TORONTO – While an Ontario Superior Court judge on Friday gave Shaw Communications the green light to move ahead with its plan for CanWest Global, other companies have come forward to say, “hey, we would have liked to get in on the bidding, too.”
However, companies which wanted to take a close look at the troubled broadcaster and newspaper publisher had to first sign a non-disclosure agreement which prevented them from even talking to Goldman Sachs, which is the key creditor as the 65% equity holder of CW Media Holdings, the division which owns and operates CanWest’s specialty channels.
Canwest…
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THE CANADIAN cable, broadcast and telecommunications industries have been quick to mobilize support of relief efforts in Haiti.
We at Cartt.ca are awed by the collective level of compassion and generosity, and offer our sincere congratulations to the companies who have pledged to aid the people of the tiny island ravaged by last week’s earthquake.
In addition to the efforts by Rogers and by Cogeco and Quebecor, below are some other initiatives that we have learned of:
– Telecom equipment supplier Ericsson is sending volunteers, all telecom experts, to set up a container-based mini GSM-system to enable mobile communication for aid workers…
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MONTREAL – Canada’s biggest cable companies continue to step up to support Haiti following Tuesday’s earthquake.
Cogeco Cable pledged to donate $50,000 to the Red Cross to support the organization’s efforts, while Videotron said that it will allow its residential cable telephone subscribers to place calls to Haiti without incurring long-distance charges. It also said that it will credit subscribers with any long-distance charges to Haiti retroactive to January 12, for a period of one month.
Quebecor’s TVA Network and Canoe will broadcast a benefit concert live at 9 p.m. ET on January 22 featuring several Québec artists who have expressed their desire to help…
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WHEN IT COMES to the billions of dollars Canadians pay for television every year, the main numbers which are poured into everyone’s spreadsheets for regulatory analysis are basically the same.
Thanks to the public documents available through the CRTC or via the companies which are publicly traded, the folks in the TV biz have a pretty good sense of how much money consumers willingly fork over (or which is pried from our bank accounts, depending on your point of view) for television, our primary form of video entertainment, and how it is divided.
But once dumped into those spread sheets, those…
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GATINEAU – With a light dusting of snow outside and a grey beginning to yet another week of talking about paying for conventional television signals, you’ll hopefully forgive us for feeling just a little like this.
This is the fourth hearing inside of two years (and the second one in the past month!) whose focus is on compensating local TV broadcasters for their signals). This one, as CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein pointed out right at the start, will not set policy, but instead will inform a report to be filed in the new year with Canadian Heritage Minister…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has dismissed a complaint made against Bell TV by Quebecor Media Inc. over the way the DTH provider is combatting signal theft.
In a complaint dated March 23, 2009, Quebecor said that Bell TV had recently introduced a new sales method that would allow someone to equip themselves with one or several Bell TV receivers and to employ various methods of signal theft without Bell TV being able to track them. This practice of retailing ‘grab-and-go’ receivers calls into question the commitments Bell TV made in 2003 when it pledged to implement specific measures to combat signal theft,…
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GATINEAU – The word of the day on Wednesday at the CRTC hearing? Rebalancing.
While both presenters yesterday (Quebecor and CanWest Global) said they wanted to “rebalance” the regulatory system, they meant it in different ways. And Quebecor’s way – where a value for signal regime wouldn’t cause another carrier rate increase – was likely music to consumers’ ears.
Quebecor (which, of course, owns the largest Quebec cable company in Videotron and the most successful French-language broadcaster, TVA) went first and the tone between its executives and the commissioners was far less testy than prior presenters.
This is what we heard on…
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MONTREAL – A portion of the subscriber fees paid by BDUs to specialty TV channels must be diverted to private broadcasters if conventional television is to survive, according to Quebecor Media.
In a statement on Wednesday morning prior to its appearance at the CRTC hearings, Quebecor proposed that two conditions should be attached to the payments: the fees paid by BDUs to private television stations, networks, specialty channels and pay TV services should be negotiated on a free market basis, and, the changes in fees must have no impact on the prices paid by consumers.
"I don’t see anything outrageous in…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor’s year-over-year revenues grew by just 1% for its third quarter ended September 30, 2009.
The Quebec media giant, who consolidates the financial results of its Quebecor Media Inc. subsidiary in which it holds a 54.7% interest, reported revenues of $918.4 million, and operating income of $301.0 million, an 8.5% increase of the third quarter of 2008.
Net income increased by 51.9% or $23.7 million to top $69.4 million, while adjusted income from continuing operating activities was $52.9 million, representing a 24.5% increase from $42.5 million from the same period last year.
"Videotron again posted a significant increase in operating…
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MONTREAL – Losses in its television sector helped cut TVA’s year-over-year net income nearly in half for its third quarter ended September 30, 2009.
Net income was $6.4 million, down from $12 million for the corresponding quarter of 2008, which the company said was due to “significant income tax benefits” realized during the third quarter of 2008.
However, the Quebecor Media subsidiary’s consolidated operating income was $10.3 million, down slightly when compared with $10.8 million during the same quarter of 2008.
High operating losses at Sun TV lead to a 16% drop in the television sector’s operating income over the corresponding quarter last…
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