GATINEAU – Bell Canada is now prepared to allow the Canadian Broadcast Corp. to receive money from the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) as long as the pubcaster is the sole provider of local TV services in a particular small market.
The media and communications giant had argued in comments that since the CBC receives approximately $1 billion from the federal government it shouldn’t qualify for funds from LPIF. But during opening remarks, Mirko Bibic, executive VP and chief legal and regulatory officer at BCE, said private local TV remains in a difficult financial situation and could see station closures,…
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TORONTO – Canada's three new wireless-only carriers are having little impact on the country’s big telecom incumbents, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.
The report, ‘Canadian Telecommunications and Cable Industries: Consolidation Could Be in Store as New Wireless Companies Appear to Struggle’, says Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile, which are not rated by Moody’s, do not have the economies of scale, the access to funding, or the latest products to undercut or challenge the incumbents' market share. Rogers (Baa1 stable), Bell Canada (Baa1 stable) and Telus (Baa1 stable) together make up nearly 92% of Canada’s market…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will hear why the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) needs to be kept – and why it should be killed off – when a public hearing over its existence gets under way in Gatineau Monday morning.
The fund was created almost three years ago (in the midst of the financial crisis and just prior to the destructive Stop-The-TV-Tax vs. Local-TV-Matters battle), before Shaw and Bell bought into broadcasting, to support the creation of local television programming, particularly local news, in smaller markets. At that time, it was determined broadcaster spending on local programming had stagnated or…
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IT’S PRETTY UNUSUAL for dropped cellular phone calls to be mentioned in a Speech from the Throne.
But, that’s exactly what happened last fall when Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor Gordon Barnhart said in that speech that “improving digital and electronic infrastructure is essential to the new economy,” and that “(d)ropped cell phone calls are still a problem, despite an increased investment in SaskTel’s 4G network of $170 million in my government’s first term.”
SaskTel’s ownership – the taxpayers of Saskatchewan – is a holdover of the past, when many telcos were government-owned. While its competitors feel competing against the government is unfair, the…
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I READ WITH INTEREST your commentary concerning the dispute between the independent BDUs (CIDG) and Bell Media.
Like Kevin Crull, the CEO of Bell Media, I too have “walked on both sides of the fence” (as noted in his letter of March 28). I was the president of the Canadian Cable Television Association and the CEO of Star Choice, Bell ExpressVu’s principal competitor, now known as Shaw Direct. More recently, I was the head of English services at the CBC, which, like Bell Media, includes a big conventional network and a number…
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ON THURSDAY, A PANEL of seven CRTC commissioners and a dozen industry executives took part in a hearing where they all must have asked themselves repeatedly, “Geez, how often have I heard this before?” At least, that’s the question that popped into my head as I listened in.
Bell Media faced off against the Canadian Independent Distributors Group during an expedited hearing concerning the parties’ fight over Bell Media’s 2011 wholesale carriage agreement, as we have already covered extensively. The CIDG (Telus, Cogeco, EastLink, Canadian Cable Systems Alliance and MTS) say the dispute isn’t primarily about…
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GATINEAU – There was little love for the CRTC when, on the day before St. Valentine’s Day, Videotron filed its appeal of the wholesale Internet billing decision (more popularly known as the usage-based-billing issue). However, the Quebec cableco wasn’t the only provider to let its feelings be known regarding the matter, other network owners as well as the independent ISPs have taken the Commission to task over the appropriate rates for wholesale network access and use.
The issue that never seems to go away is not focused on the capacity-based billing framework, which most agree is a good idea, but…
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TORONTO – GlassBox Television has named Vanessa Case as executive vice president of programming, effective immediately.
Case joins GlassBox with over with over 17 years of experience in the broadcast industry, most recently with Shaw Media where she was responsible for that company’s specialty channel programming and scheduling as both senior director and as vice president of content. In her new role, Case (right) will oversee the programming and scheduling of Travel+Escape, Bite TV and Aux TV.
“Having Vanessa join our executive team is another step towards our…
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CALGARY – Corus Entertainment’s corporate secretary and prominent Calgarian Jack Perraton died February 19th after a brief battle with leukemia. He was 65.
Throughout his career, Perraton (pictured) worked as a prominent attorney and community leader. He was Chancellor of the University of Calgary from 1998 to 2002 and was on the board of governors from 1998 to 2011. He also chaired the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta from 2003 to 2011 and was CEO of the Canada 2005 Exposition Corporation which led Canada’s bid to host a World’s Fair in 2005.
OTTAWA – The success of independent producers under the CRTC’s group licensing regime (GLR) will be tied to that of the broadcasters, the Canadian Media Production Association’s Prime Time 2012 heard this morning.
Peter Grant, counsel at McCarthy Tetrault, presented findings of a short paper examining the impact of GLR on indie producers that show under this new regime a substantial increase in money will become available for Canadian programming. He said that money available will jump from $290 million in 2012 to approximately $329 million in 2016. What’s also evident is that programs of national interest (PNI) will make…
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