Canada’s English-language private TV broadcasters announced their fall schedules this week. In case you couldn’t keep up with all the press releases, here’s what was sent out.
Category Archives: Media
Media News Digest: U.S. spies on NYT, TVA people can’t work on the radio, Le Devoir redesigns
News about news
- A Google-funded project called NewsWise is aiming to teach young kids how to look critically at the news media and understand how news and politics interact. It has instructional videos featuring people like BuzzFeed’s Jane Lytvynenko and Craig Silverman (or people claiming to be them, who knows) on its YouTube channel.
- A New York Times reporter’s phone and email records were secretly seized by the U.S. government during a leak investigation.
- People saying the media aren’t talking enough about how 4,645 people died in Puerto Rico are probably unaware that the study that number comes from doesn’t actually say that.
- La Presse is giving more detail about its restructuring plan, including that it has asked the Quebec bar for the names of three retired judges, from which it will choose its trustee to ensure the non-profit it establishes respects its mandate. It will also name the chair of its board without consulting Power Corp.
- The disgraced shell of what was once Newsweek is not above exploiting high-profile suicides for clickbait.
- If you think the Canadian regulatory system is broken, consider this BuzzFeed story about a company that is exploiting a loophole in Britain’s local TV news subsidy program and producing low-quality stories that the BBC is paying for but never using.
- Canadaland has a story about the failed attempted formation of a union at the National Post.
- The Globe and Mail is willing to cancel subscriptions of people who harass journalists.
Télé Inter-Rives proposes bringing over-the-air TV back to Îles-de-la-Madeleine
There’s not much clearer evidence of the declining industry of over-the-air television than the lack of demand for new TV stations in the country. With some exceptions (ICI in Montreal, for example), there haven’t been applications for new over-the-air stations in about 20 years. Instead, major networks like CBC, TVO and CTV have been shutting down transmitters en masse to save money.
So it’s a bit surprising that someone has submitted an application for a new transmitter, in one of the most remote places in the country: the Magdalen Islands (Îles-de-la-Madeleine), the archipelago in the Gulf of St. Lawrence that belongs to Quebec but is actually closer to all four Atlantic provinces than it is to the Quebec mainland.
The application comes from CHAU, the TVA affiliate in Carleton on the Gaspé peninsula. It’s owned by Télé Inter-Rives, which also operates affiliates of the three major French-language networks (Radio-Canada, TVA and V) in Rivière-du-Loup. In addition to its main transmitter in Carleton, CHAU operates 11 digital retransmitters in the Gaspé peninsula and northern New Brunswick. This would be the 12th transmitter, CHAU-DT-12.
(CHAU, like other independent broadcasters, made the investment to convert their over-the-air transmitters to digital even though they were not required to do so by the government’s digital transition plan because they served small communities.)
Proposed transmission pattern of CHAU-DT-12 in Îles-de-la-Madeleine
CHAU-DT-12 would be a 100-watt station, with a transmitter on Channel 12 in Cap-aux-Meules on the local transmission tower operated by GAD E?lectronique. CHAU puts the cost of the new transmission facility at $37,572. That’s about $3 for each of the region’s 12,000 or so residents.
Because it’s a retransmitter, CHAU-DT-12 wouldn’t be a local station for the islands, but CHAU says it wants to provide local programming, working with independent producers on the islands and doing reporting using technologies like Skype and FaceTime. CHAU says in its application that the residents of the islands have a lot in common with those of the Gaspé peninsula and Acadian communities in New Brunswick, including an interest in fishing.
It promises to devote at least 20 minutes a week to local news relevant to the islands.
The islands haven’t had an over-the-air television transmitter since CBC/Radio-Canada shut down its extensive network of analog TV rebroadcasters in 2012. Before they were shut down, they had two retransmitters of the Radio-Canada station in Montreal (CBIMT and CBIMT-1) and one retransmitter of CBC Montreal (CBMYT).
