A NEW REPORT FROM BMO Capital Markets, which dives deep into what will affect investment in the telecom and media space in Canada in 2013, takes a good look at the possibilities and assumptions heading into the auction of the 700 MHz spectrum everyone assumes will take place mid-year.
The report, by analyst Tim Casey, says what most believe – that the big winners in the auction, which will be expensive. will be the big three of Rogers, Telus and Bell, but that the latter two have an advantage over Rogers since Bell and Telus share the operation of their…
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TORONTO – An improvement in how the CBC responds to Access to Information requests has bumped up its grade from an F to an A, and all it took was for senior leadership to get on board says Suzanne Legault, Information Commissioner of Canada. But at least one other major media company believes Legault is giving the CBC too much credit for just showing up.
On Thursday Legault released a special report to Parliament ranking the progress the CBC and Canada Post have made over the past two years on federal compliance with the access…
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MONTRÉAL – A total of eight Canadian production companies will receive financial support from the latest round of disbursements from the Quebecor Fund.
A total of $2.88 million was allocated to the following production companies: Idéacom International Inc., PVP Projet Jar Dwellers Inc., Productions La Voix Inc., TVA Productions Inc., Cité-Amérique Inc., Communications Swan Inc., Québec Inc. (Triplex Films Inc., Jimmy Lee Inc., Groupe Média Upside Up Inc.) and Les Productions Kenya Inc.
The eight selected productions will air on TV5 Québec Canada, TVO, History (Shaw Media), Société Radio-Canada, TVA, Télé-Québec, Canal Savoir, Astral…
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GATINEAU – Quebecor Media renewed its assault on CBC/Radio-Canada’s access to information practices during the corporation’s licence renewal hearing on Monday by requesting the CBC include access to information data in transparency and accountability reports to the Commission.
CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais, however, wondered if it’s wise to have a parallel system regarding access to information.
“We’re not asking for the CRTC to impose sanctions on CBC/Radio-Canada with respect to access to information like the Information Commissioner can. What we’re asking for is in the reports that are submitted to the CRTC, which allow the Commission to verify how…
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MONTREAL — Two years and $1 billion after Videotron launched its mobile service, president and CEO Robert Dépatie had a lot to brag about when speaking to a mobile conference in Montreal on Thursday. It has a client base of 400,000 that is growing by 31,000 net new clients in the past quarter and its mobile television network Lib TV, which the company qualifies as a first in Canada, has 1.3 million video views.
But it's hard to write about Videotron's mobile service without mentioning Apple's iPhone, which is incompatible with its AWS technology and therefore, a hole in the…
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MONTREAL – While the company’s print division faces down systemic challenges, Quebecor’s cable and telecom unit, Vidéotron, continues to show impressive growth, the company said Tuesday.
Third quarter revenues (ended September 30) at the Quebec company rose 4.4% to $1.06 billion and operating income increased 10.4% to $352.8 million. However, net income attributable to shareholders was $18.6 million ($0.30 per basic share), down 29% compared to the same quarter of 2012.
Videotron saw revenue increases in the third quarter from all services: Internet access revenue rose by 10.5%, cable television by 6.4%, wireless phone by 41.8%) and cable telephony by 3.7%….
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MONTREAL – Sun Media Corporation said today it is eliminating approximately 500 positions throughout its organization including the closure of two newspaper production facilities in Ottawa and Kingston.
“These and other optimization initiatives that will be implemented in the coming months are expected to deliver more than $45 million in annualized cost savings,” reads the press release. It’s not clear if the cutbacks affect the company’s small Sun TV News division.
″This restructuring is regrettable but warranted by changes in our industry which force us to align our cost structure with the new reality,″ said Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO…
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DENIED. We’re still surprised (and most anyone who tells you they feel otherwise is pretty much full of it).
I mean, many of us had suggested a full-on denial could happen – and the overall tone of the public hearing last month surely had some believing it was a possibility, but it was pretty difficult to find anyone who would actually say with any certainty before Thursday afternoon this deal would be nixed. The CRTC hasn’t really fully said “No” to a significant deal since Vidéotron tried to buy CFCF in the 1990s and Power Corporation wanted to buy Quebec…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada claims the CRTC, in its decision to kill the company's $3.4 billion takeover of Astral Media, ignored its own rules, created a bunch of new ones, was based on incorrect market share calculations and because of that it has asked the federal government to directly step in.
Calling the CRTC decision “absurd,” on Monday, BCE Inc. submitted a request to the federal Cabinet that it issue a policy direction under Section 7 of the Broadcasting Act that directs the CRTC to follow its existing policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting,…
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GATINEAU – Saying it is “shocked” and “appalled” at the CRTC’s decision to deny its $3.4 billion purchase of Astral Media, Bell Canada says it isn’t through with this fight yet.
"This is a decision that should not stand. Canadian consumers were told today by the CRTC that they don't deserve more – more choice, more competition, more Canadian content funding – all of which Bell and Astral committed to with this transaction," said George Cope, president and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE Inc. in a sharply worded statement released hours after the Commission decision was made public at…
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