CCR Update

Alliance Atlantis, CBC to jointly commission TV projectsAlliance Atlantis Communications Inc. and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. have reached a three-year agreement to jointly commission Canadian television projects, ranging from dramatic series to children’s shows. The shows commissioned under the agreement will be broadcast on CBC and Alliance Atlantis’ channels. The agreement also allows Alliance Atlantis to broadcast on its channels a number of CBC programs, such as This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Made In Canada. More details. Deadline extended for comments on ExpressVu-CAB out-of-market signal dealThe CRTC has extended the deadline for comments on a Bell ExpressVu-Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) deal on the carriage of out-of-market signals to December 9 from December 2 (CCR, Oct. 10/02) – Broadcasting Public Notice 2002-57-1. Astral Media closes Telemedia transactionAstral Media Inc. on October 28 announced that it had closed the transaction to acquire Telemedia Corp.’s FM and AM assets in Quebec and Atlantic provinces. As previously disclosed, Astral Media has agreed to sell, subject to the requirement in the CRTC approval, all its AM assets in Quebec as a network and CFOM-FM in Quebec City (CCR, April 25/02). More details. National Film Board looking for documentary pitches after signing co-production deal with France 2The National Film Board has put out a call for projects after inking a co-production deal with television broadcaster France 2. They will co-produce two documentaries on social issues, which will be broadcast in prime time and be distributed as films internationally by the NFB. Projects must be submitted, at the pre-development stage, no later than 5 p.m. on December 12. More details. Bell ExpressVu to provide TV service in St. John’s subdivisionSatellite TV operator Bell ExpressVu LP has inked a deal with Donovan Homes to supply satellite TV systems to 120 semi-detached units in a new subdivision in St. John’s NF. Each home will receive a Bell ExpressVu 3120 system with a second TV connection as a value-added feature of their home purchase. CRTC holds hearing on licensing of new FM stations in KitchenerThe CRTC began a hearing on October 28 to consider competing applications for a FM station in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. The CRTC issued a call for licence applications on December 21, 2001, after receiving one such application – Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing 2002-9, 2002-9-1. Commissioners on the panel are Joan Pennefather, Stuart Langford, Barbara Cram, Jean-Marc Demers and Ron Williams. The hearing is expected to run until November 1. More details. Lonestar gets approval to run more program categoriesGlobal Television’s digital specialty TV channel Lonestar has received regulatory approval to add the programming categories of infomercials, promotional and corporate videos to the list of categories from which it can draw its programming – Broadcasting Decision 2002-331. WETV Canada gets licence amendmentJoining a number of other digital channels requesting tweaking to their channels, WETV Canada has received a licence amendment for its environmental service The Green Channel – Broadcasting Decision 2002-316. "Broadcast day" has been redefined as a 24-hour period, beginning at midnight. WETV told the CRTC that a 24-hour service would enable its signal to be available to its subscribers at any time in all time zones. Country Canada transfer of ownership approved, channel requests licence amendmentThe CRTC has approved the transfer of Corus Entertainment Inc.’s stake in the Category 1 digital specialty TV channel Country Canada to its partner, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. – Broadcasting Decision 2002-336. As result, the CBC’s ownership in the channel has increased from 30 per cent to 100 per cent. The purchase price is $1.2 million. In exchange for the approval, the CBC has offered tangible benefits of $425,000 for new programming initiatives for the channel. That programming would include bringing Radio One’s radio call-in program Cross-Country Check-Up to television on a weekly basis (estimated cost at about $125,000), introducing a new weekly program Your Town (estimated at $100,000), and introducing a new daily call-in program (estimated at $200,000). The CBC also said that it would increase its Canadian content commitments, and has filed a licence application to that effect – Broadcasting Public Notice 2002-64. CHUM gets licence renewalThe CRTC has given CHUM Ltd. only a short-term licence renewal for its CKVU-TV Vancouver station over concerns that "the long-term plans and commitments for the Vancouver station presented by CHUM lacked the degree of detail and the clarity that would justify a full seven-year licence renewal" – Broadcasting Decision 2002-323. The licence will expire August 31, 2004, which coincides with the expiry for CHUM’s CIVI-TV Victoria station. The licence of CIVI-TV, a new channel, wasn’t being considered in this process. CKVU-TV was being considered for renewal with CHUM’s six conventional TV stations in Ontario. CHUM’s Ontario stations were renewed until August 31, 2009. The CRTC said that it’s "generally satisfied that CHUM has adhered to the conditions and expectations currently attached to the licences of the various