“In today’s difficult environment for over-the-air television in Canada, the project to extend CHAU’s signal to the Îles-de-la-Madeleine represents an investment that is unexpected but achievable thanks to technical possibilities that reduce installation and operational costs,” the application reads.
The CRTC is accepting comments about CHAU’s application until July 5. Comments can be filed here. Note that all information submitted, including contact information, becomes part of the public record.
Media News Digest: RTDNA national awards, some fall TV plans, Global News Radio adds seventh station
News about news
- The far-right group Atalante stormed Vice’s Quebec offices, made a lot of noise and left. The FPJQ is shocked and disgusted by the attempt to intimidate journalists.
- The Ukrainian government faked the death of a Russian journalist in order to try to catch who was trying to kill him. The move has prompted some discussion and concern that this further erodes people’s trust in the media and government at the worst possible time.
- Canadaland has a story about CBC News matching competing news organizations’ scoops without credit. This is a common problem in the industry and a pet peeve of mine as well, but it goes far beyond the CBC. Many, maybe even most mainstream news organizations with decades of experience work under the guideline that you only need to credit a competitor until you’ve independently confirmed the news yourself. If news organizations had to disclose where they first heard about all the stories they published, news would read a lot differently. (Also Frank magazine points out it has been scooped by Canadaland without credit in the past.)
- RTDNA Canada announced its national and network award winners, with CBC getting many of those (51 in total, 6 for the Montreal team). Winners from here:
- CBC Montreal digital on Quebec City mosque attack
- CBC Montreal digital on Montreal floods
- CBC Montreal website
- CBC Montreal’s Montreapolis podcast
- CBC Montreal radio on flooding
- CBC Montreal television for Out of the Shadows: Inside La Meute
- CTV News Channel, Quebec City Mosque Shooting
- CJAD 800 for Andrew’s Let’s Talk Story
- The FPJQ is moving its Quebec journalism awards ceremony out of its annual conference and into its own special gala, next May, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.
- The Don Martin/Arthur Kent defamation case has seen its damages increased to a total of $450,000. Martin published a column in the National Post 10 years ago that harshly criticized Kent, an Alberta politician.
- Two TV journalists at WYFF in Greenville, S.C., were killed while covering a storm when a tree fell on their news van.
CRTC report has fundamental but very vague suggestions to change our broadcasting system
One day before the deadline set by Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, the CRTC on Thursday released a report into the broadcasting system that proposes major, fundamental changes to how broadcasting is regulated in this country. (The condensed backgrounder is here.)
Unfortunately, that report is also quite vague, even on the parts that should be specific.
It’s not the CRTC’s fault, really, because that’s not really its purpose. The original order issued back in September by Joly is just as vague, seeking a report on “the distribution model or models of programming that are likely to exist in the future; how and through whom Canadians will access that programming; the extent to which these models will ensure a vibrant domestic market that is capable of supporting the continued creation, production and distribution of Canadian programming, in both official languages, including original entertainment and information programming.”
In terms of assessing programming distribution models, the report is pretty clear, but is also repeating a lot of stuff we already know: conventional television and radio are mature industries and have no way to go but down, online audio and video streaming services are catching on with the population, and Internet delivery of content means more Canadians are getting that content directly from foreign sources who don’t have to contribute to Canadian content or answer to the CRTC.
What’s new is what the commission proposes to do about it, but that’s where the data and charts go out the window and we’re left with vague, obvious suggestions and what often sounds like one unnamed person’s opinion.
But let’s go through them and look at the issues in a bit more detail:
Joey Elias pulls the plug on his CJAD Comedy Show
Joey Elias, left, and Noel Butler. Elias is the professional comedian.
Late nights on CJAD will never be the same. After more than 10 years hosting the late-night Comedy Show, Joey Elias has stepped away from the microphone.
