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NL Update

AT&T Canada and bondholder committee reach agreement
AT&T Canada announced today that it has reached an agreement in principle with the bondholders committee, which will see AT&T Canada debt holders receiving an aggregate payment of $200 million and 100% new equity in the telco. The CLEC also revealed that to advance this consensual restructuring plan, it filed for and received an Order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. In flurry of news from the CLEC in the past week, AT&T Canada also announced that it has repaid all of its $200 million credit facility and that CIBC Capital Partners has completed the purchase of outstanding shares in the company, in accordance with a previously-announced deal. More details:

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CCR Editorial

The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Decima Reports.

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Rogers CEO discusses many challenges now facing Canada’s cable industry

John Tory, president and CEO of Rogers Cable Inc., recently spoke about the challenges the cable industry faces in the current environment. Appearing at the Conference Board of Canada 2002 Business Outlook conference this month, he reiterated some key cable concerns, including television signal piracy, over regulation, technological changes and direct-to-home satellite TV competition. Below is an excerpt from his speech.

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CCR People

Carole Swan has been appointed associate deputy minister at Industry Canada. She served as associate secretary of the Treasury Board for three years prior to joining Industry Canada.

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CCR Short Takes

Cable gaining on satellite TV in share of digital market
Cable companies are in a stronger position than recently released Statistics Canada data would indicate, according to a report by Decima Publishing Inc. While 2001 figures released by StatsCan accurately reveal that satellite TV distributors are taking customers away from cable, Decima’s more recent research shows that cable is gaining on satellite’s lead in the digital TV environment, which is the future (CCR Update, Sept. 18/02). The Decima report reveals that in the second quarter of the year Bell ExpressVu and Star Choice accounted for 62 per cent of the 3.1 million digital subscribers (down from 63 per cent in the first quarter), versus cable’s 36 per cent (up from 35 per cent). An indepth analysis of the Canadian digital TV distribution market is provided in Decima’s The Digital Domain: Tracking the Growth and Development of the Canadian Digital TV Market, Vol. 2, Report 1. For more information, contact Ryan O’Neill at (613) 230-1984.

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CAB and CCTA express concerns over Industry Canada’s spectrum policy revision

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) are concerned that the federal government’s proposals for revising the country’s spectrum policy spell bad news for their members. The two associations warn in their responses to Ottawa’s Revision to the 1992 Spectrum Policy Framework for Canada document (DGTP-004-02) that some proposed revisions could hurt their members’ ability to gain access to affordable spectrum.

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CCSA asked to join anti-piracy efforts as members get update at annual meeting

Small cable companies across the country were asked to join in the fight against the grey and black satellite television market at their annual meeting in Toronto late last month. During a panel on piracy, an invitation was extended to the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) to join other industry players, government and law enforcement representatives at a meeting next week to look at television signal piracy.

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CRTC issues mandatory order against Vidéotron over inside wiring maneuvering

The CRTC has once again come out against Quebecor Media Inc., issuing a mandatory order against the Quebec media giant’s cable subsidiary Vidéotron ltée on the use of inside wiring – Broadcasting Decision 2002-299. Also this week, the commission rejected a Quebecor Media complaint against Bell ExpressVu LP in ruling that its parent, BCE Inc., wasn’t inappropriately cross-subsidizing the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributor’s entry into the Quebec market – Telecom Decision 2002-61.

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Bell ExpressVu, CAB agree on satellite distribution of local television signals

The per subscriber compensation for not having to perform signal deletion of out-of-market television signals hasn’t changed, but Bell ExpressVu LP has made other concessions under an agreement recently reached with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) on the distribution of distant Canadian stations. The direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV distributor has agreed to carry more Canadian local or regional television stations, not to distribute more than two sets of U.S. commercial network signals, and to redirect a portion of what it currently pays in support of Canadian production to a new fund for local programming.

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CRTC slows down Category 2 applications by requiring commitment of carriage

Anyone now applying for a Category 2 digital specialty television licence must "prove clear evidence of a reasonable likelihood" of carriage before the CRTC will proceed with processing the application. The move is meant to use commission staff resources more efficiently, but it is leaving some newcomers to the field in a Catch 22 situation because distributors aren’t willing to provide them with letters indicating that they will be carried until they actually have a broadcast licence.

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