Rogers addresses non-compliance issues for G4TechTV

Media | 11/21/2012 4:37 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. has taken steps to resolve issues of non-compliance with its licence for specialty channel G4TechTV, the CRTC said Tuesday. The commission said in a decision that Rogers is no longer scheduled to appear...

Republic of Doyle on TV in 100 countries: report

Media | 11/20/2012 10:02 pm EST

CBC/Radio-Canada’s Newfoundland-based drama Republic of Doyle now airs in nearly 100 countries, the Canadian Screenwriter magazine reported in its Fall 2012-Winter 2013 issue. The article said the show, which follows a father-and-son private investigator team in St. John’s, N.L., averages about one million viewers per episode on CBC...

Eastlink launches TV-everywhere, puts up 150 cell sites

Media | 11/20/2012 9:56 pm EST

Bragg Communications Inc. provider Eastlink launched a new mobile-ready, multi-device video service called Eastlink To Go. In a conference call Tuesday, Lee Bragg, Bragg’s president and CEO,...

French-language ad market more vulnerable to economic downturn, Radio-Canada says

Media | 11/20/2012 5:40 pm EST

GATINEAU, Que.—CBC/Radio-Canada’s French-language broadcast services are vulnerable to the impacts of a potential economic downturn in a market characterized by consolidated ad spending,...

Hearings not the place to mingle with commissioners, Blais says

Media | 11/20/2012 2:32 pm EST

Company officials and other broadcasting and telecom industry stakeholders should not socialize with CRTC commissioners at regulatory hearings, CRTC Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said. “We’ve gotten into a bad habit. We’re at a hearing, not a cocktail party. People coming up to commissioners at breaks to shake hands makes us incredibly uncomfortable,” Blais said at Monday’s hearing to consider renewals for CBC/Radio-Canada’s broadcasting services. “It’s something that has developed over time, I’m not quite sure why.” In an appearance...

CBC calls for fewer licence conditions, looks for footing among private broadcasters

Media | 11/19/2012 10:11 pm EST

GATINEAU—CBC/Radio-Canada said it needs regulatory flexibility to innovate under a shrinking budget as the public broadcaster deals with questions about how to avoid operating more like a...

Bell appeals to public for support for reworked Astral deal

Media | 11/19/2012 10:06 pm EST

BCE Inc. will court public opinion for support for a renewed application to acquire Astral Media Inc. by focusing on the benefits the deal can provide to local broadcasting, Mirko Bibic, the...

New Asian movie channel approved

Media | 11/16/2012 10:13 pm EST

The CRTC gave L S Movie Channel Ltd. a licence for a new Category B specialty channel that would provide feature films from China and Taiwan. In a decision Friday, the commission said the new channel, to be called LS Times 2 can...

CRTC approves sale of CBC’s Bold

Media | 11/16/2012 9:59 pm EST

The CRTC approved an application by Blue Ant Media Inc. to acquire CBC/Radio-Canada’s digital specialty channel Bold. In its decision Friday, the commission said Blue Ant will be required to pay $1 million in tangible...

Bell, Astral close to new deal: report

Media | 11/16/2012 9:58 pm EST

BCE Inc. is nearing an agreement to acquire Astral Media Inc. under new conditions in the hopes of appeasing regulatory concerns that caused the CRTC to block its earlier $3.38 billion-bid for the company, the Globe and Mail...

X Media Lab offers intimate mentorship experience for startups

Media | 11/16/2012 9:35 pm EST

In the fast-moving worlds of media and technology, nothing sits still for long. For a digital start-up, the chance to sit down with an experienced mentor to pick their brain can be the difference between failure and success. The chance to sit down with as many as a dozen mentors over a single weekend is a...

Bell Media names new VP

Media | 11/15/2012 10:19 pm EST

Adam Ashton, the former head of Canada’s Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, is joining BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Media as senior vice-president of business operations, the company said. In a release Thursday, Bell said Ashton will be tasked with overseeing a “unified approach” to the company’s revenue management, research, and Bell Media agency operations. Ashton was appointed president of the...

Regulatory decisions should not be ‘crowd-sourced,’ Sasseville says

Media | 11/15/2012 10:08 pm EST

Canadian telecom and media regulatory decisions should not be “crowd-sourced,” said Serge Sasseville, Quebecor’s senior vice-president of corporate and institutional affairs at Quebecor Media Inc. “For some, enlightenment can only come from the people. They advocate a crowd-sourced model of...

U.S. tech companies launch site for patent reform

Media | 11/15/2012 7:30 pm EST

Major United States technology companies launched a new website Wednesday to promote patent reform. The website, called Patent Progress, was created by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose members include Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc., Pandora Media Inc., and others. The site will provide information and commentary about patent litigation, patent “trolls and privateers,” the failure of the patent system to promote innovation, and how to reform the system, the website says. “While the patent system may work relatively...

