., Christal Films Productions Inc., Productions Caramel Film Inc., Les Films Christal s.e.c., Les Films Séville inc. and TVA Productions II inc.
The goals of the fund’s EFPAP program are to: support the production and multiplatform exploitation of Canadian French-language feature films; support television coverage of French-language events with Canadian content, with integrated promotion and distribution…
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OTTAWA – A Senate committee turned to a former broadcast regulator for insight on how to address the challenges facing CBC/Radio-Canada in light of its loss of Hockey Night in Canada to Rogers Communications last year.
Appearing via video conference from Florida, former chair of the CRTC Konrad von Finckenstein told the Standing Senate Committee on Transportation and Communications what he believes could be done to improve the chances for success of Canada’s public broadcaster. He pointed to unloading the corporation’s vast over-the-air broadcast network, refocusing of the public broadcaster’s content as well as changing the governance structure and oversight…
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TORONTO – Look for up to seven nationally televised Hockey Night In Canada games on Saturdays next hockey season, expanded content across multiple platforms, other exclusive windows for national broadcasts, and “Hometown Hockey” every Sunday night, adding up to more than 500 NHL games on TV next season.
And that’s before the playoffs begin.
Scott Moore, president of Sportsnet and NHL at Rogers Media, made the announcement Tuesday afternoon at an upfront presentation to media, ad agencies and buyers as the Mattamy Athletic Centre in downtown Toronto (which is housed in what used to be Maple Leaf Gardens). Readers will recall…
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TORONTO – While we first reported here that Quebecor’s cable and wireless division Vidéotron might be interested in buying ailing Mobilicity and stocking up on 700 MHz spectrum in the ongoing auction, most reaction has been disbelief.
In a research note to clients on Monday, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Casey doesn’t buy it. “We acknowledge there is a potential opportunity for a non-incumbent bidder in the auction (such as Quebecor, EastLink, Novus or Feenix) to scoop up the remaining prime block of 700MHz spectrum (for Southern Ontario, Eastern Ontario, B.C. and Alberta) at attractive valuations….
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