Rogers Communications Inc. and Altice USA Inc. upped their offer in a joint takeover bid of Cogeco Inc. from $10.3 billion to $11 billion over weekend, a bid that was rejected by the controlling shareholder of the company, the Audet family. The offer, in which Rogers would take over Cogeco's Canadian operations while Altice takes over assets south of the border, would see Rogers increase its own offer by $300 million, from $4.9 billion up to $5.2 billion. "As we did on September 2nd, 2020, following the announcement of their first unsolicited proposal, members of the Audet family...
The branded content initiative launched by CBC/Radio-Canada last month has been put on hiatus while the public broadcaster reviews the project, a CBC spokesperson told The Wire Report.
“We feel there are more insights to be gained on this initiative and to that end, we...
An announcement Thursday from Alphabet Inc.'s Google that it would put...
Independent producers will be able to access a $50 million insurance...
In Wednesday’s throne speech kicking off Parliament’s return, the...
Given the precarious situation around the now-escalating COVID-19 pandemic, what will actually be...
Some 214 "camera-ready" film and television projects, employing 19,500 people, and representing $1 billion in production spending is at "imminent risk" because of a lack of COVID-19 insurance available to producers, according to surveys conducted by the Canadian Media...
The CRTC Thursday launched a consultation on a request submitted by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in mid-July that asked for emergency regulatory relief to address the impacts of the...
The production slowdown stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns has created a crisis for Corus Entertainment Inc. in terms of meeting its CRTC-mandated Canadian programming expenditures (CPE),...
Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien has urged Federal Court to find the...
After the CRTC refused to renew its broadcast licence earlier this summer, Groupe Médias Pam Inc. has turned to the Federal Court of Appeal, asking it to overturn that CRTC decision. In July, the regulator denied the renewal...
New Conservative leader Erin O’Toole shuffled his shadow cabinet Tuesday, with new faces appointed to...
Louis Audet, former CEO of Cogeco Inc. and current executive chairman of...
BCE Inc. has asked a Federal Court of Appeal judge to throw out an appeal of Canada's first ever site-blocking court order, saying that TekSavvy Solutions Inc.'s appeal of the order is grounded in...
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault Wednesday denounced what he called...
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada won’t give any more extensions on the payment of spectrum fees, which are due Sept. 1, the department said. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, ISED deferred the payment of about $263 million in spectrum and radio licence fees from March 31 to Sept. 1. “No further deferral is planned,” ISED spokesperson Geneviève Sicard said in an email. In addition to delaying the due date for the payment of the fees, earlier this year the government introduced other measures to help telecoms deal with the ongoing pandemic. That includes...
The CRTC has again extended the broadcasting licence of CPAM Radio Union.Com Inc.’s CJWI Montreal French-language radio station for a shorter term of two years, after finding it had been...
Canadian traditional media sources are in "crisis" as COVID-19 has exacerbated existing downward trends in advertising revenues, with shortfalls for local private broadcasters in the next two years...
Two Nunavut radio stations owned by Northern Lights Entertainment Inc. have had their broadcasting licences extended for just two years after the CRTC found they had failed to comply with a series of...
The election of Erin O'Toole as federal opposition leader late Sunday night makes "the threat of CBC...
Telus Corp., BCE Inc., and Rogers Communications Inc. have all endorsed the CRTC's proposed approach to monitoring the provision of community television programming, both linear and on-demand. Earlier this summer, the regulator published a plan for monitoring how broadcast distribution undertakings are providing community programming. The proposed scheme called on TV service providers to allow users to search programs by the location of where they were produced, and to view the program's production location next to the program tile presented to viewers. The proposed monitoring plan...
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters asked the CRTC not to enforce...
The French-language conventional TV network BCE Inc. acquired this year will be rebranded as “Noovo,” to coordinate with an existing digital platform.
“Viewers will...
eHealth technologies have been widely billed as bridging divides between...
The CRTC has denied two licence renewal applications from Quebec-based French language radio stations for consistently failing to meet their licence obligations. In two separate Friday decisions,...
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has cleared up uncertainty about...
A quarter of anglophone Canadian over-the-top (OTT) service subscribers...