National sports events should be free on TV: Orridge

Media | 11/15/2012 3:46 pm EST

Marquee, nation-building sporting events like the Olympics or the PanAm Games should be broadcast free to the public, Jeffrey Orridge, executive director of sports properties at CBC/Radio-Canada, said Tuesday. In a panel...

ATN approved for Hindi specialty channel

Media | 11/15/2012 3:36 pm EST

The CRTC approved an application from Asian Television Network International Ltd. to operate a Category B specialty channel called South Asia Television Channel 2. In the decision Wednesday, the CRTC said the channel is licensed to be devoted to South Asian communities across Canada and broadcast a minimum of 90 per cent programming in the Hindi...

Protect CBC from funding cuts, authors say

Media | 11/15/2012 3:29 pm EST

CBC/Radio-Canada is one of Canada’s most important cultural institutions and must be protected against attacks on its funding, Canadian authors, actors and directors said during a panel discussion Wednesday. During a discussion in Toronto called “Stars Come Out for Public Broadcasting,” hosted by watchdog group the Friends of Canadian...

Roy reappointed head of Telefilm

Media | 11/14/2012 10:08 pm EST

Michel Roy was reappointed as chair of Telefilm Canada for a five-year term, Heritage Minister James Moore said Monday. In a release, the Heritage Department said Roy was first appointed to the chair position on Oct. 12, 2007. Prior to his appointment at Telefilm, Roy was a management consultant in the private sector. Roy previously worked as deputy...

Mobile carriers sue SOCAN for return of $15M in ringtone royalties

Media | 11/14/2012 6:56 pm EST

Major Canadian mobile carriers launched lawsuit against copyright collective the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), seeking the return of $15 million in royalty payments for ringtone downloads. The claim, filed Nov. 13 by Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Quebecor Media Inc., and BCE Inc. subsidiary Bell Mobility, said Supreme Court decisions on copyright this summer mean the carriers should never have paid communications royalties for ringtone...

Videotron grows revenues; Sun Media laying off 500

Media | 11/13/2012 10:34 pm EST

Quebecor Media Inc. reported lower profits despite a rise in third-quarter revenues and subscriber numbers for its telecommunications services, the company said. In a quarterly earnings report released Tuesday, Quebecor said profits for the quarter totalled $18.6 million in the three-month period ended Sept. 30, down $7.5 million from the same period a...

TVO cuts programs under $2M budget reduction

Media | 11/13/2012 10:25 pm EST

Ontario public broadcaster TVO is cutting 35 to 40 positions to help with a budget reduction of $2 million, the broadcaster said Tuesday. In a release, TVO said its operating grant will be reduced by five per cent as of April 1, 2013. “In the March 2012 provincial budget announcement, the Ontario government indicated that TVO, like other public...

BCE says it understands CRTC’s concerns about Astral deal

Media | 11/13/2012 9:15 pm EST

BCE Inc. understands the CRTC's concerns about the company’s $3.38 billion deal to acquire Astral Media Inc., Siim Vanaselja, executive vice-president and chief financial officer at BCE, said Tuesday. “As much as we were disappointed with the CRTC's decision, we do understand now the concerns that were...

Copyright Board cancels distant signal hearing due to settlement

Media | 11/13/2012 5:33 pm EST

Copyright collectives reached a settlement Friday related to broadcast distributors' carriage of television program copyrights. The settlement led the Copyright Board to cancel a hearing on the...

SiriusXM appoints Morris to board

Media | 11/12/2012 9:48 pm EST

Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. subsidiary SiriusXM Canada Inc. appointed Suzanne Morris to its board of directors, the company said Monday. In a release, SiriusXM said Morris will replace Michel Tremblay as CBC/Radio-Canada’s nominee to the board of directors. Morris’ appointment follows the resignation of Tremblay as a director,...

Ottawa’s new, consumer friendly CRTC: How we got here

Media | 11/09/2012 9:50 pm EST

It was a rare, even unprecedented event. On a chilly day in Ottawa in February last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Twitter page posted a message about the CRTC. The PM was “very concerned” about the regulator's controversial decision on wholesale usage-based billing, the message said. He had asked...

CBC licence renewal hearing starts Nov. 19

Media | 11/09/2012 8:30 pm EST

The CRTC’s licence renewal hearing for CBC/Radio-Canada's broadcasting services will start Nov. 19 with presentations from the public broadcaster, the commission said. According to an agenda on the CRTC website, the...

