DARTMOUTH, N.S.- Newcap Inc. announced today it will pay Haliburton Broadcasting $18.95 million for 12 FM stations in Central and Northern Ontario.
The press release doesn’t specify the stations exactly, but Haliburton owns 12 English-language radio licenses across Ontario’s cottage country and into northeastern Ontario which are branded Moose FM.
The stations are all generally A/C, classic rock or light rock stations and several are the only local FM signal in the market. The Moose stations’ frequencies and towns are: 106.3 North Bay; 93.1 Timmins; 97.7 Bancroft; 99.5 Bracebridge; 93.5 Haliburton; 105.5 Huntsville; 101.3 Parry Sound; 98.1 Cochrane; 94.1…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), based at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, has asked the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to open an investigation into targeted web advertising.
Using certain technologies, including deep packet inspection, Canadian ISPs can identify tendencies of its users in order to better target the web ads sent to their computer screens as they search. The idea is to deliver better, more relevant ads to consumers and deliver better, more relevant customers to advertisers.
The practice, known as behavioral targeting, is used in many jurisdictions, such as…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet has announced it will increase the number of Toronto Maple Leafs games it will televise to 28 this season, more than any other broadcaster. All telecasts will be available in high definition on Rogers Sportsnet HD.
Sportsnet will also broadcast an exhibition game between Toronto and the Buffalo Sabres on September 22nd, which is at no cost to fans to attend.
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The unions and guilds that represent Canada’s professional performers, directors and screenwriters are lining up in support of The Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) efforts to secure equitable agreements for program rights in negotiations with the major private broadcast networks, as well as the CBC.
"We support the independent producers’ position that equitable terms of trade agreements are needed to secure fairer deals for program rights," said Stephen Waddell, national executive director of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA). "Reaching fair terms for granting rights is a struggle with which we…
Continue Reading
A NUMBER OF PEOPLE have mentioned through 2008 that this has been an especially tumultuous year for the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, and some have questioned its vitality.
Regulatory changes, economic challenges, member company departures thanks to acquisitions, more new technology. Aren’t all of these issues conspiring to damage the CCSA and its membership? In a word: No. In a few more words: These are the very challenges the CCSA has confronted head-on since its origination. 2008 doesn’t present anything new.
Members have always come and gone. Founding member Fundy Cable is long gone, for example. However, when 500,000-plus-customer…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Canada’s English and French-language producers say they are determined to reach a fair deal with television networks as each side prepares to make their case on a new deal for program rights across a variety of platforms and media.
Tomorrow, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFPTA), which represents the majority of English-language independent producers, is slated to sit down with CTV, Canwest Global and Rogers to begin negotiating so-called “terms of trade” negotiations – framework agreements aimed at defining and valuing program rights. These framework agreements would apply to individual negotiations between broadcasters and producers…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Finally, after nearly two months of bidding, involving 331 rounds, Canada’s auction of wireless spectrum ended today, but is merely the first wave of change that will transform the nation’s telecommunications industry.
Canadian companies bid a total of $4.25 billion for 282 wireless-airwave licenses, the proceeds are more than twice the amount analysts had expected. The 15 successful bidders of the auction that began May 27 are eligible to receive licenses after making their final payments and showing compliance with Canadian ownership and control requirements.
Rogers Communications, Canada’s largest wireless carrier, bid $999.4 million for 59 licenses, reports…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – It’s time for Corus Entertainment to jettison its stable of 15 Quebec radio stations, says an analyst’s report.
“Admittedly, Corus Radio’s performance in (fiscal) 2008 has been disappointing relative to plan. Despite the Western skew of the company’s radio operations (40% of total), Corus has been struggling to keep up with industry performance,” reads a report from Genuity Capital Markets media and communications analyst Carl Bayard.
“The reasons: several new competitors in Calgary, where Corus grew by 7% compared to market growth of 13% in Q3/08, and a lagging station group in Quebec, combined with a very soft…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – If everyone agrees the deployment of advanced advertising, finely targeted advertising, is a damn good idea that should yield a nice, new burst of revenue, why can’t the industry pull it off?
That was the question I had in my head prior to Tuesday morning’s CTAM Canada panel discussion on the topic held in Toronto at the Velma Rogers Graham Theatre. I’ve heard the players who spoke on this topic at other events and have chatted with most of them in person, too, on this topic.
Invidi Technologies, which led off the morning with a presentation on…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CFTPA has added one of the architects of the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, Gordon Ritchie, to its negotiating team, just prior to beginning talks on program rights deals with the major private over-the-air television networks, as well as CBC.
“Gordon’s wealth of experience and sound judgment will be invaluable to us as we sit down with CTV, Canwest Global, Rogers and CBC to negotiate more equitable trading terms with our broadcaster partners that reflect the realities facing independent Canadian producers,” said Canadian Film and Television Producers Association chair Sandra Cunningham, in a release.
According to the…
Continue Reading
