GATINEAU – There was little love for the CRTC when, on the day before St. Valentine’s Day, Videotron filed its appeal of the wholesale Internet billing decision (more popularly known as the usage-based-billing issue). However, the Quebec cableco wasn’t the only provider to let its feelings be known regarding the matter, other network owners as well as the independent ISPs have taken the Commission to task over the appropriate rates for wholesale network access and use.
The issue that never seems to go away is not focused on the capacity-based billing framework, which most agree is a good idea, but…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Frosty relations between Quebecor Media and CBC/Radio-Canada may be thawing after the two companies finalized a number of agreements aimed at “re-establishing their commercial relationships over the years to come”.
In a statement on Monday, Quebecor Media said that the agreements include distribution deals with its Videotron subsidiary for “the specialized channels and the other broadcasting vehicles of Société Radio-Canada”, plus ad buys on Quebecor-owned Sun Media’s francophone digital and print platforms.
Quebecor's media outlets have been openly critical of the CBC for an alleged lack of transparency after submitting hundreds of requests under the Access To Information regulations, as Cartt.ca…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – The costs of launching of three new specialty channels pulled down 2011 profits at Quebecor’s TVA Group.
The Montreal-based television and magazine company reported net income for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011 of $11.5 million, down from $19.3 million in the same quarter of 2010.
Its television sector's operating income dropped 32.5% to $18 million which the company attributed to losses at its TVA Sports and Sun News services, plus a drop in operating and advertising revenues at TVA Network.
"The Television sector's financial results for the fourth quarter of 2011 were again affected by the operating losses…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Despite a surge in new wireless customers, the costs of Videotron’s 4G wireless network ate into 2011 profits, the company reported Wednesday.
For the year ended December 31, 2011, Videotron saw its net income fall to $469.3 million, a 6.9% drop from $504.3 million at the end of 2010. Revenues totalled $2.43 billion, up 9.1%, while operating income climbed 4.9% to $1.10 billion.
Revenues for the fourth quarter grew 7.4% to $634.8 million, and net income jumped 68.8% to $161.9 million over the same period last year.
Videotron credited its strategy of marketing bundled services, including its wireless service, for…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – A union representing workers at five TVA stations in Quebec has filed a complaint against the Quebecor-owned broadcaster for consolidating its newsrooms with those of the company’s newspapers, contrary to Canadian Broadcast Standards and CRTC policy.
In a statement on Tuesday, Le Conseil provincial du secteur des communications (CPSC) said the move violates the Commission’s Code of Journalistic Independence and compromises the diversity of news available to Quebecers.
"As we specified before the CRTC in December at the hearings for license renewal, our fears about a reduction in the diversity of voices are more…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – As the CRTC prepares to review the relative success of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), it has released new numbers for the 2010-2011 period, ending August 31st, which indicate Shaw Communications paid the most into the fund, followed by Bell Canada and Rogers Cable.
Shaw (cable and satellite) combined to pay almost $32 million (an earlier version of this story had an erroneous amount for Shaw), followed by Bell at $25.08 million and Rogers at $24.05 million. Quebecor (Videotron) contributed $13.6 million and Cogeco, $6.77 million.
Shaw, the LPIF’s largest contributor, received only $8.06 million in…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC said today that it will continue to license satellite relay distribution undertakings (SRDUs) because of a lack of competition in that market, but will not incorporate the transport of pay and specialty services into SRDU licensing.
In its decision the Commission maintained that its dispute resolution process “remains the best way to address concerns regarding uplink fees that the Bell direct-to-home undertaking charges Canadian pay and specialty services for the transport of their signals to cable headends in cases where they do not need to use Bell’s SRDU facilities.” Canada’s only two SRDU operators, Shaw Satellite…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Quebecor Media is investing in a new Quebec video game company called BlooBuzz that will develop casual gaming titles for mobile platforms. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The company said that the agreement includes eight entrepreneurs from Saguenay-based Wendigo Studios, whose Timebuilders franchise saw its first two editions (Pyramid Rising and Caveman's Prophecy) downloaded over 2 million times.
"Quebecor Media's participation in this project reflects our will to contribute to the development of Quebec champions in a cutting edge sector where Quebec know-how has up until now been mostly showcased by foreign studios operating here," said Quebecor…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Quebecor-owned news service QMI Agency has named Yves Bombardier as its director for Montreal, and Philippe Mercure as director of marketing.
QMI Agency has offices in Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal, with Québec City to be added soon.
With 30 years of experience in television and radio newsrooms, Bombardier was formerly news director and producer at TQS before joining Corus Québec where he managed several radio stations. In his new role, he will coordinate content production and sharing to ensure its availability across all Quebecor Media’s properties.
Mercure comes from the Canadian Press where he was business director from 2007 through 2011,…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – While its competitors in the telecom industry are becoming more vertically integrated, Cogeco president and CEO Louis Audet says his company is comfortable in its position as a mid-sized telecom and has no plans to copy companies like Bell and Rogers by acquiring TV specialty channels or building a wireless network.
Audet has a reason to be confident. Cogeco's first-quarter earnings, released Thursday morning before the annual shareholders' meetings of the company and subsidiary Cogeco Cable, shows its profit up 20% to $47.9 million from $39.8 million for the first quarter of last year,…
Continue Reading
