CCR Update

February 5, 2004 Bell ExpressVu subscriber growth rebounds slightly in Q4Satellite TV leader Bell ExpressVu LP added 35,000 net subscribers in its fiscal 2003 fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2003, a rebound of sorts from disappointing subscriber growth posted in previous quarters in 2003, according to financial results released February 4. The satellite TV provider ended the quarter and fiscal year with a total of 1,387,000 subscribers. The recently launched Bundle from Bell likely helped boost satellite TV subscriptions from the sluggish growth posted in previous quarters. Bell ExpressVu added 83,000 net subscribers in fiscal 2003. Q4 2003 and full-year 2003 subscriber growth was well below the 83,000 net subscribers added in Q4 2002 and 235,000 net subscribers added in all of 2002. During Q4 2003, Bell ExpressVu introduced one- and two-year contract term commitments “to improve customer retention and enhance the quality of our subscriber base,” according to BCE Inc.’s Q4 shareholder report. Approximately 90% of the customers added in the fourth quarter committed to one- or two-year contracts.MTS adds 10,000th digital TV subscriberManitoba Telecom Services Inc. (MTS) announced this week that it had signed up its 10,000th TV subscriber as its MTS TV service celebrates its first birthday. “Winnipeggers have embraced MTS TV, far beyond our expectations,” said Cheryl Barker, president and COO of MTS Communications Inc., the MTS subsidiary responsible for the telco’s TV service. “A survey of customer satisfaction says it all – over 94% of MTS TV customers say they’re very satisfied, the highest rating ever of any MTS product,” she said in a news release. Also this week the telco announced its financial and subscriber results for the fourth quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2003. MTS added 2,905 net MTS TV subscribers in Q4 to end the quarter and year with a total of 8,693 subscribers. That compares to 3,188 net TV subscribers added in the previous quarter. MTS TV was available to 42% of the Winnipeg market at the end of 2003. The telco will soon offer pay-per-view and will launch video-on-demand later this year.Private TV profits double in one year; ACTRA calls for tougher CRTC rulesNet profits posted by private TV stations doubled to $189.8 million in 2003 from $95.6 million a year earlier, according to CRTC statistics released February 3. Revenues also grew by 10.4%, jumping to $2.087 billion in 2003 from $1.89 billion in 2002. Expenses increased 4.5% to reach $1.7 billion in 2003. The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) said the higher-than-normal profits for the private broadcasters have resulted from relaxed CRTC regulations, namely the commission’s 1999 TV policy that eliminated Canadian content spending requirements for the large networks. “These major corporations have doubled their profits while Canada’s performers and other creators are left in the cold as private broadcasters shun providing meaningful support for English-language drama and revel instead in airing cheap reality programming,” said ACTRA executive director Stephen Waddell. “It’s a national shame that needs to be exposed and addressed immediately.” According to the CRTC’s annual statistical and financial data report on the Canadian TV industry, $117.8 million was spent on Canadian drama in 2003, a 20.8% increase from 2002.Cablecos want to carry NFL Network in digital, CCTA lends support to digital carriage of Bloomberg TV and MSNBCThe Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA) is filing an application this week with the CRTC to request that the NFL Network be authorized for carriage in Canada on a digital basis. On February 2, the organization also sent a letter to the commission supporting a request from Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. to allow the U.S. cable news network MSNBC to be distributed in digital and from Shaw Communications Inc. to bring Bloomberg Television to digital subscribers in Canada (CCR Update, Dec. 19/03). “Rather than being a threat to existing services, we believe that these services can and do complement Canadian licensed services,” writes CCTA acting president Michael Hennessy in the letter.Telus applies for changes to its broadcast distribution licencesTelus Communications Inc. has applied for amendments to its broadcast distribution licences covering certain communities in Alberta and British Columbia “in order to offer a more attractive and competitive set of services relative to direct-to-home (DTH) distributors and incumbent cable operators in its licensed service areas” (Broadcasting Public Notice 2004-7). Among its requests are to carry CKRD-TV (CBC) Red Deer as part of its basic service in Edmonton and Calgary, to offer at its option a package of U.S. 4+1 network signals as part of its basic service or its discretionary service, and to replace the PBS signal from Spokane with one from Seattle in its U.S. 4+1 package. Telus would also like to offer CBC’s Galaxie music service on basic. Comments on the proposed amendments are due March 8.Investment group agrees to buy Persona for $406 millionA Dallas TX-based firm has agreed to buy cableco Persona Inc. for about $406 million for a group of investors, it was announced January 29. Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Incorporated (HMTF) reached the agreement with Persona on behalf of an investor group it had assembled, which includes Canadian Private Equity Partners and CIBC Capital Partners. Persona is Canada’s sixth-largest cableco with 663 systems serving about 223,000 subscribers in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. It also owns cable systems in the Bahamas. As part of the transaction, Philip Keeping, a 14% shareholder and director of Persona, will acquire all the issued and outstanding shares of Persona Communications (Barbados) Inc., whose only material asset is an indirect 25% equity interest in Cable Bahamas Limited.CRTC denies licence to China Essence TV, but grants one for The Fight NetworkThe CRTC denied on January 30 an application by Howard Ling for a Category 2 digital specialty TV channel licence for the China Essence Television Network (CETN) because it was deemed competitive with Fairchild Television Ltd.’s existing channel Talentvision (Broadcasting Decision 2004-57). The same day, the CRTC approved a Category 2 diginet licence for TFN – The Fight Network (Broadcasting Decision 2004-62). The channel will be devoted to programming related to the arts, skills and science of combatants.CRTC approves more licences for over-the-air digital stationsThe CRTC has granted transitional digital television