GATINEAU – Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck, or 100 duck-sized horses?
That was the unusual, if creative, way SaskTel chose to demonstrate how, if the CRTC is going to mandate third party wireless resellers, we can expect a much worse competitive market that causes serious damage to regional independent mobile wireless operators.
“Mandated MVNOs will harm 4th carriers more than the National Wireless Carriers. In any market, there is a portion of the customer base which is most likely to move to a new competitor, a portion which is quite unlikely to change, and a portion somewhere between these…
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Independent broadcasters want their HD added to satellite services
MONTREAL — The licence renewal applications of Bell and Shaw’s satellite TV distribution services prompted 156 replies, the vast majority of which were comments from individuals upset Shaw Communications plans to discontinue a free basic TV service it set up for people who lost access to over-the-air stations during the digital transition.
The Local Television Satellite Solution was promised and provided by Shaw in 2010 as a tangible benefit during its acquisition of CanWest’s television assets, including Global TV. The company proposed spending $15 million to send free…
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A NATIONAL RATINGS service which includes set top box data from all major TV carriers looks like it may not happen.
On April 4, 2019, Quebecor’s cableco Vidéotron withdrew from the CRTC mandated Set-Top Box Working Group and stated it does not intend to provide STB viewer data to ratings agency Numeris for the proposed audience measurement system. The STB Working Group and Numeris now say they must evaluate the full impact of Vidéotron’s decision before proposing next steps, according to a letter from Shaw’s Dean Shaikh, on behalf of the STB Working Group, to the…
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MONTREAL – To no great surprise, Québecor has appealed CRTC decision compelling TVA Sports to continue providing its signal to Bell TV customers while in dispute with Bell Canada over its distribution agreement.
Quebecor argues the CRTC does not have jurisdiction to regulate affiliation agreements between BDUs and programmers this way; that it does not have jurisdiction to control the financial relationships between BDUs and programmers and that the powers invoked by the CRTC are far from the objectives of the Broadcasting Act, which are cultural in nature and focus on content.
The Federal Court of Appeal must…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has ordered a bevy of broadcasters to get it the information that it asked for so that it may move forward with its plan to update the policy on Canadian programming expenditures (CPE).
The Commission on Friday issued a direction to comply with a request for information to 14 broadcasters for their data on revenues and expenditures associated with their digital media broadcasting activities, specifically in the context of CPE. While some of the 20 broadcasters who received the request for information letter in March have complied, the Regulator received joint reply from 14…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor more than doubled its quarterly dividend amidst first quarter gains in revenues and profits, the company said Thursday.
Consolidated revenues for the period grew 2.5% ($25.3 million) to $1.03 billion year-over-year. Revenues increased in Telecommunications ($22.0 million or 2.7% of segment revenues) and in Sports and Entertainment ($3.2 million or 8.6%), though dropped in Media ($0.5 million or -0.3%).
Net income attributable to shareholders was $189.0 million in the quarter, more than triple the $57.1 million posted in the same period of 2018. Adjusted EBITDA increased $4.8 million (1.2%) to $420.7 million.
Quebecor’s Videotron telecom segment significantly increased its revenues from mobile telephony ($15.6 million or…
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GATINEAU – The Bell vs. Quebecor saga continues, but this time it’s not about Bell the carrier and Quebecor the sports channel provider.
This time Bell Media is complaining to the CRTC that its Super Écran is being poorly treated by Quebecor’s Vidéotron in violation of Commission rules.
Long the primary French-language premium pay-TV channel, Super Écran airs Canadian movies and series as well as dubbed popular English content from the likes of HBO and Showtime for French language viewers. However, a packaging change made by Vidéotron in November of 2018 which saw the Bell Media channel relocated from a “Premium…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor’s broadcaster/TV producer/publisher TVA Group posted a $6.72 million net loss attributable to shareholders in the first quarter, compared to a $4.92 million loss in the same period in 2018.
Revenues, however, grew to $134.1 million for the period ended March 31, 2019, up from $133.8 million year-over-year.
"During the first quarter of 2019, we began the process of integrating the "Évasion" and "Zeste" channels into our Broadcasting & Production segment, generating an increase in adjusted EBITDA from the specialty channels and enhancing our offer of television content”, said president France Lauzière, in a statement. “We are very pleased with…
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MONTREAL – When Bell applied for an injunction back on April 11th against Quebecor’s decision to remove TVA Sports from Bell TV customers, it also filed an application to be reviewed in Québec’s Superior Court on the merits later.
On Friday, April 26th Bell modified that application. The details of the original became known as they had been overlooked earlier this month.
Bell had complained Quebecor’s public statements harmed its reputation and filed various examples of company CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau’s publicity campaign against the company and CRTC regulations – and cited relevant legislation which were allegedly breached, reads the court…
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SAINT-SAUVEUR, QC – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Quebecor Fund have announced a new partnership program that will provide additional funding to French-language drama series created by Quebec-based producers that are intended for international markets.
Eligible projects must be live-action, French-language television series that meet the CMF's definition of Drama programming and demonstrate a viable path to generate a return on investment. The projects’ financing for the domestic version must be entirely secured. Click here for the program guidelines.
Chosen in collaboration with the Quebecor Fund selection committee, the projects must first be submitted to the Quebecor…
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