Tietolman approved for AM Montreal station

Media | 11/09/2012 8:20 pm EST

The CRTC approved an application from numbered company 7954689 Canada Inc., registered as Tietolman Terault Pancholy Media, to operate an English-language commercial AM radio station in Montreal. In the decision Friday, the CRTC...

Wavefront gets funding for market entry missions

Media | 11/09/2012 8:13 pm EST

Commercialization centre Wavefront received funding for a second year through the Government of Canada’s Global Opportunities for Associations program, the company said Thursday. In a release, Wavefront said that through a partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, it designed foreign market entry programs to help Canadian wireless companies enter new global markets. Hélène Joncas, vice-president of business development for Wavefront East, said $120,000 in funding was received. “As a result of the GOA funding, by the end of 2012, Wavefront will take more than 50 Canadian wireless companies to international events and market entry missions across Europe, the Middle East, South America, Africa and Asia,” the release said....

Smartphone adoption boosts Telus’ revenues, profits

Media | 11/09/2012 7:57 pm EST

Telus Corp. reported rising revenues and profits powered by higher wireless data revenue and consumer appetite for smartphones, the company said in a third-quarter financial statement Friday. Telus said third-quarter revenues rose 5.8 per cent to $2.78 billion in 2012, up from $2.62 billion in the same period a year...

Newcap reports Q3 loss on LPIF cancellation

Media | 11/09/2012 5:19 pm EST

Broadcast company Newfoundland Capital Corporation Ltd. (Newcap) reported a net loss during the third quarter of 2012 mostly due to the CRTC's decision to phase out the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) for local...

Microsoft says competitors’ tablets not as compelling as Surface

Media | 11/08/2012 8:52 pm EST

OTTAWA—Microsoft Corp. is not concerned about entering the tablet market now to compete with rival company Apple Inc., said Mario Coculuzzi, director of sales for Microsoft Canada’s Eastern region. At a device demonstration event in Ottawa Thursday, Coculuzzi said in an interview that competitors do not have as...

U.S. TV stations call for ‘equitable’ remuneration from Canadian carriers

Media | 11/08/2012 5:47 pm EST

A coalition of American local TV stations said the CRTC's distant television signal policy denies them the “equitable and nondiscriminatory right of remuneration” for the retransmission of their signals in Canada. “Our channels deliver value for Canadians,” Chris Musial,...

C-11 copyright changes come into force

Media | 11/08/2012 2:50 am EST

The Conservative government introduced regulations to bring Canada's new copyright law into force and exempt microSD memory cards from a possible copyright levy. The regulations were published Wednesday in the Canada Gazette, the government's official regulation publication, and implement most of copyright reform Bill C-11, which received royal assent in June. As The Wire Report reported last week, some parts of the bill will require further consultation. The regulations also ensure that the Copyright Act's private copying levy will not extend to memory cards used in smartphones, as the Tory government announced in March. "Our Government is committed to building a strong and vibrant Canadian digital economy and the wide-spread adoption of digital technology is the...

Online streaming doubles bandwidth consumption: Sandvine

Media | 11/07/2012 10:01 pm EST

The increasing popularity of “real-time entertainment” caused average North American monthly Internet use to double over the past year, Sandvine Inc. said in a report released Wednesday. Sandvine said its "Global Internet Phenomena Report" for the second half of 2012 found that the average amount of...

Lift foreign ownership and control rules for broadcasting, Katz says

Media | 11/07/2012 9:47 pm EST

Leonard Katz, the CRTC's former vice-chair of telecom, says the federal government should step back from legislating Canadian control of the country's telecom and broadcasting systems. Katz,...

CBC Yellowknife switching to FM

Media | 11/07/2012 9:26 pm EST

The CRTC approved CBC/Radio-Canada’s request to convert an existing AM radio station in Yellowknife to the FM band, the commission said Wednesday. In its decision, the CRTC said the converted station would operate at 98.9...

Citytv cannot become national without Montreal anglophone market, Rogers tells CRTC

Media | 11/07/2012 8:44 pm EST

GATINEAU, Que.—Rogers Communications Inc.'s $10.3 million acquisition of Montreal ethnic TV station CJNT-DT and its conversion to an English-language station is necessary to the...

Small ISPs urged to get organized, apply pressure for better rates

Media | 11/07/2012 2:23 pm EST

TORONTO—Independent Internet service providers (ISPs) should work together to pressure the CRTC to lower wholesale Internet access costs and ensure they can offer IP-based broadcast distribution services, broadcasting and telecom consultant George Burger said. In a speech Monday at a conference called the Canadian...