conventional television stations it owns and operates." CRTC welcomes release of report on regulatory reformThe CRTC has praised the report on regulatory reform that was recently released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The commission makes note of the fact that the OECD found that the CRTC has procedures that are open and transparent, and that it makes extensive use of public consultation, open to all, and has an informative web site. More details. Rogers, Mountain apply to carry OMNI.2 outside basic bandRogers Cable Inc. has asked the CRTC to amend the licences for its cable systems serving the Toronto area and outlying cities such as Guelph and Kitchener so that it can carry its second ethnic channel, Omni.2, on basic cable but outside the basic band – Broadcasting Public Notice 2002-66. Hamilton-based Mountain Cablevision Ltd. has also asked to carry the service on channel 62 as part of its basic package. Comments on the applications are due by December 4. Blais leaving CRTC for senior Canadian Heritage postJean-Pierre Blais is leaving the CRTC as executive director of broadcasting to become assistant deputy minister of international and intergovernmental affairs at Canadian Heritage. He begins his new responsibilities on December 2. International and intergovernmental affairs is one of five sectors in the department and is responsible for Sport Canada, Vancouver's 2010 Olympic bid, trade and investment issues, and general international and intergovernmental affairs matters. Leaving Canadian Heritage is Hélène Gosselin, who becomes deputy secretary of intergovernmental policy and intergovernmental affairs at the Privy Council Office. She was the founding ADM of the International and Intergovernmental Affairs sector, which was formed in April of this year. StatsCan revises film, video production statisticsRevisions to the film, video and audio-visual production survey originally released by Statistics Canada on July 22 show an increase in total production revenues from Quebec film, video and audio-visual producers. They earned revenues of $414 million compared with the $383 million previously reported. The total profit margin in the province was 5.1 per cent, not the 4.6 per cent previously reported. The number of productions has also been revised for each year. The survey covered film, video and audio-visual production from 1995/96 and 1999/2000. More details. Canbras cable subscribers up 16.5% from year earlierCanbras Communications Corp., which is majority-owned by Bell Canada International and operates cable systems in Brazil, increased EBITDA to $3.7 million from $0.5 million a year ago, according to financials released October 29. Despite the economic and political uncertainties prevailing in Brazil, the company said it was successful by concentrating on subscriber growth and implementing cost reduction measures. The cable subscriber base grew 16.5 per cent from September 2001 to exceed 188,000. However, Canbras anticipates that year-end results will reach the low-end of the range set in its updated guidance released last year. More details. INTERNATIONAL NEWS Powell cites positive signs that digital gaining consumer acceptanceFederal Communications Commission chair Michael Powell noted that there are some positive signs that digital television is beginning to penetrate the public consciousness. Those factors include TV commercials for retailers and manufacturers now specifically targeting the DTV market, the rollout of HDTV in 1,500 Wal-Mart stores in the United States, some TV listings making note of which shows are in HD, and a 77 per cent increase in DTV set and monitor sales this September over the same month last year. About 270,000 units were sold in the month of September alone. But Powell also made note of the numerous challenges facing the broadcast industry, including tough capital markets, changing market structure, new forms of competition, fractured consumer interests and technological disruption. He was speaking October 22 in Washington DC at the Association for Maximum Television DTV Update Conference. More details. VOD sales boosts Concurrent Computer’s financialsA strong demand for video-on-demand (VOD) hardware pushed Atlanta-based Concurrent Computer Corp. out of the red for the quarter ending September 30, 2002. VOD revenue at its XSTREME division rose 281 per cent to US$13.4 million compared to US $3.5 million in the same quarter a year earlier. During the quarter, the company shipped its MediaHawk video servers to markets in support of the commercial deployment of movies-on-demand (MOD) and subscription-on-demand (SVOD). The company states that it has deployed 692 servers in 48 markets with 3.4 million digital subscribers. More details. Nielsen Media to provide two ratings, one with satellite numbers excludedNielsen Media Research will begin separating out local wired-cable ratings in 210 major U.S. markets no later than the fourth quarter of 2003, reports the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB). Citing a Broadcasting and Cable article, the TVB notes that Nielsen is to provide two ratings per network in each market – total audience figures and wired cable system audiences. Homes receiving their signals through satellite don’t get local commercials. More details.

CCR Update

Broadcast | October 30, 2002

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