Telus Corp. has gained CRTC approval to launch a national on-demand service, granting it a licence for the next two years. In a Tuesday decision, the regulator granted Telus its second broadcast licence for an on-demand...
Federal Court has said that both the CBC/Radio-Canada and the...
Telus Corp. has accused TLN Media Group (TMG) of undue preference, saying the company has stymied its efforts to carry an Italian-language program by insisting on “commercially unreasonable rates.” In a Part 1 application posted on the CRTC website on Friday, Telus says it previously purchased Telatino from TMG in order to comply with CRTC regulations around third language services, but its transition to an English-language service meant Telus ceased carrying it in January. Telus said...
Quebecor Inc. has promoted Peggy Tabet, previously vice-president of broadcasting regulatory affairs, to the job of vice-president of regulatory and public affairs. In the new position, Tabet will oversee regulatory matters for...
Rogers Communications Inc. posted a 17 per cent fall in revenue and a 53...
The production company creating a remake of 1940s noir film Nightmare Alley...
The CRTC is asking for feedback about how to best monitor linear and on-demand community programming. The regulator opened a public consultation on Thursday into the tools and processes it intends...
An Ontario-based ethnic broadcaster lobbying the government for funding to create a multilingual news channel to help Canadians access health information says it’s too early...
Rogers Communications Inc. did not confer an undue preference on itself when it distributed its channels across New Brunswick while broadcasting a community TV station only in St. Andrews, the CRTC...
The CRTC has allowed Corus Entertainment Inc. to reduce its mandated Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) in a single year, but declared any shortfall must be made up in the following year. In a...
Allarco Entertainment 2008.’s Super Channel violated the Pay TV Violence and Programming codes by airing violence, coarse language and sexuality and nudity on its channels before the “Watershed”...
Some 31 different civil society organizations have signed an open letter to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair calling for a ban on the use of facial recognition technologies by Canadian law...
The federal government has announced further details of how the $500-million fund it announced in May will be spent, and confirmed the second phase of the COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund for Cultural,...
The CRTC has said no to two applications for new radio stations -- one in...
COVID-19 has made privacy rights even more important, the federal privacy commissioner’s office told Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault in May. A presentation prepared by the Office of the...
The CRTC has renewed the broadcasting licence of Allarco Entertainment 2008 Inc.’s Super Channel for four years, while simultaneously suspending it for a “very serious” failure to comply with...
Quebecor Inc. has informed the Federal Court of Appeal it won’t pursue its appeal of a CRTC decision allowing BCE Inc. to buy Groupe V Media Inc.’s conventional TV network V. Bell rival Quebecor has strongly opposed the deal, asking the Quebec government to block the purchase because if approved, it would give Bell too much market power, resulting in an “untenable” situation. The CRTC initially approved the deal in April but didn’t publish its reasoning until May. “We continue to believe that it was ill-advised for the CRTC to approve this transaction, which will only...
The financial impacts of COVID-19 induced lockdowns led to a “very tough quarter” for Corus...
The Scarborough radio market can’t support another commercial radio...
New Brunswick lawyer Ellen Desmond and former journalist Nirmala Naidoo are joining the CRTC for five-year commissioner terms, the federal government announced Thursday. Desmond, who will serve as the regional member for...
In a closely-watched appeal of Canada's first-ever site-blocking court...
The CRTC has renewed CBC/Radio-Canada’s license for a year until September 2021, and delayed the associated public hearing until January 11, 2021.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on all public gatherings, the CBC’s license renewal hearing had been...
Rogers Communications Inc. has signed a five year agreement with the University of Calgary to further Internet of Things research, the company announced in a Thursday media release. Steven Liang,...
BCE Inc. Wednesday announced that Jean-Philippe Pineault will lead up the news division at Groupe V Media Inc., the Francophone broadcaster Bell was approved to purchase in April. The position -- general manager, news and information -- is a new one, and will be created June 27. "The...
Legislation modernizing Canada’s Broadcasting Act is “pretty much...
Innovation, Science, and Economic Development announced on Monday the launch of what it is calling the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), as well as a research centre to be based in Monteal in cooperation with...