U.S. retrans fees to reach $5.5B by 2017: SNL Kagan

Media | 11/06/2012 10:29 pm EST

Monterey, Calif.-based SNL Kagan forecasts television station owners’ revenues from retransmission carriage fees to reach $5.5 billion US by 2017 and $6 billion US by 2018, the firm said Monday. In a release, SNL Kagan said the increased projections are “due to the success of a wider range of TV station owners in securing sequentially...

Five in 10 TV viewers watch sports: report

Media | 11/06/2012 9:11 pm EST

Five in 10 anglophone television viewers consume sports content weekly and four in 10 do not follow sports at all, a new report from the Media Technology Monitor (MTM) said Tuesday. The MTM report, a product of CBC/Radio-Canada...

Bell moving MTV, laying off staff

Media | 11/06/2012 8:56 pm EST

BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division will move MTV Canada from the Masonic Temple to Bell Media's Toronto headquarters at the end of the month, the Canadian Press reported Friday. The company will also eliminate 11 full-time...

MTS rolls out fibre-to-the-home service

Media | 11/06/2012 8:45 pm EST

MTS Allstream Inc. launched its MTS Fion fibre-to-the-home network in Neepawa, Man., the company said Monday. MTS said in a release the new fibre optic network will bring high-speed Internet and MTS' IPTV service, Ultimate TV, to Neepawa residents. MTS said it is investing $125 million over “several years” to deploy the fibre service to 120,000 residents in Manitoba and that its IPTV service will be available in more than 20 communities. “MTS Ultimate TV is currently available to over 95 per cent of Winnipeg households, and in Brandon, Portage La Prairie and a growing...

Samsung gains tablet market share on Apple

Media | 11/06/2012 8:13 pm EST

Apple Inc.’s growth in the tablet market slowed in the third quarter of 2012 as the company competed with devices made by Samsung Electronics Co. and Amazon Inc., the International Data Corporation (IDC) said. The firm...

Tory MP Rathgeber tables CBC transparency bill

Media | 11/05/2012 9:48 pm EST

Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber tabled a private member’s bill in Parliament that would prevent CBC/Radio-Canada from denying access to information requests based on an exception for records related to its “journalistic, creative or programming activities,” the MP said. Rathgeber said in a release Monday that the private members'...

TVA reports rise in advertising

Media | 11/05/2012 8:57 pm EST

Quebecor Media Inc. television subsidiary TVA Group Inc. reported a rise in advertising revenues during the third quarter of 2012. Quebecor said in a release Monday that operating income during the quarter rose due to an 8.6 per cent increase in advertising revenues and the company's decision, effective July 1, 2012, to report separate financial...

Cogeco founder Henri Audet dies at 94

Media | 11/05/2012 7:16 pm EST

Cogeco Cable Inc. founder and president emeritus Henri Audet died Saturday at the age of 94, the company said. "In the name of the board of directors of COGECO inc. and Cogeco Cable inc., as well as in the names of all the employees, I wish to convey our most sincere condolences to the whole Audet family. Mr. Henri Audet was and remains a great...

Cogeco cable subs, profits, decline

Media | 11/02/2012 8:18 pm EDT

Cogeco Cable Inc.'s revenues rose 7.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 to $356.7 million as profits declined year-over-year, the company said in a quarterly and year-end financial statement Friday. The company said year-end revenues for the period ended Aug. 31, 2012 reached $1.406 billion, up 11 per cent from the previous year. Cogeco's profit in the fourth quarter of 2012 was $44.9 million, declining from $70.1 million in the same quarter of 2011, the company said. The decline was “mostly attributable” to the company's cable sector and an increase in income...

Denison joins BCE board

Media | 11/01/2012 8:33 pm EDT

BCE Inc. appointed David Denison to its board of directors, the company said Thursday. Denison, a chartered accountant with a degree in mathematics and education from the University of Toronto, previously served as the president and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and president of...

BCE reports highest quarterly rise in IPTV subs

Media | 11/01/2012 4:29 pm EDT

BCE Inc.'s fibre IPTV customer additions grew the highest ever for a three month period during the third quarter of 2012 with 42,973 net subscriber additions, the company said. Bell said its fibre-based Fibe TV customer...

Astral ‘still committed’ to deal with Bell, Greenberg says

Media | 10/31/2012 8:45 pm EDT

Astral Media Inc. is still looking for ways to gain regulatory approval of BCE Inc.’s $3.38-billion proposal to buy the company, Ian Greenberg, Astral’s president and CEO, said Wednesday. “We are still committed to see if there’s a way to complete this transaction,” Greenberg said on a...

Conference of the Arts shutters after funding cut

Media | 10/31/2012 8:42 pm EDT

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is ceasing operations immediately as a result of a loss of government funding, the organization said Tuesday. In a release, the conference said it became aware of the Conservative government’s intention to end its funding a year-and-a-half ago. In response, the CCA said it intended to transform itself...

