MONTREAL — Quebecor’s digital radio platform, QUB radio, has partnered with Alloprof, a Quebec charity that provides online homework help, to create an educational podcast to help families with children at home during school closures due to Covid-19.
En 5 minutes (In 5 Minutes) is a daily French-language podcast that now includes an educational capsule from Alloprof on a range of topics, including science, history, geography, biology, and more. To date, QUB radio and Alloprof have produced eight En 5 minutes podcasts to provide short reviews of school subjects. The podcasts can be found on QUB radio’s website Continue Reading
By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — A week after Canada’s all-sports channels said they hoped to continue with news and analysis programming through the Covid-19 outbreak, Montreal-based RDS and TVA Sports said Monday they had to suspend all original programming to meet the Quebec government’s new requirement to shut down all non-essential businesses until April 13.
Bell Media’s RDS said it would suspend, after Tuesday, its talk shows 5 à 7, L’Antichambre, Max et Bruno, Blitz and D’un autre angle, plus its news show Sports 30.
Quebecor’s TVA Sports, meanwhile, has shut down daily talk shows Dave Morissette en direct…
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TORONTO — With people practicing social distancing, businesses cutting hours and services, Canadians staying home to work or self-isolate while the stock markets slide in unprecedented fashion due to the effects of COVID-19, Scotiabank this week released an analysis of where it sees both negative and positive effects when it comes to the telecom and media spaces.
“Over the past week, the initial COVID-19 concerns have expanded dramatically from global device supply chain issues to an unprecedented level of domestic consumer and business disruptions. The equity sell-off in the sector has been indiscriminate,” reads the research note to investors from…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal has denied Bell’s application against a decision by the CRTC that said the company had unduly disadvantaged Quebecor’s TVA Sports in favour of its own, RDS.
The March 12 decision came after Bell requested a judicial review in January of a CRTC decision that said the company had packaged its own RDS channel differently than Quebecor’s TVA Sports, its competitor, thus muting the reach of its rival and causing a “material adverse impact on TVA Group,” the CRTC said in the December ruling.
Quebecor filed the original complaint in February…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Internet service provider TekSavvy said in court documents filed on Friday that the big broadcasters which were successful in bringing about the first court-ordered site-blocking decision did not put the effort in to use other methods to squash those it accused of peddling unlicensed content on the internet – making it harder to justify the use of site-blocking for that purpose.
In July, Bell, Rogers and Quebecor’s Groupe TVA Inc. brought a motion to ban alleged pirate IPTV provider GoldTV from operating until the outcome of a trial, which was granted by the court in August….
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada and the country’s TV distributors are collaborating to make the public broadcaster’s 24-hour news channels, CBC News Network and ICI RDI, more widely available so that as many people as possible can stay up to date on the news surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Friday, CBC News Network will be available to all subscribers on Bell TV, Shaw, and Cogeco. It is also now accessible on CBC Gem, the CBC News app, and CBC.ca. There will surely be more distributors to follow this week.
UPDATE: Cogeco also added CTV News Network to the list of news channels…
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MONTREAL – This morning, Videotron and TVA Group owner Quebecor Inc. reported fourth quarter revenues of $1.14 billion, up 4.5% over the fourth quarter of 2018.
Adjusted EBITDA was $494.5 million for the period ended December 31, 2019, a 7.4% increase. Without restatement of comparative figures following adoption of new accounting principles IFRS 16, adjusted EBITDA increased by 9.9%. Adjusted EBITDA increased $27.3 million (6.3%) in the telecommunications (Videotron cable, wireless and broadband) segment. Adjusted EBITDA increased in the Media segment (TVA Group) by $6.8 million or 23.9%.
Quebecor reported a net increase of 21,800 (0.4%) in revenue generating units in…
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AMOS, Que. — Following its acquisition of Cable Amos (Télédistribution Amos) in December 2019, Videotron announced Monday it has connected its first customer in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region community of Amos, which is about 600 kms north of Montreal.
As of now, Amos residents can access Videotron residential cable telephone service via the Cable Amos network. According to the news release, Videotron’s first customer in the area is Sylvie Dufresne, the daughter of Télédistribution Amos founder Édouard Dufresne. “As we said in December, we are proud to pass the torch to Videotron because we are confident that it is the…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Chapter of the International Institute of Communications last week announced its keynote speakers for IIC Canada 2020, to be held April 20-21, at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.
The big names are:
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage
Monika Ille, president and CEO, APTN
Grace Koh, U.S. representative and head of delegation to the International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference 2019
Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO, Quebecor
Ian Scott, CRTC chair
Catherine Tait, CBC president and CEO
Details of IIC Canada plenary sessions are also now available on the IIC Canada website. The session subjects…
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OTTAWA — On Tuesday, the same day it denied an application by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the National Pensioners Federation (NPF) to require Koodo Mobile and other wireless service providers to provide paper bills upon request, the CRTC announced a new proceeding looking into the issue of paper billing.
In its decision against PIAC and NPF, the Commission says it found “there was no existing legislature or regulatory obligation that mandated the provision of paper bills and, since the rationale and evidence on the record of this proceeding related largely to Koodo alone, it would not…
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