MONTREAL – TVA Group ended 2014 in a sea of red ink, capped by a $4.4 million net loss attributable to shareholders in its fourth quarter.
The Quebecor Media subsidiary said that consolidated adjusted operating income for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014, fell 51.4% to $29.4 million from $60.6 million in the previous year. Consolidated operating revenues of $439.3 million were 1.2% lower than $444.8 million in 2013, while the net loss attributable to shareholders of $41.1 million was a far cry from the prior year’s $15.7 million net income attributable to shareholders.
TVA Group renamed its Television segment…
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OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal is being asked to weigh in on an issue that seems to combine a bunch of hot-button issues facing the CRTC: vertical integration, consumer rights, net neutrality, wireless service billing and the blurring line between telecommunications and broadcasting.
And all because of a student from Manitoba.
Bell Mobility has filed for leave to appeal CRTC Broadcasting and Telecom Decision 2015-26, rendered Jan. 29, which orders Bell and Quebecor’s Vidéotron to cease providing mobile video applications that are exempt from counting toward the cap on their wireless data plans….
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MONTREAL – Quebecor is hoping that the next new TV format may be developed in Quebec.
The company said Monday that it is collaborating with C2 Montreal on a competition known as P.I.T.C.H, that challenges the province’s television, film and media creators and designers to propose ‘the next big idea’.
P.I.T.C.H is seeking original and unpublished non-scripted television formats, provided that the intellectual property is fully owned by the individual submitters. Outlines must be submitted by April 15, and selected finalists will then be retained for four weeks to work on and submit their presentations to a five person jury…
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TORONTO – At 5 a.m. this morning, Sun News was closed by Quebecor Media.
“After attempting to establish Sun News as a viable news channel in the Canadian broadcasting landscape and encountering a series of barriers to carriage, Sun Media Corporation regrets to announce today that it is closing the station. At the time of this release, Sun News Network is already off the air,” reads a release issued right after a repeat showing of Byline with Brian Lilley was the final program to air.
Cartt.ca was the first to report the station would close today after…
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TORONTO – Employees at Sun News believe they are soon to be the recipients of some very hard news. According to several sources, many staffers have become convinced that the last day of operations will be this Friday, February 13th because a deal for the sale of the channel has fallen through.
As first reported by Cartt.ca in December, ZoomerMedia held an exclusive negotiating window with Quebecor Media, the owner of Sun News, to buy the struggling TV channel and it was hoped that the company controlled and run by Moses Znaimer would keep it afloat.
ZoomerMedia…
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LAST WEEK WE SPECULATED that the big, vertically integrated Canadian telecom, cable, wireless and media companies could get out of media.
We talked to a few broadcasters who spoke on condition of anonymity who angrily wondered – with the CRTC apparently not listening to their concerns about costs, nor about being able to use their content as a point of differentiation with wireless or broadband customers while also taking simsub away, at least for the Super Bowl – why should carriers continue to own broadcasters?
The answer is cash flow, capex and a lack of available suitors.
Bell…
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OTTAWA – The participant list for Industry Canada’s upcoming AWS-3 and 2500 MHz auctions this spring is beginning to take shape. Among those who have confirmed to Cartt.ca that they have submitted applications to participate in the two aforementioned auctions are Rogers Communications and Telus Corp.
SaskTel says it applied for the AWS-3, but noted it is ineligible for the 2500 MHz sale. Bell Canada and Eastlink wouldn’t confirm or deny that they filed applications. Vidéotron and MTS hadn’t replied to Cartt.ca by deadline.
Wind Mobile, which recently completed a restructuring, had previously announced its…
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MONTREAL – Vidéotron has decided it wants its own House of Cards. The cable company announced on Monday that it has commissioned Blue Moon, an original military-themed drama starring Karine Vanasse, which will be offered exclusively to subscribers of Illico Club Unlimited starting in 2016.
The French-language series, about a woman who inherits her father’s private security firm, will be 10 episodes of about an hour (they haven’t settled on an exact episode length yet), with a commitment for a second 10-episode series. It will be written by Luc Dionne, produced by Fabienne Larouche (the same producer behind hit series…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor Media Sales has streamlined its sales and marketing team in order to maximize the value of consulting services offered to corporate clients.
National sales have been divided into five sectors: automotive, consumer products, retail, telecommunications and financial services, and entertainment and recreation. The company said Tuesday that it wants to allow its teams to further deepen their knowledge of their clients' business sectors and thus promote a more strategic and productive collaboration with the external advertising teams involved in clients' marketing strategies.
With offices in Montreal and Toronto, the company added that presence in two markets allows it…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor Media’s TVA Group has closed its $118 million acquisition of the assets of film and television-related services provider Vision Globale after obtaining Competition Bureau consent for the transaction.
As Cartt.ca reported last month, those assets include the movie and television studios Mel's Cite du cinema in Montreal and Studios Melrose in Saint-Hubert, facilities used for both local and foreign film and television production.
In the course of its review, the Bureau said that it conducted interviews with numerous market participants, including film and television content producers and various production and post-production service providers. The Bureau issued a…
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