C-12 up for debate at second reading

Media | 10/31/2012 8:41 pm EDT

The House of Commons could debate the Conservative government’s bill to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) as early as this week. Bill C-12, formally called the Safeguarding Canadians' Personal Information Act, was scheduled to come up for debate Wednesday, according to the House of Commons...

Bill C-11 to become law next week; consultation on notice-and-notice, sources say

Media | 10/31/2012 8:25 pm EDT

Most of the Conservative government's copyright reform bill, C-11, will come into force next week as other sections are expected to be delayed until next year, industry sources and observers said....

North’s Internet service gaps could be solved in ’12 months’: Telesat

Media | 10/31/2012 7:35 pm EDT

OTTAWA—Internet service gaps in Canada’s North could be solved within 12 months if the CRTC and all levels of government came together on a funding strategy, Daniel Goldberg, president and CEO of satellite provider Telesat Canada, said Tuesday. “We have the capacity to solve this...

CRTC removes 5% cap on Cancon spending overages

Media | 10/30/2012 9:21 pm EDT

Broadcasters that exceed their annual Canadian content spending requirements can now carry over into future years overspending of more than five per cent, the CRTC said. In a decision Tuesday, the commission said it was removing restrictions on how much Canadian content overspending can be carried over from one year to the next. Those restrictions,...

Rogers extends Premier League rights agreement

Media | 10/30/2012 8:51 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc.’s Sportsnet reached a three-year deal to extend its coverage of the Barclays Premier League through the 2015-2016 soccer season, the company said Monday. In a release, Sportsnet said the new agreement covers up to 190 matches for each season starting with 2013-2014 and includes a “comprehensive suite” of multimedia rights for television, online and mobile platforms. Rogers said it also has the rights to matches in the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Champions League. In August, CBC/Radio-Canada and Rogers said they are putting their assets together across all platforms for coverage for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. CBC said at the time that the sub-licensing agreement allows Sportsnet to carry matches and events for which CBC holds the rights...

Broadcasters need incentives for Canadian film: producer

Media | 10/30/2012 8:41 pm EDT

Broadcasters need incentives to air more Canadian feature films across all platforms, David Reckziegel, president of eOne Films North America, said Monday. In a panel discussion at the International Institute of Communications’ annual conference in Ottawa, Reckziegel said Canadian feature films don’t receive...

Lawson Hunter joins C.D. Howe

Media | 10/30/2012 8:34 pm EDT

The C.D. Howe Institute announced the appointment of Lawson Hunter to the position of senior fellow specializing in regulatory and competition policy. In a release Tuesday, C.D. Howe said Hunter has been a long-time associate of the institute and served as counsel in the competition and foreign investment group at Stikeman Elliott LLP. The institute...

Girouard scores hockey channel licences

Media | 10/30/2012 8:21 pm EDT

The CRTC approved applications for two hockey-themed Category B specialty channels. In two decisions, the commission said it approved requests by Paul Girouard to operate French- and English-language hockey specialty services called Canal Hockey and Hockey TV. The channels “would be devoted exclusively to all aspects of the game of hockey,...

Google launches Canadian magazines app

Media | 10/29/2012 8:34 pm EDT

Canadian magazines can now be purchased from the Google Play app store, Google Inc. said Monday. In a blog post, Google said magazines such as Maclean’s, Canadian Living, Style at Home and Canadian Geographic may be instantly delivered to Android tablets and smartphones through an app called Google Play Magazines App. The company also announced...

Zoomer earnings rise

Media | 10/29/2012 8:32 pm EDT

ZoomerMedia Ltd. reported a rise profits and a decline in revenues for its fourth quarter and year-end finances. In a release last week for the company’s financial results for the period ending June 30, 2012, Zoomer reported fourth quarter revenues of $15.1 million, down from $15.2 million in the same quarter of 2011. Zoomer said year-end revenues reached $56 million in fiscal 2012, down from $60 million in 2011. The company said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew in 2012. For the quarter, the company said, EBITDA reached $4.2 million, up from a loss of $4.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Zoomer said its EBITDA reached $7.1 million in 2012, up from a loss of $0.8 million a year earlier....

CRTC will not ‘hesitate to intervene’ if market failure or consumers need protection: Blais

Media | 10/29/2012 8:29 pm EDT

The CRTC will not hesitate to intervene with regulatory changes in cases where there is market failure or a need for consumer protection, commission Chair Jean-Pierre Blais said Monday. “We have confidence in the business sector. For the most part, we will get out of your way,” Blais...