On Friday, Elias promised a big announcement. And it was big: that show would be his last. The 11pm hour weekdays has been replaced by a simulcast of CTV National News and CTV Montreal’s 11:30pm local news. It’s unclear if this is a temporary or permanent thing. CJAD Program Director Chris Bury did not respond to a request for comment.
Though rumours quickly spread that Elias was cut as a cost-saving measure, especially as it came around the same time as other Bell Media cuts. But Elias says it was his call.
“After receiving offers — plural — to stay on, it was I that chose to opt out,” Elias tells me. “It was an incredibly tough choice to make, and I want to stress this: Management treated me with the utmost respect. I made my choice because I realized that right now at this very point in my life, I have neglected my responsibilities as a son, sibling, family member and friend — so (I) felt start now before it’s too late.”
He says he’s in good health and could be back some day. “The door for a return has been kept open and I hope to do so one day.”
Meanwhile, CJAD has also lost the Chris Robinson Travel Show, which aired on Saturdays. A Facebook post by the show says it’s on “sabbatical” and will be off the air for “a while”.
Corus abandons plan to sell Séries+ and Historia to Bell after Competition Bureau says no
Updated with Corus calling off the deal.
Corus and Bell have dropped their plans for Bell to acquire Corus’s ownership of French-language specialty channels Séries+ and Historia days after Corus announced the Commissioner of Competition has decided not to approve the $200-million purchase.
Reasons weren’t given — the bureau itself has not released a statement, but a spokesperson points out to Cartt.ca that their agreement with Bell is that it wouldn’t try to acquire them within 10 years. Five years ago, when Bell sought to purchase Astral Media (which at the time co-owned Séries+ and Historia with Shaw), the bureau came to an agreement to approve that sale, under various conditions that included the sale of those two channels. To allow Bell to re-buy those channels now would mean that the bureau does not take its own demands seriously.
The fact that Bell would have more than half the subscription revenue of French-language television in Canada might also have something to do with it.
The sale had gone through a CRTC process and was awaiting a decision. Now that process will be abandoned.
Interview: Shari Okeke explains why CBC’s Mic Drop podcast keeps adults out of the conversation
There’s a scene that plays out at the beginning of the second episode of Mic Drop, a new podcast by CBC Montreal. A young girl named Ava takes us through her skin care process to deal with acne. She uses a face cleanser, a moisturizer, and some oil product as part of a multi-step daily routine to try to cut down on the number of pimples on her face. The scene is edited together with thoughts from her about what it’s like having pimples, how people around her react to her, and how it makes her feel.
Ava is 11.
There’s nothing newsworthy about this segment, and it’s about one of the most normal of topics, but it’s surprisingly insightful. And a reminder to us olds that while we may have vague memories of what teenage life is like, we don’t really know that life, especially now.
Mic Drop, which runs for seven episodes, is filled with these kinds of stories, told directly by kids 11-17, without a host or narrator. The topics vary, from the mundane annoyances of acne to the very real issues of drug use and domestic violence, and plenty of stuff in between.
Interested by this format and the content of the podcast, I sat down with creator Shari Okeke last week to ask her about how it came together.
Bell Media decides Daily Planet and InnerSpace aren’t worth the cost anymore
We’re getting into upfront season in Canadian television — the time of year when the networks set their fall schedules and present teasers to advertisers to try to drum up excitement for the coming season.
It’s also the time when we find out what’s not coming back. This week, Bell Media told staff that it’s pulling the plug on on daily news magazine shows on two of its most popular specialty channels: Daily Planet on Discovery Channel and InnerSpace on Space.
Daily Planet was born @discovery.ca in 1995, and has been with Discovery since its launch. It was hosted for the longest time by Jay Ingram, and now by Dan Riskin and Ziya Tong. The hour-long daily series includes several documentary segments visiting factories, builders and scientists doing cool stuff. Its final show is June 5.