licences to a number of stations, including Crossroads Television System (Broadcasting Decision 2004-63), CTV Television Inc.’s CFTO-TV Toronto (Broadcasting Decision 2004-64), Craig Media’s Toronto One (Broadcasting Decision 2004-65), CTV’s CIVT-TV Vancouver (Broadcasting Decision 2004-66), and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s Toronto stations (Broadcasting Decision 2004-68 and Broadcasting Decision 2004-69). CHUM Ltd.’s Citytv was the first Canadian station to receive a licence to operate a transitional digital television undertaking. It launched CitytvHD in January 2003 but has had trouble getting high-definition programming for the channel (CCR, Jan. 16/03). See next week’s issue of Canadian Communications Reports for more details.New Canadian Heritage minister pledges to fight for reinstatement of CTF moneyNew Canadian Heritage minister Hélène Chalifour Scherrer vowed in an interview with Canadian Communications Reports that she would work to restore money cut last year from the Canadian Television Fund. Her comments echo those made during her address on January 29 at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) conference in Ottawa. “I am well aware of the success that the (Canadian Television) Fund has had in revitalizing your industry,” she said. “But I am also well aware of the impact the cuts to the Canadian Television Fund had on your industry last year. …I hear your concerns and assure you that I want to work with everyone of you to ensure that Canada has one of the strongest production industries in the world.”Ontario culture minister pledges no tax credit cutsOntario minister of Culture Madeleine Meilleur vowed that the Ontario government would not cut film and TV tax credits in her address at the annual conference of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA). “Many of you have heard the rumours that our government was about to change or pull the tax credit on film and television making in Ontario. Well, I am here to tell you that is simply not true,” she said January 30 to CFTPA conference delegates. In a media scrum following her address, she noted that the Ontario government would be reviewing the tax credits and could make changes to them, but that they would not include any cuts. Producers Laszlo Barna, of Barna-Alper Productions, and Scott Garvie of Shaftesbury Films, held a media conference the day before the minister’s pronouncement, urging the government to reconsider any tax credit cuts. Ontario Finance minister Greg Sorbara had mentioned that Ontario might eliminate tax credits for the film and TV industry. The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists urged its members to write the Finance and Culture ministers to outline the importance of the tax credits.Robert Lantos says progress has been made in English Canada film businessProducer Robert Lantos said that strides have been made in the English Canada film business, and that the production industry needed “to build on the achievements.” On January 29 in his address at the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) conference in Ottawa, he noted, “I think there’s been extraordinary progress in English Canada because on the one hand, in less than two years, we have had three major box office successes. There is the current Mambo Italiano, then there was Hollywood Bollywood and there was Men with Brooms, and in that same period of time, we’ve also had films that went onto get major international recognition – Spider, Ararat – and that were as good as auteur films get.” He also pointed out that Canadian releases fare quite well when compared to other independent films in the Canadian market, rather than Hollywood blockbusters. “Last year, Australia’s critically acclaimed Rabbit-Proof Fence did 316,000 (dollars at the box office). The Elephant, which won the Palme d’or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, has grossed under $300,000,” he said. “So if you use that measuring stick as opposed to making comparisons with Lord of the Rings or various blockbusters, you find that English Canadian films are actually doing a lot better than they’re given credit for.”Craig officials call potential sale speculationSeveral managers at Craig Media Inc. tell Canadian Communications Reports that reports of a sale of the broadcaster’s assets are “speculation.” But the broadcaster, whose assets include the A-Channels in Edmonton, Calgary and Manitoba, as well as the newly launched Toronto One, is said to have hired RBC Dominion Securities to find a buyer. “In anticipation of consolidation in the industry, we are working closely with our financial adviser…to consider a wide range of strategic opportunities available to Craig Media that would strongly position the company for the future,” Craig Media president and CEO Drew Craig was quoted as saying in The Globe and Mail. Drew Craig had not returned CCR’s phone calls at press time.FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THIS YEAR’S CANADIAN SATELLITE USERS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, HELD FEBRUARY 2-3 IN TORONTO, SEE NEXT WEEK’S ISSUE OF CANADIAN COMMUNICATIONS REPORTSINTERNATIONAL NEWSFCC statistics show cable has more competition than 10 years agoCable serves 75% of the United States’ 94.1 million multichannel TV subscribers, compared to nearly 100% ten years ago, according to a study by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC’s tenth annual report on video competition reveals that direct broadcast satellite distributors are cable’s biggest competitors, with 22% of the multichannel subscribers.FCC commissioners decry Jackson Super Bowl incidentMichael Powell, chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has called the Super Bowl halftime show “classless, crass and deplorable.” He has opened an investigation into the MTV-produced halftime show that resulted in Janet Jackson’s breast being exposed. Other FCC commissioners expressed similar sentiments. Powell statement Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy statement Commissioner Michael Copps statement Commissioner Kevin Martin statement Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein statement

CCR Update

Broadcast | February 5, 2004

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

CCR Update

Broadcast | February 5, 2004

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Conservative MP accuses CBC of ‘poaching’ journalists from local outlets

‘An open book for any and all ideas’: Miller announces new audiovisual advisory group

CPAC cuts PrimeTime Politics, L’Essentiel a week after CRTC rate increase approval

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us