TORONTO – In a note to clients, BMO Nesbitt Burns media and cable analyst Tim Casey notes the Shaw Communications purchase price of Mountain Cablevision may be as high as $300 million (a whopping $7,300 per sub).
While saying the impact of the purchase is “slightly negative” for Shaw, Casey notes that industry contacts “have speculated a price in the $300mm range, implying roughly 12x EBITDA,” he wrote.
“The transaction is a surprise given Shaw’s Ontario assets are in Sault Ste. Marie, Kenora and Thunder Bay. We expect operating synergies will be limited.
“Given Shaw’s industry-leading track record regarding capital allocation, we…
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CALGARY – This week, Shaw Communications removed four channels, BBC Kids, Court TV Canada, Discovery Kids and TV Land Canada from the channel lineups on Shaw Digital Cable and satellite service Shaw Direct (formerly Star Choice).
CTVglobemedia owns TV Land Canada and Court TV and while TV Land was carried only by Shaw Direct, Court TV was carried on cable and satellite.
Canwest-owned BBC Kids was carried by cable and satellite, too, and Corus Entertainment’s Discovery Kids was just available on Shaw Direct.
All three programmers confirmed that the channels have either already been removed, or are about to be. Each are…
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TORONTO – CTV has sold CKX-TV Brandon to Canadian investment firm Bluepoint Investment Corporation for one dollar.
Bluepoint assumes all of CKX-TV’s broadcast assets, liabilities and commitments with the purchase, including the station’s 39 employees, the announcement read.
"This is good news for the employees that work at CKX-TV Brandon and the surrounding communities who depend everyday on the local programming that the station provides," said Paul Sparkes, CTVglobemedia’s EVP of corporate affairs, in the announcement. "Being an independent operator, Bluepoint will be able to access the Small Market Local Programming Fund. This is something that neither CTV nor Canwest have…
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CALGARY – Shaw Direct customers now have local and international weather at their fingertips thanks to Shaw Direct Weather, a new interactive service that launched Wednesday.
Customers with advanced Shaw Direct receivers can tune in to the new service for customizable, 5-day weather forecasts from more than 1,500 Canadian communities, U.S. cities, and select international destinations in both English and French via two dedicated channels.
The new channels will be rolled out on a free preview basis to all customers with receivers that have on-screen picture-in-guide capability through July 22, 2009.
"Our customers demand the best in flexible and affordable viewing experiences and…
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GATINEAU – In back-to-back presentations this morning, the CRTC heard from two of Canada’s largest ISPs, Telus and Cogeco Cable, one of which uses no Internet traffic management techniques (yet) and one which uses them all the time.
Each want the same thing, however: to be left alone to manage their networks how they see fit.
Telus, the big western-based telco, uses no traffic management technology right now on either its retail consumers or wholesale business clients, said senior vice-president of regulatory and government affairs Michael Hennessy. But it wants the freedom to be able to deploy them, if needed, in…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications says the CRTC has “betrayed Canadians’ trust” with Monday’s announcement of two new taxes on TV consumers.
"It is difficult to believe the CRTC is mandating these tax transfers – money from the pockets of ten million Canadians to three Canadian broadcasters", said president Peter Bissonnette in a statement released Wednesday.
Like its cable brethren Rogers, Shaw has vowed to fight the new fees “aggressively”, noting that broadcasters have not commited to spending more on local programming with the additional funds.
"Our customers are already heavily subsidizing the broadcasters with a CRTC ordered tax of…
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EVEN WITH CHANNEL Zero’s encouraging purchase of two over-the-air TV stations from Canwest Global this week, we are now left with six small market TV stations whose owners have set August 31st as the final day they intend to have the transmitters turned on.
In case you missed it – and you might have, given the timing of the news – Shaw Communications told CTV late Tuesday that, essentially, it had lost its nerve and was backing down from its confrontation with CTV over local television. The western cableco, despite its now apparently false bravado claims of how…
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MONTREAL – Bell Canada finished off a pair of acquisitions today that will boost both its wireless subscribers as well as its branding and distribution capabilities.
First off, the company has completed its previously announced $135 million purchase of Canadian electronics retailer The Source. Now operating independently as The Source and as La Source in Québec, the company is already selling Bell TV, and will offer Bell and Virgin Mobile wireless products exclusively in January 2010. The stores used to sell Shaw Direct (formerly Star Choice) gear, but no more.
The Source had been owned by the bankrupt…
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GATINEAU – Earlier this week, the CBC attempted to give the CRTC a little advice before the Regulator releases its public notice announcing the September hearing into an overhaul of the regulation of the TV business in Canada this coming Monday.
As reported by Cartt.ca, this past Monday the CBC offered up a proposed new distribution order which would govern new fee-for-carriage negotiations between broadcasters and cable and satellite companies (actually, the broadcasters are trying to “re-brand” the fee-for-carriage battle to one entitled value for signal, but we digress…)
Together, Shaw Communications, Telus, Rogers Communications, Cogeco and Bell…
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TORONTO – CTV issued a terse press release this afternoon to announce that Shaw Communications will not purchase the broadcaster’s stations in Brandon, Man., Wingham and Windsor, Ont. after all.
In a newspaper ad on April 30, Shaw offered to buy the three stations from CTV after hearing the broadcaster tell the CRTC and the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that they couldn’t find anyone to buy the, not even for a buck.
Shaw called CTV on it, saying it would take the stations off their hands for a loonie each. CTV then called what has now proved to…
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