Toronto Star to introduce paywall in 2013

Media | 10/29/2012 5:31 pm EDT

The Toronto Star will launch a “paid-subscription program” next year for online access to the newspaper's content, publisher John Cruickshank said in a column Monday. Cruickshank said the decision was necessary to supplement the newspaper's circulation and advertising revenues. “We will have more stories, videos, podcasts and...

Bell, TV workers settle on new collective agreement

Media | 10/26/2012 7:48 pm EDT

Workers with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) voted Thursday to accept a collective agreement with BCE Inc., the union said in a release Friday. Voting took place by 112 members of CEP Local 79M, who were...

Broadcasters should develop ‘second screen’ apps for top shows: report

Media | 10/26/2012 4:34 pm EDT

Broadcasters should develop “second screen” apps associated with their top shows and content to better draw in viewers and sell more effective advertising, said a new report by Evolumedia Group and co-published by the Canada Media Fund (CMF). To reach as many personal connected device owners as possible,...

Microsoft launches Windows 8 Surface as Apple unveils mini tab

Media | 10/26/2012 2:14 pm EDT

Microsoft Corp. released its new Windows 8 operating system for computers and mobile devices. Microsoft said in a release Thursday that, as of midnight Friday, Windows 8 will be available for...

Corus ad revenues rise 7% in Q4

Media | 10/26/2012 1:50 pm EDT

Corus Entertainment Inc.'s fourth-quarter television revenues fell three per cent as advertising revenues for its specialty channels rose seven per cent, the company said in a quarterly and year-end financial statement...

Shaw, Rogers, focus on sustaining overall wireline customers

Media | 10/25/2012 8:39 pm EDT

Canada's largest two cable companies are trying to offset subscriber losses in their television segments by cutting costs and focusing on growing their Internet customers, the companies and...

CBC says foreign programming key to its revenue, mandate

Media | 10/25/2012 5:15 pm EDT

Non-Canadian feature films and other foreign programming is an important source of revenue and part of the public broadcaster’s mandate, CBC/Radio-Canada said. In advance of its CRTC licence...

Fasken Martineau to merge with Bell Dewar

Media | 10/24/2012 8:14 pm EDT

Law firm Fasken Martineau reached a deal to merge with South African firm Bell Dewar, the company said Wednesday. In a statement issued by Fasken Martineau managing partner David Corbett, the firm said the merger “will create one of the largest law firms operating in Africa” and will give the company “the largest international footprint” of any Canadian-based law firm. The company said the deal will bolster its African capabilities in the areas of mining, infrastructure, energy, project finance, capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions. It said operations will be integrated by Feb. 1. Fasken Martineau has offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City, as well as London, Paris and Johannesburg. In Canada, the firm has represented...

Netflix Canada again reports profit in Q3

Media | 10/24/2012 7:52 pm EDT

Netflix Inc.’s revenues continued to outpace content acquisition costs in Canada during the third quarter of 2012, the company said in a financial statement released Tuesday. “We expanded our profitability in Canada...

Global subscription TV market to grow 19% in 5 years

Media | 10/24/2012 7:15 pm EDT

The global subscription television service market will grow 19 per cent over the next five years on cable, satellite, and IPTV platforms, research firm ABI Research said Tuesday. The firm issued new data and said in a release Wednesday that cable TV will maintain the largest share of the market through 2017 “although it is losing market share to...

Rogers revenues rise on wireless; loses thousands more TV subs

Media | 10/24/2012 4:33 pm EDT

Rogers Communications Inc. reported rising revenues driven by its wireless division as the company continued to bleed thousands of cable TV subscribers. For the third-quarter of 2012 ending Sept. 30, the company said net postpaid wireless subscriber additions were 76,000 during the quarter, 2,000 more than the 74,000...

CRTC did not follow some ‘general rules’ for Astral decision, experts say

Media | 10/23/2012 7:29 pm EDT

The CRTC did not follow “general rules” outlined in its diversity of voices policy but did not violate any laws or regulations in its decision to block BCE Inc.’s $3.38-billion bid to acquire Astral Media Inc., regulatory experts say. On Monday BCE issued a formal request to...

Government programs encourage private sector research: Goodyear

Media | 10/23/2012 1:35 am EDT

Gary Goodyear, the minister of state for science and technology, encouraged Canada’s private sector to take better advantage of tools and incentives provided by the federal government that encourage growth in the information and communications technology sector. At the World Technology Information and Services Alliance (WITSA) World Congress on Information Technology in Montreal, Goodyear on Monday said the federal government is focused on increasing private sector spending on research. Goodyear said in an interview that partnerships between the government and private enterprises mean new technologies can be developed “much faster" as the world becomes smaller and more digital. “In order for Canada to succeed, we must engage this new world,” Goodyear said....

