OTTAWA – Rogers should spend as much money proportionately on Canadian programming on Citytv as it does on baseball players, says the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
CEP says Rogers’ deal to buy the City stations from CTV, as required by the CRTC, “could work out” if it gives them as much attention as it does its interests in the Toronto Blue Jays.
When examining the deal, the CRTC should hold Rogers to high commitments of spending on Canadian programming, the union says. “Rogers has the money to excite competition but the question is: will…
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BANFF – The Canadian Television Fund, saying it was responding to “a concern” but declining to name whose concern, said it would put off any changes to its bylaws until the CRTC is finished its review of the fund.
Two weeks ago, Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw sent a blistering letter to the CTF saying the fact the organization was planning to alter its bylaws at the same time the CRTC is examining the fund and its operations “flies in the face of common sense.”
Today, buried in a press release of the CTF’s report to stakeholders, the…
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TORONTO – Recognizing that there was probably no way out of last week’s CRTC decision that disallowed the purchase of the Citytv franchise by CTV (a story first broken by Cartt.ca), CTVglobemedia agreed today to sell the five stations to Rogers Media for $375 million.
Today’s deal scraps an earlier agreement that had Rogers acquiring the secondary market A Channels (Barrie, London, Wingham, Windsor and Ottawa Ont., as well as Victoria B.C.), which CTV will now hang onto. Rogers new stations will be Citytv Toronto (CITY-TV), Citytv Winnipeg (CHMI-TV), Citytv Edmonton (CKEM-TV), Citytv Calgary (CKAL-TV) and Citytv…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – While the Canadian TV world was concentrated on the portion of CTVglobemedia’s deal to purchase CHUM that was denied, the Commission also used Friday to announce decisions on Alberta’s new TV choices.
The CRTC approved Rogers Communications application for another OMNI multicultural station serving Calgary and Edmonton. It also denied an application by MVBC Holdings (owners of Vancouver’s Channel M) for an ethnic over-the-air license in the same cities.
"We are delighted with today’s decision. Since 1979, OMNI Television has been a prolific producer and purchaser of Canadian television in over 40 languages," said Leslie…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – It was an application that asked for the insertion of a new middleman in the Canadian television scheme and the CRTC said a definitive “no” to the concept on Friday.
Former Craig Media CEO Drew Craig created Only Imagine Inc as a company which would sell the two minutes per hour of so-called local avail ad time American cable channels provide to cable companies to sell.
Of the millions OI said could be brought in, most of it would go to fund Canadian content. Cable companies, broadasters and commissioners were opposed to the idea, as…
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OTTAWA – CTVglobemedia may have declined all comment today on the CRTC’s decision to approve its takeover of Chum Limited – without CHUM’s key TV assets, the Citytv stations in Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver – but some observers and commissioners have said much of what CTV CEO Ivan Fecan and colleagues must be thinking.
As first reported on cartt.ca yesterday, the regulator approved the transfer of effective control of CHUM Ltd. to CTVglobemedia Inc., but the collection of new assets CTV would obtain is significantly different than what it proposed in its application. (With the public hearings…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will issue its decision on the purchase of CHUM Ltd. by CTVglobemedia tomorrow morning, Cartt.ca has learned.
It’s a stunningly quick decision, given the size of the deal and the fact the hearing concluded just five weeks ago, but according to sources, none of whom wish to be identified, it was an easy decision because the Commission will deny the biggest part of the acquisition: CTV’s request to purchase CHUM’s Citytv stations.
The CRTC has had a long-standing policy against Canadian broadcasters owning a twin-stick operation – or two commercial over-the-air stations of the same…
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BANFF and TORONTO – While Canada’s telecommunications leaders debate the future of telecom in Toronto at the Canadian Telecom Summit next week, the world’s leaders in digital media and television will be making headlines at NextMedia and the Banff World Television Festival.
Cartt.ca will be on the ground at all three, of course, providing regular reports.
First out of the gate is NextMedia, beginning tomorrow in Banff. Organized by Achilles Media, the same company that puts on the BWTF (not to mention NATPE Mobile++ and the World Congress of History Producers), NextMedia features cutting-edge speakers and session topics.
For example,…
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THE ONLY EXISTING facilities-based wireless player advocating that Industry Canada come up with a different formula for auctioning off wireless spectrum than an open auction is MTS Allstream.
The company is the dominant player in Manitoba, but it seems clear the company has designs on growing beyond its friendly borders to offer wireless service.
Lumped in as a "scallywag" by Ted Rogers, MTS is attempting to get into the national wireless game as cheaply as possible, asking for certain spectrum blocks to be set aside and for mandated roaming until its towers are constructed.
On the other side,…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Citing the "questionable business practices" of independent cable co-op Campbell River TV Association, Shaw Communications declined earlier this year to renew the contract of its Shaw Pay-Per-View service with the small cable company.
When Shaw made it known to CRTV that the contract would not be renewed, the co-op filed a complaint with the CRTC under section 6.1(1) of the Pay Television Regulations, 1990, which prohibits a licensee from giving an undue preference to any person, including itself, or subjecting any person to an undue disadvantage.
While CRTV said the PPV or VOD options available to it…
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