The CRTC says its 2016 decision that U.S. shopping channel QVC could not be distributed in Canada was justified, but a clause in the soon to come into force Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement...
The CRTC is switching to an online format for a radio broadcast licence hearing originally scheduled to be held in Gatineau, Que. last month. The virtual hearing will now take place on June 16 and look at five radio stations that “appear to be in serious non-compliance with their regulatory requirements, certain conditions of licence or mandatory orders issued by the Commission,” the CRTC said in a press release....
The Copyright Board was wrong in extending the making available right to downloads in 2017, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled. The court said the board, in making that decision, “went to...
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld the constitutionality of Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, commonly known as CASL. In a decision released Friday, the court dismissed an appeal that sought to challenge the constitutionality of the anti-spam legislation. The appeal, brought by a company doing business as...
The federal government has appointed two individuals to the board of directors of CBC/Radio-Canada. Sandra Mason and Bill Tam will join the board for five-year terms, according to a Thursday press release from Canadian Heritage. Mason, a Toronto accountant, was previously chief financial officer at the Globe and Mail while Tam is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur. The Liberal government implemented a new process for naming of individuals to the CBC board in 2017....
VMedia Inc. has launched a live and on-demand streaming platform, River TV, the company announced in a Thursday media release. River TV will feature over 30 bundled live tv channels, including Global TV, Adult Swim, History and...
Music Canada CEO Graham Henderson will step down from the role he’s held for more than 15 years, the organization announced in a Thursday press release. In the statement, Henderson said working at Music Canada had been a...
Canada should follow Britain’s lead and change the system it uses to classify productions as Canadian content, Richard Stursberg, former head of CBC/Radio-Canada’s English services, said at a...
Canada’s television advertising market has moved to a stage of “modest recovery” after chapters of...
The CRTC has issued the reasoning behind its April 3 decision to allow BCE Inc. to buy Groupe V Media Inc., saying the transaction will serve the public interest. “In fact, the Commission considers that the transaction would have a positive impact on the viability of the V Stations, allowing them to contribute to the Canadian broadcasting system by providing programming that reflects Canadian attitudes, opinions, ideas and values,” the CRTC said Tuesday. “Further, the transaction would allow for the introduction of a second private broadcaster in the French-language market with the resources necessary to invest in high quality and big budget Canadian French-language programs.” The sale was opposed by Bell rival Quebecor Inc., who said it would give Bell control of 42 per cent of Canada’s advertising revenue, and as such, a...
Quebecor Inc. is dialing back its capital expenditure projections for the upcoming year, owing to the...
A Federal Court proceeding between Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron and Rovi Guides Inc. that was halted in early March as the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began, will resume via Zoom, over the objections of...
Quebecor Inc. has launched a music streaming service, QUB musique, focused on Quebec-based artists. ...
Quebecor Inc. has filed an application for judicial review in the Federal Court of Appeal, asking the court to overturn the CRTC's approval of BCE Inc.'s acquisition of Groupe V Media Inc.
In the...
Facebook Inc.'s request that Federal Court throw out a report from the...
The CRTC has launched a public consultation into whether the approach it uses to set wholesale rates should be changed, stating it’s seeking to establish a “more transparent and efficient process” while ensuring rates remain...
Rogers Communications Inc. recorded a five per cent drop in revenue in the...
A COVID-19 induced lockdown of the country will put $2.5 billion of film and television production work at risk of disruption or permanent loss if it lasts until the end of June, a new report prepared...
BCE Inc. announced Friday that it has acquired 1.5 million N95 and KN95 masks, which the company said it is donating to provincial, territorial, and federal governments to...
The CRTC is under criticism for saying it may not award costs to groups who participate in a public consultation on regulations under the Accessibility Canada Act, with stakeholder groups arguing such...
Eric Baptiste, CEO of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has left the organization, effective immediately. “With the end of the current CEO contract approaching, Eric thought it was time to move on and a mutual decision was reached with the Board to end his...
The CRTC has put out a call for public comment about how new reporting requirements for broadcasters and telecommunications providers should look under the Accessible Canada Act. The Act came...
