OTTAWA – The CRTC is poised to release two key policy decisions this week.
Cartt.ca has learned that the Commission’s community TV policy will most likely be released on Thursday, just days before Commissioner Michel Arpin’s last day as vice-chair broadcasting.
A number of groups including cable providers and industry organizations appeared before the CRTC at its public proceeding in April, as Cartt.ca reported. Click here and here for a recap.
Also due out this week is the CRTC’s criteria for assessing applications for mandatory distribution on the digital basic service. This could be particularly interesting for Quebecor Media in…
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OTTAWA – Should broadband be deemed an essential service for all Canadians in the same way as basic telephone service?
Count the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) firmly on the ‘yes’ side of that question. In a new report called Is Broadband Basic Service, the Ottawa-based consumer organization details how Canada could benefit from such a plan, and how countries like Japan and the European Union have been successful thanks to policy and infrastructure investments that make broadband service a basic right for their citizens. All of which stands in contrast to Canada where no such regime exists –…
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WHY WOULD KEITH PELLEY move to Rogers Communications? That’s the question the industry is asking this week. There are many speculative answers, but let’s try to look at some facts before we lob our own opinion-grenades.
Pelley is a sports guy. A TV guy. A sports TV guy. He’s a heck of a broadcast executive who is still riding a massive wave of goodwill generated by the stellar Winter Olympics broadcast, one which he constructed from the ground up and oversaw. He and his people did a terrific job and with a bit of downtime between now and…
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MONTREAL – Isabelle Dessureault has returned to Videotron, this time as vice president of corporate affairs and president of its community channel VOX.
Dessureault, who has held management positions with parent company Quebecor since 2005, left her post as vice president of public affairs for Quebecor Media in May. Monday’s announcement hinted that she will also be involved in the launch of Videotron’s new wireless service.
“I and the entire management team are excited to have Isabelle back,” said president and CEO Robert Dépatie, in the announcement. “The qualities she brings to the table – her positive leadership, her creativity, her…
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MONTREAL – Despite continued growth from its telecommunications unit Videotron, Quebecor Inc. saw second quarter profits slip by more than $11 million.
Net income for the quarter ended June 30 was $65.5-million, down from $76.8-million for the same time last year. However, revenue was up 5% to $994-million from $946.4 million a year ago, and operating income also increased 12% to $354.2 million.
The company reiterated its plans to launch its wireless network this summer, but timing has been pushed back until at least September, president and CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said Wednesday.
“We remain focused on our promise to deliver a superior customer…
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MONTREAL – Restructuring costs at struggling Sun TV combined with a drop in advertising revenue helped pull down second quarter profits at Quebec-based Broadcaster TVA Group.
Net income for the period ended June 30, 2010 was $11.2 million, down $4 million compared with $15.2 million for the same period last year. However, consolidated operating income increased 4.1% to $26.2 million, compared with $25.1 million in the same quarter of 2009.
"We are pleased with the second quarter financial results, as we posted some growth in operating income in both our business sectors in an advertising market that remains precarious and short term”, said…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC’s proposal to include broadband as part of the basic service objective (BSO) for telcos is getting lukewarm support, at best. The Commission proposed the idea in a broad consultation on a variety of telecom matters, referred to as the “Obligation to Serve” proceeding.
MTS Allstream Inc. and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) are two that have said making broadband part of basic service would represent a logical extension of the current regime. Presently the BSO only applies to local voice services.
“Including broadband access in the Commission’s universal service objective would also recognize the…
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OTTAWA – While the Commission has been prepared to consider applications for competitive news specialty services since last year, it is unmoved when it comes to considering them as a new category 1 must-carry licenses.
That’s what Quebecor Media was told earlier this month by the CRTC in a letter saying the company’s application for a category 1 cable channel license for Sun TV News will not go forward in Gatineau. As Cartt.ca noted when QMI made the very public announcement of the new news channel it plans to launch in January, the CRTC had already said in March…
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MONTREAL – If you give it to them, you must give it to us, too.
That’s the gist of the message that Quebecor Media had for the CRTC on Monday when it called for the Commission to “reject the applications by CTV Limited in order to obtain regulatory relief for the ‘A’ stations and for the CTV Network or apply the requested conditions to all Canadian conventional television stations”.
As reported by Cartt.ca, CTV has asked that the Commission extend “interim regulatory flexibility” to its group of ‘A’ channels across the country which it claims have lost nearly $98 million….
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has released an approximate schedule for its upcoming television license renewals.
First up will be the renewal of Vide-on-Demand undertakings which will be handled via paper processes this Fall. This will be followed by private English-language groups CTV, CanWest, Rogers, Corus, and CJBN-TV Kenora in the Spring of 2011.
Private French-language groups services Quebecor, V interactions, Astral, TV5 Quebec Canada, and Canal Evasion will be considered in early Fall 2011, while all other conventional, specialty, pay, PPV, and community television undertakings whose licences expire in the next two years will be scheduled for Spring 2012.
CBC/Radio…
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