MONTREAL – Videotron and Rogers announced an agreement late Wednesday to bring LTE to even more customers in the province of Québec and the Ottawa region.
Under a new 20-year agreement, the two companies will pool their efforts to quickly build out and operate a shared LTE wireless network, the most advanced wireless technology in the world. This network will deliver an optimal user experience for consumers and businesses in both key markets (and perhaps let Videotron launch the iPhone, which does not work on its current AWS spectrum).
In addition to the network sharing agreement, Videotron and Rogers have also…
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GATINEAU – Canada’s public broadcaster has been given the green light to introduce advertising on its Radio 2 and Espace musique properties, but only for three years.
“The Commission considers that advertising will serve to ensure that the CBC has the resources to continue to provide high-quality diverse programming. However, the Commission is imposing conditions of licence that limit advertising to a maximum of four minutes per hour and limit the number of times that programming can be interrupted for advertising to twice per hour,” reads the May 28 decision.
The Commission also ruled that Radio 2…
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OTTAWA – Friends of Canadian Broadcasting today presented a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed by 13 prominent Canadian journalists and educators supporting the watchdog’s call for changes to Bill C-60 so it does not undermine the editorial independence of the CBC.
The letter, signed by journalists including CBC’s Joe Schlesinger, Don Newman, and Globe and Mail columnist emeritus Hugh Winsor, was tabled this morning at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance by Ian Morrison, Friends spokesperson, during his appearance before the Committee.
“Without change, Bill C-60 will give government the…
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OTTAWA – Friends of Canadian Broadcasting says it will testify before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance tomorrow morning and ask to remove the CBC from the budget omnibus Bill C-60 provision, which would give the government unprecedented authority over the public broadcaster and other Crown corporations.
“No public broadcaster anywhere in the free world faces the degree of political interference that is proposed for the CBC in Bill C-60,” said Friends spokesperson Ian Morrison in a media advisory.
Morrison will be accompanied tomorrow by media and freedom of expression lawyer Brian MacLeod…
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TORONTO – Sportnet has announced a new Montreal version of its nightly news program Connected will premiere on May 30 on City Montreal.
Montreal Connected will be hosted by Wilder Weir and Alyson Lozoff.
Montreal Connected will be an English-language program co-hosted by Sportsnet reporter Alyson Lozoff and television personality Wilder Weir. The program will provide an in-depth look at the city’s professional and amateur teams,…
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GATINEAU – In its final reply to the CRTC last week on the proposed purchase of Astral Media by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications informed the Commission that, if Montreal’s CKGM-AM (now TSN690) came on the market, it would be prepared to purchase the station and keep it sports talk. This was first reported by Cartt.ca.
In their last written reply to the Commission on the proposed $3.2 billion deal, filed today, Bell and Astral, put plainly, didn’t buy Rogers’ assertion. Not one bit.
As many readers will already know, in order to keep TSN690, Bell has asked…
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VANCOUVER – Telus announced Thursday that, pending some government and debtholder approvals, it will acquire Mobilicity for $380 million.
If the deal receives the required approvals, it would ensure continued service to Mobilicity’s 250,000 customers without the risk of disruption, says the press release the companies issued.
Without this deal, Mobilicity would likely end up seeking bankruptcy protection in short order. Of course, it remains to be seen what government thinks of this and whether or not it will grant the request to shift Mobilicity’s spectrum to Telus immediately. DAVE, Mobilicity’s parent company, purchased the spectrum for $240 million in 2008…
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TORONTO – The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) will be holding regional seminars in Montreal and Toronto entitled “Digital Media: Production to Distribution Using IP.”
This seminar covers the use of media on IT networks including both streaming and file-based workflows, covering many aspects of the media life-cycle including acquisition, production, broadcast, contribution and distribution.
The Montreal session takes place on May 30 at Société Radio-Canada / CBC Montréal, 1400 Boulevard René-Lévesque Est. For the Toronto section, the seminar will be held at Ryerson University’s Rogers Communications Centre, 80 Gould Street on…
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GATINEAU – Much was made last week during the hearing into Bell Canada buying Astral Media about the combined company needing an exemption from the CRTC’s radio station ownership policy in order to keep TSN690 (CKGM) open – and an English language all-sports radio station.
Bell Media executives said it had not yet tried to find any buyers for it and that it doubted any that came forward would be able or interested in keeping it as a sports station, since it owns the rights to important Montreal sports content. It said the station might have…
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TORONTO – Rogers announced that its subsidiary, Rogers Communications Finance Inc., has rolled out an offering of US$350 million in senior notes due 2013.
The notes are priced at US$1,000 per $1,000 principal amount. In addition, holders who sell on or prior to 5:00 p.m., on May 29, 2013, will receive a consent payment of US$2.50 per US$1,000 principal amount of notes.
The tender offer will expire at 8:00 a.m., EST on June 13, 2013. Any unsold notes by that time will remain outstanding, mature and be paid on June 17, 2013.
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