THE ASTONISHED FEEDBACK came fast and furious late Thursday as people tried to give voice to their feelings on the Commission decision to deny Bell Canada’s $3.4 billon purchase of Astral Media.
******************** “Like most observers, we had expected conditional approval,” said analyst Dvai Ghose of Canaccord Genuity in a note to clients. “This could also have implications for other potential media transactions such as Shaw-Corus, although in that case both entities are already controlled by the Shaw family. We also believe that the speculation of a Corus bid for Astral could rise and could be more palatable for regulators.
“While…
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MY FIRST MEETING WITH SHAW Communications president Peter Bissonnette in the winter of 1998 seems like a lifetime ago. It was in Richmond Hill, then the home base of Shaw’s substantial Ontario cable operations. I think it was February.
This was before Bissonnette was even president of the company. Before Shaw and Rogers traded their Ontario and British Columbia cable systems to each other. Before Izzy Asper and JR Shaw split up WIC (Western International Communications). Before the Shaw family spun its media assets into Corus Entertainment. Before a Jean Monty-led BCE bought CTV the first time, claiming – a…
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OTTAWA – An invitational summit of prominent decision-makers from Canada and France will gather in Ottawa to discuss how policy makers can grow local content industries in the face of increasing digital disruption. The summit, from November 14-16, is being organized by The Embassy of France in Canada and the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC).
Approximately 70 individuals representing key organizations from France and Canada have been invited to engage in a discussion of content issues. Topic areas include new technology-enabled consumer behaviour, changing business models and new opportunities, and the evolution of public policy…
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CANNES – Pierre Karl Péladeau went off script on Monday at MIPCOM to urge Ottawa and the CRTC to curb online regulations for broadcasters up against competition from Netflix and others like it.
As Canadian media leaders grabbed the spotlight in Cannes to forge stronger links with foreign partners and markets, the Quebecor president and CEO delivered a keynote address in which he bemoaned the failure of Canada to export its TV product to the world. “We can sell singing talents like Celine Dionne and Arcade Fire and Justin Bieber to the world,” Péladeau said during his media mastermind keynote…
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MONTRÉAL – A major contingent of Canadian talent will be descending upon MIPCOM, the world’s leading entertainment content market across all platforms, in Cannes, France from October 8 to 11.
The Canadian stars will be on hand to celebrate and support the promotion of Canadian productions featured in the Canada Country of Honour event, organized by Reed MIDEM in partnership with the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada. The industry’s dynamism and Canadian creativity will also be in the spotlight at programmed talks and events during both MIPJunior and MIPCOM. In addition, the Canada…
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PETER AND TONY VINER are a rare pair in the world of business, let alone broadcasting. The two brothers, separated by two years, each and on their own rose to the top of major, multi-billion dollar broadcasting businesses headed by two of Canada’s most celebrated entrepreneurs.
Peter, 67, helped the late Izzy Asper build Canwest Global into a multi-billion-dollar international media powerhouse before the company fell on hard, debt-burdened, times. Tony, 65, built Rogers Media from two Toronto radio stations (Ted Rogers’ famous first media asset, CHFI-FM, and CFTR-AM, now 680News) when he came on board in 1982 to a…
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MONTREAL – Quebec investment fund Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec is cutting its original investment in Quebecor Media from 45.3% to 24.6% in a deal worth about $1.5 billion. Quebecor Inc. bought back 30.5 million shares of unit Quebecor Media Inc (QMI) from Caisse and will increase its holdings in QMI to more than 75% from less than 55%.
Under the deal, Quebecor will purchase approximately 20.3 million shares of QMI held by the Caisse for an aggregate purchase price of $1 billion, payable in cash. Quebecor will buy back an additional 10.2…
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WHILE CONCEDING THAT THE various accusations and complaints levelled against it over the past weeks and months show a high level of “competitive and financial tension” evident in the Canadian TV business nowadays, Bell Canada told the CRTC Friday that this tension should not impact the approval of its purchase of Astral Media.
In its final written reply to the CRTC hearing into the purchase, Bell Canada insisted its decision to buy Astral Media and all of its radio stations, TV properties and other assets is in the public interest and that only by owning the…
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MONTRÉAl – Videotron claims that “unlike most telecommunications companies“ it has decided to take an environmentally responsible approach, with the help of Earth Day Québec, and cover the environmental costs arising from new recycling requirements for the vast majority of the products it sells.
Videotron says it intends to meet new Government of Québec regulations by conducting its own electronic equipment recovery program, extending the successful Allo la Terre program, operated by Videotron and Earth Day Québec. Over the past four years, Allo la Terre has recovered nearly 86,000 cell phones and accessories.
“In keeping…
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MONTRÉAL – Quebecor is presenting the Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC), a major event for movie buffs and film professionals for the fourth consecutive year. The 41st edition of the festival will be held in Montréal from October 10 to 21, 2012.
“Quebecor has long been committed to promoting cinema from Québec and around the world, and to supporting the preservation of our cinematographic heritage,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quebecor.
“Since it began, the FNC has been a springboard for new, original works. It has also publicized new…
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