BCE issues request to cabinet; plans to re-file Astral application

Media | 10/22/2012 9:44 pm EDT

BCE Inc. filed a formal request to the federal cabinet, asking it to issue a government policy direction to the CRTC as part of the company's plan to re-file a regulatory application to acquire Astral Media Inc. Bell filed the formal request Monday, asking cabinet to direct the commission to abide by its 2008 diversity...

Kozak to head CBC Olympics and sports sales

Media | 10/19/2012 8:01 pm EDT

Jim Kozak was appointed to the position of director of sales for CBC/Radio-Canada’s Olympic and sports partnerships, the CBC said Friday. In a release, CBC said Kozak will assume the role on Oct. 29, reporting to Alan Dark, general manager of CBC's revenue group. CBC said Kozak brings 15 years’ of sponsorship experience to his new...

Vista takeover of Haliburton assets approved

Media | 10/19/2012 7:59 pm EDT

The CRTC approved an application by Vista Radio Ltd. to acquire the AM and FM radio assets of Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. for $33.2 million. In a decision Friday, the commission said the acquisition will give Vista ownership of Haliburton’s AM and FM stations in 24 Ontario municipalities, including urban centres such as Niagara Falls,...

Dufferin Quebec receives FM radio licence

Media | 10/19/2012 7:50 pm EDT

The CRTC approved an application by Evanov Communications Inc. subsidiary Dufferin Communications Inc. to operate a new adult contemporary and easy listening radio station in the areas of Hudson and St.-Lazare, Que. In a decision Friday, the CRTC said the new English-language FM station would offer weather content, sports, health, business segments, a...

Bell says cabinet should intervene in CRTC Astral ruling; Paradis ‘respects’ decision

Media | 10/19/2012 12:32 am EDT

BCE Inc. said it would call on the federal cabinet to "intervene" in the CRTC's decision to block the company's $3.38-billion deal to acquire Astral Media Inc. as Industry Minister Christian Paradis said he respects the regulator's ruling. In a release, Bell said it would...

CRTC blocks Bell-Astral deal, cites concerns over market power

Media | 10/18/2012 8:02 pm EDT

GATINEAU—The CRTC blocked Bell Canada Enterprises Inc.'s $3.38-billion deal to acquire Astral Media Inc., citing concerns about competition, Bell's market power, and a proposal that did not appear to benefit the public interest. “The proposed transaction would not only remove the last major independent,...

Songza streaming app breaks 1M Canadian users

Media | 10/18/2012 7:26 pm EDT

Songza Media Inc.’s music streaming application has more than one million registered users in Canada since its launch in August, the New York-based company said Thursday. In a release, Songza said its Music Concierge service reached had surpassed one million users within its first 70 days of operating in Canada, and that those users have used...

Canadians prefer TV news, poll says

Media | 10/18/2012 7:15 pm EDT

Canadians still rely on traditional media sources for their daily news, said a new poll from Ipsos Reid commissioned by the Canadian Journalism Foundation. According to the Ipsos poll released Wednesday, 40 per cent of Canadians “always” consult a television station in the evening or later for daily news content. Another 23 per cent...

CRTC closes Bell undue preference complaint

Media | 10/18/2012 7:04 pm EDT

The CRTC closed its file on a BCE Inc. complaint that said MTS Inc. gave itself an undue competitive advantage by repackaging two Bell specialty services. In February, Bell complained to the commission that MTS gave itself an unfair market advantage by repackaging the Bell-owned Discovery Channel and E! specialty services while the two sides negotiated a new affiliation agreement. At the time, MTS and a handful of other independent broadcast distributors, collectively known as the Canadian Independent Distributors Group, were engaged in negotiations to renew their agreements to carry Bell’s 29 specialty services. The Bell complaint said repackaging the channel in the absence of an agreement put the E! specialty channel at an undue disadvantage and is counter to the...

Globe to launch ad network, Crawley says

Media | 10/18/2012 7:03 pm EDT

The Globe and Mail will launch a digital advertising network with three other major American news services, publisher Phillip Crawley said in an interview with Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. In an interview published on the Nieman Lab website Tuesday, Crawley said the Globe will partner with The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and...

CRTC to release Bell-Astral decision Thursday

Media | 10/17/2012 9:38 pm EDT

The CRTC will announce its regulatory decision on BCE Inc.’s $3.38 billion bid to acquire Astral Media Inc. on Thursday, the commission said in a media advisory. The commission said in an advisory Wednesday that the decision will be posted on its website at 4 p.m. and that CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais will address the media following its release....

