OTTAWA – Globalive Communications Corp., the Yak-led consortium, which had boasted of becoming Canada’s fourth national carrier, appears to have a gaping hole in the province of Quebec as bidding activity peters out in Canada’s auction for advanced wireless services in the 2 GHz range.
“Globalive has as close to a national license as anyone, but Quebec is a hole for them,’’ says Evan Kelly, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s national communications industry leader. “They’ve backed off. Quebec is one of the regions where there are no multiple parties going after licences anymore, so it seems to have settled.’’
With 135 rounds…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said today that while many things should change about the Canadian Television Fund, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media still have to pay into it – and in a timely manner.
And, while the Commission also said it would alter the BDU regs to make monthly contributions to the CTF mandatory, the report says it won’t make that move until the federal government has dealt with the substantive issues covered by the report.
That means distributors could still choose to withhold monthly payments in favour of quarterly or annual ones until Heritage Minister Josee Verner and…
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GATINEAU – Count commissioner Michel Morin as someone who isn’t buying Canadian independent television producers’ traditional “poor me” stance.
In his dissent against a piece of the CRTC’s report to the federal cabinet on the $250 million Canadian Television Fund, Morin ripped the public image of those independent producers and called for more accountability on how they spend the 75% of CTF they are guaranteed.
“(T)he Auditor General put in words what everyone had known for more than a decade: the famous 75% quota allocated to independent producers has not lived up to expectations, as they have invested next…
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WHEN IT COMES TO reading the CRTC, or predicting, or crystal-balling, everyone resorts to their own brand of “reading the tea leaves.”
So take what we have to say next with a grain of salt (hmm, that’s three clichés in less than 50 words, so we’d better get to it!).
Yesterday’s Canadian Television Fund recommendations from the CRTC came with a dissent written by commissioner Michel Morin. As we report here, he was defending Quebecor Media Inc.’s proposal for a new fund aimed solely at producing more French dramatic television and multiplatform content.
In defense of QMI’s TVA and…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will make public its recommendations for the future of the Canadian Television Fund at 2 p.m. today.
It’s a story Cartt.ca has been following closely for about 18 months and the release should be a sensation at the Banff World TV Fest beginning this weekend in the Alberta town (Cartt.ca will be there, of course, covering that gathering).
In December of 2006, cable companies Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media decided to withhold their contributions to the fund, citing numerous issues the companies had with the fund, from its corporate governance to the types of programming being…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said today that while many things should change about the Canadian Television Fund, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media should not be able to opt out of paying into it.
As reported today by Cartt.ca, The Commission today submitted its report on the CTF to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. It contains 11 recommendations relating to the CTF’s mandate and governance structure. (Click here to follow the links to the full background of this story.)
“It is our hope that the recommendations we have put forward will assist in resolving the issues surrounding the CTF,” said…
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MONTREAL – After a few delays in releasing its quarterly results due to the bankruptcy protection status of printer Quebecor World, Quebecor Media reported that cable division Videotron continues to show strong growth across almost all of its business units.
Overall, the company which also owns broadcaster TVA and the Sun Media newspaper chain, among other assets, recorded revenues of $877.1 million in the first quarter of 2008, a 16.8% increase, compared to Q1 2007.
Cable’s revenue grew by 20% to $430.6 million, while the company’s newspaper division revenue saw 21.4% growth, due to its purchase of Osprey Media…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor Media’s broadcaster and publisher TVA Group reported net income of $5.7 million for the first quarter of 2008, ended March 31, 2008, compared with net income of $900,000 in the same quarter of 2007.
The company says its significant improvement came from growth of 52% in operating income for specialty channels including operating costs related to the launch of the new channel, Les idees de ma maison, in mid-February; and growth of over 11% in TVA Network’s operating revenues, while for the same quarter of 2007, there was a drop of 2.3% against the same quarter…
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MONTREAL – A new website launched by Quebecor this week seeks to inform Canadians of the potential for Canadian television in the digital future. The site surveys the current state of Canadian television, and looks at the possibilities for Canadian television in the 21st century. It argues for contemporary television that meets Canadians’ expectations, showcases its talented artists and production people, and develops in synergy with new technologies.
The www.ocanada.tv site is divided into four fact-filled sections covering television production, distribution, broadcasting and regulation in Canada. It also gives an overview of what is happening in the rest…
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GATINEAU – Cable and satellite distributors took it on the chin again Friday at the CRTC’s hearings on broadcasting, this time from Astral Media, the country’s biggest French and English specialty and pay television network.
However this time, it wasn’t over the question of carriage fees to conventional networks but over access for new entrants.
Astral pressed the Commission to consider a new model that would ensure that any new specialty service, which had already won CRTC license approval, would have guaranteed access to a distributor’s lineup of channels.
“Access is fundamental,” said…
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