The CRTC has delayed the launch of new proceedings due to COVID-19, stating it’s aware the telecommunications industry’s primary focus is on delivering services to Canadians. In a statement...
Canadian radio and TV broadcasters won’t have to pay licence fees for 2020-21 in a bid to help them navigate declines in advertising revenue caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the move, which he said had been made following consultations between the government and the CRTC, on Monday. The CRTC will simply not issue letters requesting payment for Part 1 licence fees for the 2020-21 year, saving broadcasters more than $30 million, according to the statement. "Canadian broadcasters are working hard to fulfill the mission of sharing credible...
Experts say Canada’s telecommunications networks are currently handling a...
The next period of time — no one knows just how long — will be "riddled with both demand and supply shocks," and the country's biggest media companies are in for a much bumpier financial ride...
The COVID-19 global pandemic represents "an unprecedented challenge for all involved in the screen-based industry across Canada," according to the Canadian Media Fund. As such, the CMF has joined...
CBC/Radio-Canada has temporarily suspended its English-language local TV newscasts in all locations bar the North, as it opts to consolidate programming into one national news program during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a...
Following the recommendation of Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, the governor-in-council has rejected a request for the cabinet to reexamine or send back the CRTC's decision to renew the Canadian licenses of Sirius XM Canada...
The CRTC has suspended all deadlines on proceedings open for public comment that were set to close before April 10, due to the impact of COVID-19. In a post to Twitter on Tuesday, the CRTC said the deadlines suspended included...
Telecommunication providers are closing retail stores, offering complimentary TV channels and continuing to waive overage fees on home internet plans as they respond to COVID-19. Xplornet...
BCE Inc., Quebecor Inc.'s Groupe TVA, and Rogers Communications Inc. — the trio of companies behind Canada's first ever website-blocking order — have submitted a draft order adding new domains to the Federal Court. In a...
Quebecor Inc. says COVID-19 is not expected to have a “material financial impact” on the company and is not worried about its impact on network consumption and capacity.
Quebecor held its quarterly earnings call as the TSX plunged 1000 points in early trading on...
OTTAWA — Calls are only a part of the problem of nuisance and fraudulent...
BCE Inc. has joined forces with yet-to-launch mobile streaming service Quibi SA, signing a deal to be its exclusive Canadian news and sport provider. Quibi -- the name is an amalgam of "quick bites" -- will launch on April 6....
Telus Corp., Cogeco Inc. and the attorney general have filed arguments defending the CRTC’s application of its standstill rule in the fight over carriage of TVA Sports. The attorney general, who represents the CRTC...
Allarco Entertainment 2008 Inc.’s Super Channel has dropped its Federal Court lawsuit against four major retailers, whose employees allegedly recommended pirating content from media boxes sold in the store, only to launch...
Court mandated website-blocking is an "extraordinary" remedy and should only be granted sparingly, according to a court filing from the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. The BCCLA has told the Federal Court of Appeal that if it is granted leave to intervene in TekSavvy Solutions Inc.'s appeal of a Federal Court judge's site-blocking order, it will seek to underline the freedom of speech implications of the remedy. "The protection of freedom of expression enshrined in the [Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms] and elsewhere in Canadian law counsels caution in the...
As part of their ongoing effort to fight content piracy, two of Canada’s largest media and telecom...
Former Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s much-touted 2017 deal with Netflix Inc. to spend $500 million...
OTTAWA — Any content levy on internet giants, as the telecom and...
Conservative Party leadership hopeful Erin O’Toole has called for CBC/Radio-Canada’s funding for its digital and english-language television department to be slashed, declaring the national broadcaster is “stuck in the...
In a phone interview with Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel chair Janet Yale,...
In the case that sparked a year of conflict between rivals BCE Inc. and...
OTTAWA — On Monday Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, with some help...
OTTAWA — The reintroduction of an agreement governing contracts involving...
OTTAWA — Whether or not CBC/Radio-Canada can move away from advertising revenue is a “political decision,” according to Monique Simard, a panelist on the blue-ribbon Broadcast and Telecommunication Legislative Review, known as BTLR.
Simard, a former director of...
