Advisory firms recommend shareholders vote in favour
CALGARY — Shaw Communications announced today two independent proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass, Lewis and Co., have recommended that Shaw’s shareholders vote for the proposed business merger with Rogers Communications announced in March.
The proposed $26-billion purchase deal would see Rogers acquire all of Shaw’s issued and outstanding Class A participating shares and Class B non-voting participating shares.
Shaw says a special shareholder meeting will be held virtually on May 20 at 10 a.m. MT. The purpose of the meeting is for Class A and B shareholders to consider…
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TORONTO — Music rights management organization SOCAN announced today 24 Canadian visionaries will be recognized at this year’s SOCAN Awards for the roles they played in helping to raise the stature of music made in Canada.
“Fifty years ago, they understood the need to protect and amplify Canadian music, giving rise to Cancon. These trailblazers will be awarded the SOCAN Guardian Award for their efforts in preserving and boosting Canadian culture,” reads SOCAN’s press release.
At a time when home-grown music was often considered inferior to foreign records dominating the charts, making it difficult for Canadian artists to get airtime on…
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Rural areas need a single, open access, network
By Joe Hickey
IN A WORLD WHERE many causes are highly politicized, rural broadband access is a cause just about everyone can get behind. With it, Canada can improve rural access to education, healthcare, and economic growth. This is especially important in the wake of COVID-19, which put a glaring spotlight on the digital divide, and made it all the rage to support rural broadband access.
Even major urban telcos seem to be getting on board, with Rogers Communications promising a $1 billion rural broadband fund in its recent proposal to…
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By Howard Law
UNTIL LAST WEEK, PARLIAMENT’S Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage was plodding through the clause-by-clause review of Bill C-10 with no tasty headlines. Perhaps the bill’s revamp of the Broadcasting Act, which would sweep in Netflix, isn’t controversial anymore.
Of course, federal political partisanship is inevitable, as Canadian as bad weather.
And so, we now have the Conservatives’ faux controversy over free expression on social media platforms. In an e-mail blast from CPC MPs across the country, they made their case:
“Recently, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-10 – a bill that would regulate social media websites like Facebook, YouTube, and…
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TORONTO – Wireless upstart Data On Tap (dotmobile), filed a petition to federal cabinet Tuesday asking the federal government to overturn the portion of the CRTC’s recent wireless policy decision which excluded a mandate for full mobile virtual network operators to participate in the wireless market in Canada.
Dotmobile is Canada’s first full MVNO but has yet been unable to come to a wholesale agreement with any Canadian wireless network operator (company owners say none of the carriers even return their calls seeking a meeting). The CRTC’s much-ballyhooed wireless decision, however, didn’t mandate access for full MVNOs like…
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CCSA, Distributel, Novus want application process reopened to allow more telecoms to participate in auction
TORONTO — Independent telecom service providers Distributel Communications, Novus Entertainment and the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), which has over 100 member companies, have written to Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne in support of a request last week by the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) for a 90-day delay to the start of the 3500 MHz spectrum auction currently scheduled to begin June 15.
In a letter today shared by Distributel CEO Matt Stein (who also chairs CNOC), the independent telecom company Continue Reading
VANCOUVER — Digital marketing and audience analytics company Magnify Digital announced Tuesday morning Bell Fund, Shaw Rocket Fund and Telus Fund are joining together to support a pilot project designed to drive discoverability of Canadian content and to provide content producers with tools and insights to help build audiences for their projects.
Vancouver-based Magnify Digital says its new audience analytics platform, ViewerCentric, is a cornerstone of its so-called Audience Development Pilot Project, which aims to standardize audience development requirements and reporting periods across the three funders.
ViewerCentric aggregates and visualizes audience data from multiple sources in one dynamic platform to help…
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada will hose a “lunch and learn” on Wednesday, April 28th featuring guest speaker David Shaw, senior vice-president international and content for the UFC, moderated by TSN’s mixed martial arts reporter Aaron Bronsteter.
The two will discuss how the UFC weathered – and thrived – during the Covid pandemic. The virtual event is free to CTAM members and will happen Wednesday, April 28 from noon to 1 p.m. ET.
Please click here for more.
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$10 million not enough of a deterrent, Péladeau says
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The maximum fine of $10 million for a first offence available to the CRTC to impose on violators of its rules is not enough for Bell Canada, Quebecor president and CEO Pierre-Karl Péladeau said Tuesday.
“I’m sorry to say this, it’s like a drop of water in the ocean,” he said Tuesday evening in an appearance in front of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, which is studying spending on large projects. “It doesn’t amount to much for a company like them…to delay the competition, it…
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Company chair Edward Rogers lays out Shaw purchase positives for investors
By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO — Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Rogers Communications today reported good results from its first quarter ended March 31, with revenue gains in its cable and media business units, although wireless service revenue was down compared to the same quarter last year.
Of course, there is more news than that orbiting the wireless, broadband, cable and media giant. While the company had so far been mostly mum on the recent new wireless policies announced by the CRTC (where the headline was mandated, regional, facilities-based MVNOs…
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