TORONTO – Goldman Sachs is appealing an Ontario court’s decision to allow Shaw Communications to proceed with its takeover of debt-laden CanWest Global.
The move means that the bid put forth by Toronto-based investment fund Catalyst Capital, the Asper family and former Rogers execs Rael Merson and John Tory, is still in play.
In documents filed in court this week, Goldman Sachs, which financed CanWest’s purchase of specialty channels from Alliance Atlantis back in 2007, appears to be pulling out all the stops to protect its investment, while accusing the new buyers of trying to pick up the…
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TORONTO – Although they were hard pressed to admit it, cable operators at Wednesday’s SCTE Canadian Summit acknowledged that customer complaints to their call centres are often the best measurement of the quality of digital service being provided by their networks.
It isn’t that these cable ops are lacking network monitoring platforms, or don’t use the resultant diagnostic data to address problems detected by those tools. The bigger issue is that many of the existing measurement and diagnostic tools on the market tell only part of the story, said the speakers who took part in a panel discussion on digital quality issues.
Michel Lapointe, senior…
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GIVEN WHAT HAS now happened since the value-for-signal/fee-for-carriage hearing, an alert reader reminded us of something CRTC commissioner Timothy Denton pondered as the folks from Shaw Communications appeared in front of the Commission panel.
Back on November 20th, the now infamous hearing visit by CEO Jim Shaw featured a lot of, well, interesting exchanges. In the official transcript the word “Laughter” appears 23 times, more than on any other day.
It also featured the word “woosa”, which we thought was something misheard by the official transcribers – until we looked it up. It means, according to urbandictionary.com, “to calm down and…
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OTTAWA – It’s a much-anticipated decision, but it won’t be released until after March Break.
For those on the regulatory side of the industry with kids off school and vacations planned, this is a good thing: Cartt.ca has learned that the target week for the release of the decision on 2009-411, the so-called value-for-signal/fee-for-carriage proceeding, is the week of March 22nd.
Click here for a little refresher…
Look for the Commission to also have something to say on VOD advertising and local avails, which will then tie into what happens with this application.
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WINNIPEG – The founding family of Canwest Global Communications is officially gone from the executive suite.
With his brother and sister resigning from their board positions last month, Canwest Global Communications said this morning Leonard Asper has tendered his resignation as president and CEO and all other director and officer positions with the company his father Izzy founded in the 1970s “in order to pursue other business opportunities and to avoid any concerns regarding potential conflicts of interest,” reads the official press release. The announcement was not a surprise.
Asper will continue to provide the company with advice through a…
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CALGARY – Shaw has helped to deliver more than $900,000 to the on-going relief and recovery efforts of the Red Cross in Haiti.
In addition to a corporate donation of $100,000 immediately following January’s devastating earthquake, Shaw doubled its employees’ donations, which in turn were matched by the Canadian government.
"We are blown away by the generous contributions of our employees in providing relief to those affected by this disaster," said president Peter Bissonnette, in a statement. "The fact that many of our employees were able to donate $50 or $100 out of their paycheques demonstrates the incredible spirit and generosity of our employees."
Shaw…
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DELTA, B.C. – With competitor Shaw Cable overbuilding in its territory, Delta Cable upped the competitive ante with the launch of Delta Cable Video On Demand for customers in North Delta, Tsawwassen and Ladner.
"Video on demand gives customers what they want, when they want it," said Craig Johnson, Delta’s regional manager. "There are no schedule constraints, so viewers get instant, automatic access with the ability to pause, rewind and fast forward putting them in control of their TV experience."
Delta’s VOD includes:
Free Zone and Subscription Channels; Movie Central and Super Channel On Demand; HD Movies and movie rentals; special…
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TORONTO – While an Ontario Superior Court judge on Friday gave Shaw Communications the green light to move ahead with its plan for CanWest Global, other companies have come forward to say, “hey, we would have liked to get in on the bidding, too.”
However, companies which wanted to take a close look at the troubled broadcaster and newspaper publisher had to first sign a non-disclosure agreement which prevented them from even talking to Goldman Sachs, which is the key creditor as the 65% equity holder of CW Media Holdings, the division which owns and operates CanWest’s specialty channels.
Canwest…
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CALGARY – The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has approved Shaw’s takeover bid of Canwest, despite a last minute rival bid lead by investment fund Catalyst Capital, the Asper family and two former Rogers execs.
The Calgary-based cable company has entered into agreements with Canwest and certain 8% senior subordinated noteholders for a minimum commitment to buy $95 million worth of Class A voting shares in a restructured Canwest, which represents 20% equity and an 80% voting interest.
Shaw’s initial equity interest will exceed 20% depending on the number of Canwest creditors that elect cash rather than shares in restructured…
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OTTAWA – CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said Friday the regulator had “made a mistake” in eliminating Canadian content spending requirements for over-the-air broadcasters back in 1999.
Speaking in conversation with broadcast veteran Trina McQueen during the CFTPA Prime Time in Ottawa conference, von Finckenstein added, “It doesn’t make sense.”
However, the chair noted that the system “can’t turn back.” While failing to confirm expenditures would be revived in upcoming regulation, it looks like the CRTC is heading that way.
McQueen noted that the CRTC should not want “to make the same mistake over again” (by not changing the rules).
Can’t the amount…
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