MONTREAL – While Quebecor is ready and able to propel wireless telecommunications to new heights, the federal government stands in the way by hindering development, says Quebecor President and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau.
In a speech Thursday to a Quebec Chamber of Commerce business outlook conference, Péladeau said (in French, of course) that other industrialized countries have seen the need to invest in new telecommunications technology, but more than a year after Ottawa raked in $4 billion from the distribution of new spectrum licences, the federal bureaucracy is erecting roadblocks to the development of a new generation of telecommunications infrastructure.
“Canadians…
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OTTAWA – There could be two more sports network hitting the airwaves in Canada.
The CRTC has received applications from Rogers Broadcasting and Quebecor-owned TVA Group for national, category two services tentatively entitled Rogers’ Mainstream Sports Specialty Service, and TVA Sports.
In an application dated September 16, 2009, Rogers said that its new network will air “programming dedicated to all aspects of sports with an emphasis on mainstream Canadian professional sports”.
“Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. will leverage our expertise in sports programming and our existing infrastructure to establish a premium service offering blue chip mainstream sports events with widespread viewer, subscriber and…
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TORONTO – Bruce Claassen didn’t want to be the bad guy. He wanted to be the white knight who saved CKX-TV Brandon and used it as a springboard to build another national TV network.
With the market for smaller TV stations set in the $1-range (and with Shaw Communications having backed down from its much-ballyhooed calling-of-CTV’s-“bluff”) Claassen announced in July that his investment vehicle, Bluepoint Investments, would purchase the beleaguered station from owner CTVglobemedia as the start of Bluepoint’s grander plan to become a major media player.
But, after “trying everything to make it work,” Claassen said he made…
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THE BIG BROADCASTERS and BDUs fought this, but by September 14th, those companies had to file their aggregate financial data from their 2008 fiscal years with the Commission.
On the weekend, the CRTC posted the figures on its web site and since the industry it currently roiling over the continuing fee-for-carriage debate, we looked at the numbers largely through that prism.
After spending several hours examining a lot of the data, I can tell you the most lucrative place to work is Bell TV – which paid its 1,398 employees an average salary of $90,136 – or CTV, whose average…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has sided with Videotron in a complaint made by Bell TV regarding advertising opportunities.
Bell TV alleged in a complaint dated April 9, 2009, that “certain practices” between TVA Group and Videotron, both owned by Quebecor, conferred an undue preference on Videotron and subjected Bell TV to an undue disadvantage.
In particular, Bell TV argued that TVA’s refusal to allow it to buy ads on certain of its highest rated programs, and Videotron’s refusal to provide any of its allocated advertising spots on these programs, was contrary to the Canadian broadcasting policy objectives set out in section…
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OTTAWA – Men TV has received CRTC approval to amend its broadcasting licence so as to draw programming from the categories of sports and music videos.
The Cat 1 specialty service, a joint-venture between Quebecor’s TVA Group and Canwest Media, had also asked to expand its options in the drama and comedy category, but that request was denied by the Commission.
Click here to read the full decision.
www.crtc.gc.cawww.mentv.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will require the owners of Canada’s biggest distributors and broadcasters to publicly disclose aggregate financial data.
Ownership groups such as Astral Media, BCE, Bragg Communications, CBC, Canwest Media, Cogeco, Corus Entertainment, CTVglobemedia, Newcap, Quebecor Media, Remstar Broadcasting, Rogers and Shaw, must file confidential and public aggregated annual return forms with the Commission by November 30 of each year. The filing requirement for the aggregated annual returns, which will begin with the 2007-2008 broadcast year, are due by September 14, 2009.
The public data will be posted on the Commission’s website. The Commission announced in April that the…
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FIVE OF Canada’s biggest cable companies have complained to the CRTC for extending a filing deadline – two days after the deadline had already passed.
Calling it “both unprecedented and unacceptable”, the heads of regulatory affairs from Bragg Communications, Cogeco Cable, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media on behalf of Videotron, (collectively, the Cable Carriers), sent a sternly worded letter to CRTC Secretary General Robert Morin on Thursday expressing their collective “deep frustration” with Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-261-4.
“…The Cable Carriers want the Commission to understand the deep frustration that the companies feel at having made…
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MONTREAL – Quebec MSO Videotron showed ongoing growth among cable TV, internet and voice over IP phone customers in the second quarter of 2009, ended June 30th, the company announced Thursday.
“We have now recorded growth for all our products for 16 consecutive quarters,” said Robert Dépatie, president and CEO of Quebecor-owned Videotron, in a press release announcing the company’s Q2 results.
Quebecor Inc.’s release shows telecommunications revenue of $232.7 million in the quarter, 27% higher than Q2 2008.
The customer base for Videotron’s basic cable television service increased by 3,453 during the second quarter to 1,732,621 as of June 30, 2009,…
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MONTREAL – Videotron has inked an exclusive roaming agreement with Rogers Wireless which will see Videotron’s future wireless customers roam exclusively on the Rogers network while outside Videotron’s coverage area.
The move will “guarantee a nationwide service” for the Quebec cable giant’s new high speed packet access (HSPA) network that it announced last October.
Videotron has also made transmission tower sharing arrangements with Rogers for certain cellular sites within Quebec and the Ottawa region.
“As part of the rollout of our wireless network – one of the world’s most sophisticated – we consider every collaboration as essential to providing customers with…
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