Boxee releases new device, unlimited cloud PVR service

Media | 10/17/2012 7:52 pm EDT

Boxee Inc. released a new online TV device at half the price of its previous one with the option for an unlimited, cloud-based video recording service for $15 per month, the company said. “So...

Roku-Dish deal, criticized by developers, would pass regulatory scrutiny in Canada

Media | 10/17/2012 5:57 pm EDT

An exclusive distribution deal between online TV provider Roku Inc. and U.S. broadcast distributor Dish Network Corp. for all international content on Roku's system would escape regulatory...

Score shareholders approve Rogers’ takeover bid

Media | 10/16/2012 9:22 pm EDT

Score Media Inc.’s shareholders voted to approve Rogers Media Inc.’s $167 million bid to acquire the company, the Score said Monday. Rogers said in August that it reached an agreement to purchase the Score and its related television assets, as well as gain access to the Score’s “digital technology to immediately enhance its mobile offerings.” The Score’s digital assets will be spun off as a separate company owned by its existing shareholders and with Rogers taking a 10 per cent equity interest, the companies said at the time. The deal must receive...

Le Téléjournal focuses too much on Quebec, senator says

Media | 10/16/2012 9:19 pm EDT

CBC/Radio-Canada’s French-language Le Téléjournal news program disproportionately focuses on Quebec instead of national Canadian news, Liberal Senator Pierre de Bané said. In an Oct. 5 submission to the CRTC in advance of the CBC’s licence renewal hearing scheduled to start Nov. 19, De...

CBC’s new licence should bar U.S. programming in the evenings, Shaw says

Media | 10/16/2012 9:03 pm EDT

CBC/Radio-Canada's new licence should bar the public broadcaster from airing American programming in the high-ratings period of 6 p.m. to midnight, Shaw Communications Inc. said. In a 12-page intervention submitted to the CRTC as part of CBC’s licence renewal hearing, scheduled to start Nov. 19, Jean Brazeau,...

Sun News lobbying for mandatory carriage as CRTC looks at new applications

Media | 10/16/2012 8:34 pm EDT

Quebecor Media Inc. hired firm Ensight Canada to lobby the federal government for mandatory distribution of its all-news specialty channel Sun News Network, the federal lobbyist registry shows....

Globe announces online, metered paywall

Media | 10/15/2012 8:12 pm EDT

The Globe and Mail will introduce a new metered paywall system requiring online readers to pay for access if they read more than 10 stories a month, the newspaper said Monday. In a release, the paper said its new “digital subscription service,” called Globe Unlimited, permits “casual” readers to access up to 10 free articles or...

CBC should inform first, and lose ‘obsession’ with ratings: panel

Media | 10/12/2012 7:35 pm EDT

KINGSTON, Ont.—CBC/Radio-Canada can boost a weakened “core” of supporters by being less obsessed with ratings and focus on informing and enlightening viewers instead of entertaining them, a panel of broadcasting experts said. On Thursday, at the final of a series of meetings called “The CBC We...

CRTC approves ‘adult entertainment’ channels

Media | 10/12/2012 7:25 pm EDT

The CRTC approved two Fifth Dimensions Properties Inc. applications for adult-themed Category B channel licences named Ebabe TV and Skinemax TV, the commission said in two decisions Friday. In one decision, the CRTC said adult entertainment channel Ebabe TV would feature Internet-related programming and some animated...

Corus, Rogers to appear at CRTC ‘show cause’ hearing

Media | 10/12/2012 7:15 pm EDT

Corus Entertainment Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. will appear at a Dec. 11 CRTC hearing in Gatineau, Que. to defend two Category A specialty channels from apparent breaches of licence...

Copyright Board issues online music tariffs

Media | 10/10/2012 9:11 pm EDT

The Copyright Board issued a decision on new online music tariffs for the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) covering the years 2007-2010 and for CMRRA/SODRAC Inc. (CSI) covering 2008-2010. The...

Licensing issues delayed Telus’ online access to Movie Central, HBO, Corus says

Media | 10/10/2012 9:09 pm EDT

Telus Corp.'s mobile, on-demand access to Corus Entertainment Inc.'s Movie Central and HBO programming was delayed by the complicated nature of multi-platform rights agreements and other licensing issues, Corus said in regulatory documents filed with the CRTC. In September, Telus accused Corus of breaking the CRTC's rules for large, vertically integrated broadcast companies by making its Movie Central and HBO content available on Shaw Communications Inc.'s new online and mobile over-the-top TV service, Shaw Go, but not on Telus’ competing service, Optik on the Go. The CRTC said last month it will expedite Telus' complaint, in which Telus said Corus agreed to give...