InnerSpace, hosted by Ajay Fry, Teddy Wilson and Morgan Hoffman, originally started as HypaSpace in 2002, though that was itself the natural progression of short-form videos about sci-fi news that had been on the channel in various forms through the years. Even as InnerSpace, the show was a bit of a hype machine for sci-fi shows that aired on Space or other Bell Media channels. (They were also responsible for the Orphan Black after shows.) But there were segments on comic books, interviews with authors and a lot of other segments that showed a staff that cared about what they were doing. Its final show was May 23.
Radio diary ratings: Radio-Canada has largest market share in Quebec City
Market share (% of listening hours) in Quebec City’s central market (data by Numeris)
It shouldn’t come as big a surprise as some are making it, but ICI Radio-Canada Première is the top-rated station in Quebec City, both in terms of listening market share (above) and total listeners in the central market, according to data released by Numeris on Thursday.
Three talk radio stations — RadCan, Cogeco’s FM93 and RNC Media’s CHOI Radio X — have been battling for top spot for the past few years, and FM93 has come out on top recently. But in this ratings period (measured Feb. 26 to April 22), it suddenly drops to third. RadCan, meanwhile, climbs to first while CHOI remains mostly stable.
Among the music stations, another sudden shift means Leclerc Communications’ WKND jumps to top spot ahead of Bell’s Rouge FM, which seems to be in a long, slow decline. The remaining stations’ shares are mostly the same as they have been. (Note that, as in Montreal, Radio Classique stopped reporting Numeris ratings after last spring.)
Media News Digest: English Quebec leaders’ debate, new Gazette columnists, Cogeco CEO retiring
News about news
- Nominations have been announced for the Michener Award for public service journalism (considered the most prestigious because it involves the governor-general and because only one award is given out every year). They are:
- Cogeco Nouvelles for its reporting (by Monic Néron and Émilie Perreault) on Gilbert Rozon’s alleged sexual assault and harassment of women
- CBC Edmonton (Jennie Russell and Charles Rusnell) on irregularities involving grants to Alberta private health foundation Pure North
- Global News on how Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada handled permanent residency applications for people with disabilities and medical conditions
- The Globe and Mail (Grant Robertson) on banned pesticides used in the manufacture of medical marijuana
- The Globe and Mail (Robyn Doolittle) on police dismissal of sexual assault cases by classifying them as “unfounded”
- The Toronto Star (Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Brendan Kennedy) on how companies are increasingly turning to temp agencies to limit their liability for workplace accidents, reduce employers’ responsibility and cut costs
- The Vancouver Sun (Gordon Hoekstra) and Globe and Mail (Grant Robertson and Tom Cardoso) on the lack of punishment for securities fraudsters
- The Quebec government has presented a journalist shield law to the National Assembly, similar to a law the federal government has already passed. The FPJQ is not happy with the proposed law, calling it too little too late.
- The Supreme Court of Canada has put a 50-year embargo on documents about deliberations of their cases, the Globe and Mail has discovered.
- The propensity of foreign law enforcement agencies to leak information (such as the suspected identity of mass shooters) is already leading to some reticence to share information with allied governments.
- The FPJQ is asking the Quebec government to go ahead and eliminate that 1967 law that prevents La Presse from being restructured into a nonprofit, and not use that quirk of history as a pretext to have Power Corp. executives grilled on La Presse’s news coverage. Meanwhile, André Desmarais is noncommittal about further support for La Presse if it’s still in trouble after running out of the $50 million.
- Workers at Thomson Reuters have agreed to a new three-year collective agreement.
- Stories from the Toronto Star, Métro and RCI about Mediafugees, a Montreal-based online news outlet by and for refugees.
- Channel 4’s Jon Snow has voluntarily taken a 25% pay cut to help reduce the gender pay gap.
CPAM, CJMS given one more (last?) lifeline with two-year CRTC licence renewal
Montreal’s Haitian radio station, and the AM country station it bought after its previous owner had extensive licence compliance issues, are trying the patience of the CRTC. But the commission is giving each of them another chance to get their administration in order.
