Rogers-Shaw merger seen as making ‘complete sense’

Media | 10/09/2014 8:07 pm EDT

A merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. has been the subject of speculation for years. As the various industries these companies participate in — broadcasting, TV distribution, landline phone services, Internet and, in Rogers' case, mobile — change rapidly, at least one industry watcher sees such a combination as inevitable, while others can at least see the business logic behind such an arrangement. Scotia Capital telecom analyst Jeff Fan said it's just a matter of time before the two telecom/media giants become one company, adding that the case for a merger becomes stronger as time goes on. "As the industry requires more scale, I think the industrial rationale for the merger becomes greater," Fan said. Fan cited the media...

The benefits of being ruled by the CRTC

Media | 10/03/2014 7:02 pm EDT

In the past, an aspiring broadcast distributor had no choice but to go to the CRTC and get a licence before they launched their cable or satellite business. Now, in theory at least, they can bypass the entire process by launching an over-the-top (OTT) TV service. While they would have more flexibility and freedom from regulation, such as Canadian content contributions and quotas, they also wouldn’t benefit from the rules that benefit licensed service providers, such as guaranteed access to content. And a recent CRTC ruling on an OTT broadcast distributor called Leiacomm could make...