THE INCENTIVES FOR THE great, big vertically integrated Canadian cabletelbroadcellcasters to act unfairly towards everybody else has become too great to ignore and new protections against potential perils are needed, say many companies in their submissions to the CRTC ahead of June’s hearing into vertical integration.
(Editor’s note: This preview originally ran on April 29th. We’re re-running it here as a preview of the hearing, which gets under way Monday in Ottawa with Rogers first up. As usual, Cartt.ca will be there. But if you can’t be there, it will be streamed live on cpac.ca – and available for…
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OTTAWA – Canadian television viewers need protection from the “anti-competitive practices of the large broadcasting companies”, according to Telus.
The telco made the comments Wednesday in reference to the “concentration of content ownership” as a result of the recent mergers of Shaw/Canwest and BCE/CTV. Telus suggested that the CRTC implement safeguards designed “to protect consumer choice and competitive pricing” as the Commission prepares to examine the issue of vertical integration at a hearing scheduled to begin on June 20, 2011.
Telus’ proposed safeguards include:– Distributors should not withhold content from competitors in order to prevent anti-competitive programming blackouts;– Preferential…
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TORONTO – Rogers confirmed Wednesday that it will launch its Long Term Evolution (LTE) network this year and roll out commercial services in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. The company then plans to launch in what it described as “the top 25 markets across Canada” by 2012.
"The world is moving to LTE and we’re thrilled to be leading the way by bringing this next generation technology to our consumer and business customers", said Rogers Communications president and CEO Nadir Mohamed, in a statement on Wednesday morning. "LTE is the critical foundation to deliver a world increasingly being defined by connected…
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TORONTO – Shaw Media announced last week that Andrew Eddy has joined Shaw Media as vice-president of content and distribution. He will be a member of the Shaw Media Management Team and will report to president Paul Robertson.
“Andrew brings over 20 years of media experience, most recently as vice president of content distribution and strategy for Corus Entertainment, where he was responsible for distribution strategy and sales for both linear and non-linear programming for specialty and premium television,” noted Robertson’s introductory e-mail to staff.
Eddy reported to Robertson when the latter was president of Corus Entertainment’s TV division before he…
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TORONTO – The Shaw Family continued their buying spree, after entities owned or controlled by them snapped up an additional 250,000 Class B non-voting shares of Corus Entertainment last week.
According to information provided to the company, the Shaw Family, and entities owned or controlled by them, holds 7,715,667 Class A voting shares and Class B non-voting shares combined of Corus.
Founded by JR Shaw, the Toronto-based media and entertainment company was built from the media assets originally owned by Shaw Communications, and spun off as a separate, publicly-traded company in 1999.
www.corusent.com
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CALGARY – Shaw has bumped up speeds on its base Internet package in what it describes as the first step in its new Internet packaging that will be announced in early summer.
The company said Wednesday that starting immediately, its Shaw Extreme package will be upgraded from 15 to 25 Mbps download, and from 1 to 2.5 Mbps upload at no extra cost to consumers.
"It’s an exciting time at Shaw as we begin to create a world-class Internet product, giving our customers the ultimate experience in connectivity and entertainment," said president Peter Bissonnette, in the announcement. "The Shaw Extreme speed…
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CALGARY- Shaw Communications announced Wednesday the Shaw Family, and entities owned or controlled by them, completed the purchase of an additional 1,000,325 class B non-voting shares of the company.
According to information provided to the company, the Shaw Family, and entities owned or controlled by them, holds 51,586,354 class A and class B shares of the company. The Shaw Family also advised the company that it would continue its practice of purchasing shares on a regular basis.
The company’s class B shares closed at $19.65 on Wednesday.
www.shaw.ca
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GATINEAU – There were some pretty big surprises as Canada’s large broadcast groups took the stand one last time during the CRTC’s group licensing proceeding in Gatineau last week.
While it should come as no shock that Bell Media maintained its position on symmetrical regulation of Canadian content spending requirements – 30% on Canadian production expenditure (CPE) and 5% programs of national interest (PNI) – Rogers Media shocked commissioners when it asked to be excluded from the group licensing regime.
For Bell, complying with the new group licensing approach is simple: all large broadcast groups should follow the same…
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MONTREAL – Not surprisingly, Quebecor-owned Videotron was the first TV service provider to trumpet the arrival of the Sun News Network, also owned by Quebecor, which launched nationally Monday afternoon.
Canada’s newest all-news channel, a re-brand of the over-the-air Sun TV in Ontario and simltaneously a digital specialty channel elsewhere, “is poised to shake up the Canadian news media landscape”, according to Videotron’s news release. With a mixture of “hard news” by day and “straight talk” by night, the network features talent such as Charles Adler, Ezra Levant, Theo Caldwell, Brian Lilley, Krista Erickson, Pat Bolland, Alex Pierson and David Akin.
“The network is…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications has asked the CRTC to drop the requirement that Shaw Cable and Shaw Direct be kept structurally separate.
In an application filed with the Commission, Shaw calls the 14-year old regulations “unnecessary in view of Canada’s competitive market for broadcasting distribution.” The rules were first introduced in 1997 when Shaw acquired DTH service Homestar, later christened Star Choice, and now known as Shaw Direct. At that time, they were designed to ensure that no undue preference or advantage passed between the company’s DTH service and Shaw’s cable business.
Shaw says those rules now “discriminate" against Shaw Direct,…
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