CALGARY – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has approved Shaw’s takeover bid of Canwest, despite a last minute rival bid lead by investment fund Catalyst Capital, the Asper family and two former Rogers execs.
The Calgary-based cable company has entered into agreements with Canwest and certain 8% senior subordinated noteholders for a minimum commitment to buy $95 million worth of Class A voting shares in a restructured Canwest, which represents 20% equity and an 80% voting interest.
Shaw’s initial equity interest will exceed 20% depending on the number of Canwest creditors that elect cash rather than shares in restructured…
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BARCELONA and TORONTO – Rogers will become the first Canadian wireless provider to offer the new Acer Liquid e smart phone device.
The Acer Liquid e features the latest Android 2.1 operating system, a 3.5” high definition display, and advanced new features and functionality. The device will be available exclusively from Rogers beginning this spring.
“Rogers is very excited to be partnering with a highly respected global brand like Acer to bring the Acer Liquid e to Canadian consumers”, said John Boynton, EVP of marketing, in the announcement. “By exclusively launching the first Acer smart phone in Canada, we are once…
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TORONTO – Goldman Sachs has thrown its support behind a new proposal to restructuring Canwest Global Communications and bring it out of bankruptcy protection.
A group led by Toronto-based investment fund Catalyst Capital which includes the Asper family, former Rogers Broadcasting chief Rael P. Merson and John Tory, announced today that they have submitted to the Canwest Special Committee a restructuring proposal to facilitate the company’s emergence from the CCAA process.
The proposal requires no material amendments to the original court filed plan and would maximize the value of the Canwest estate while expediting its exit from the CCAA process as…
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VANCOUVER – Ratings for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games continue to skyrocket.
According to data from Canada’s Olympic broadcast media consortium, 6.2 million watched Team Canada defeat Norway on day 5 of the Games, with viewership rocketing to nearly 9 million in the final minute of the 8-0 rout.
The mid-afternoon audience watching Maëlle Ricker win Canada’s second gold medal peaked at 5.9 million viewers as she crossed the finish line in ladies’ snowboard cross, while an average audience of 3.7 million watched the event itself. 2.9 million watched on CTV as she received her medal.
The day 6 recap reported that 3.5 million…
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TORONTO – Rogers’ OMNI Television has funded three public service announcements designed to combat racism.
Commissioned by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the spots will be versioned into Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil and Urdu in order to span a range of Canada’s ethnic communities.
“The impact of making key anti-racism messages available to multilingual audiences is an important step towards building an inclusive and accepting Canadian society,” said Madeline Ziniak, OMNI’s national vice president, in the announcement. “OMNI is privileged to contribute, participate and make a difference in these aspirations.”
The spots will be unveiled at a presentation in…
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OTTAWA – Comments filed on the CRTC’s reconsideration of speed matching strike a familiar refrain: Would-be competitors say Canadians will suffer if the CRTC doesn’t mandate speed matching and access to higher-speed local access facilities for them, while incumbent telcos tell the Commission that doing so will threaten future network investments.
Telcos were already required under CRTC regulations to provide speed matching (also referred to as service parity) to competitors over both legacy copper facilities as well as their faster fibre, or next-generation networks (NGNs). But the implementation of the rule was put on hold following appeals to the…
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VANCOUVER and WHISTLER – There are about 1,400 people working on the TV and radio broadcast and digital media production of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
It has been, and continues to be, an awesome undertaking by this group of Canadian broadcasters. We were privileged enough to be able to take a look behind the scenes of the International Broadcast Centre.
TSN and Rogers Sportsnet assignment editors who are normally competitors sit across from each other on the assignment desk, sharing stories.
There are five sets in the IBC in Vancouver, where the consortium is using 40,000 square feet and…
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TORONTO – A 45% increase in wireless data revenue helped power Rogers to a “very solid quarter of results”, the company announced Wednesday.
Data revenue now accounts for 24% of total wireless revenue, compared to 18% in the corresponding period of 2008. Rogers said that it activated an additional 400,000 smart phones during its fourth quarter, predominately Blackberry, iPhone and Android devices, of which approximately 40% were for subscribers new to Wireless.
Subscribers with smart phones now represent 31% of the overall postpaid subscriber base, up from 19% from the same quarter last year, and generate ARPU nearly twice that…
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TORONTO – Rogers says that it is looking forward to proving that its Internet service is the “fastest and most reliable” in Atlantic Canada, just like its advertising claims.
“We stand behind our advertising, which is based on rigorous, independent testing throughout Rogers’ Atlantic footprint, and not just one area or location” said Rogers spokesperson Odette Coleman in an email to Cartt.ca.
The comments came after Bell Aliant asked a court in New Brunswick to stop Rogers from using the claims, which it called "false and misleading”.
www.rogers.com
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VANCOUVER – Canadians can’t seem to get enough of the Olympics.
7.3 million viewers watched the first gold medal won on Canadian soil as Alexandre Bilodeau triumphed in the Men’s Moguls, making it one of the most-watched sporting events in Canadian history. Coverage of the event peaked at 9.7 million viewers, with 37% of the population (12.3 million) watching some part of the historic event, while an average audience of 6.3 million viewers, including 1.4 million Francophones, watched the Victory Ceremony in which Bilodeau was presented with the medal.
5 million viewers watched Kristina Groves win bronze in the Ladies’ 3000m…
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