On Friday, the commission renewed each of their licences for two years, with requirements that they broadcast messages on air acknowledging their non-compliance, and with three mandatory court orders each requiring them to be in compliance with their licence conditions.
“The Commission is concerned with the licensee’s ability and commitment to operate the station in a compliant manner,” it wrote in each of the decisions.
CJWI 1410 (CPAM Radio Union) was found in non-compliance with licence conditions related to:
- Timely filing of annual financial reports
- Timely response to CRTC requests for audio recordings and information
- Keeping and producing proper records of music played on air (one request for information was never answered)
- Timely filing of proof of financial contributions to Canadian content development
- On-air announcements about previous non-compliance (the broadcasts did not use the exact wording laid out by the CRTC)
This is the third consecutive licence term in which CJWI has been in non-compliance. In other words, the station has never fully complied with its licence conditions since it launched in 2002. In 2008, the commission found the 2007 annual return was filed late and gave a four-year licence renewal. In 2015, the commission found once again annual returns were filed late (four years’ worth were filed simultaneously, and the fifth three months later), as well as proof of Canadian content contributions. It imposed a $2,500 de facto fine and broadcast of shame messages noting their non-compliance.
The excuses given by CPAM for the failure to comply are also getting repetitive, usually blaming some nameless employee or accountant for not knowing the rules. (Though the excuse that records were destroyed in a firebombing is a pretty good one.) Its promise that someone will take charge of ensuring paperwork is filed rings hollow in light of its repeated failures.
CJMS 1040 was found in non-compliance with conditions of licence related to:
- Timely filing of annual reports (one year’s was never filed)
- Responses to requests for information (a request was never answered despite several reminders)
- Production of audio recordings on demand (a request was not fulfilled)
The latter to contradict mandatory orders issued by the CRTC in 2014. Failure to comply with such an order could result in a contempt of court proceeding. But here the commission seems content to simply issue new mandatory orders that may or may not be followed.
This is the fifth consecutive licence term that CJMS has been found in non-compliance, but the first under this owner. Like CJWI, CJMS has never fully complied with its licence. CJMS’s licence had already seen short-term renewals since its launch in 1999:
- In 2006, for two years (French-language music, logger tapes, annual returns, Canadian content contributions)
- In 2008, for two years (Canadian content development, annual returns)
- In 2010, for four years (Canadian content development, music lists, newscasts)
- In 2014, for three years (Canadian content development, annual returns, logger tapes, program logs, requests for information)
Both licence renewal decisions make clear that the commission is losing patience, and that a further failure to meet licence conditions could result in the stations losing their licences entirely.
In the meantime, mandatory orders have been issued requiring each station provide:
- Program logs and audio recordings on request of the CRTC
- Reponses to requests for information from the CRTC
- Full annual returns by the deadline
I’m pessimistic that either station will be fully in compliance two years from now. But hopefully they’ll be close enough that the commission decides to give them yet another chance.
Media News Digest: NNA & CAJ awards, Star bringing back paywall, NBC saves Brooklyn Nine-Nine
News about news
- National Newspaper Awards were announced: The Globe and Mail won six (including journalist of the year for Robyn Doolittle), the Toronto Star and La Presse each won four.
- The Canadian Association of Journalists also handed out its awards.
- Ipsos wants to use copyright law to prevent people from using its poll results in aggregate form, arguing that the polls were not designed to be used in this way. Ekos wants to do the same.
- City Montreal is finally hiring more journalists for its soon-to-launch evening newscasts. It put up postings for two full-time and one part-time journalist. No word yet on a launch date. City had hired Cora MacDonald and Tina Tenneriello for the job last year. Macdonald has since left for Global Montreal.
- La Presse publisher Guy Crevier writes about the decision to go non-profit. As is his habit, there are a lot of statistics. Among them:
- In 1975, 79% of homes received a daily newspaper. Now it’s 2%.
- La Presse did three studies in recent years about a paid subscription model. The most generous on showed it could get 50-100,000 subs paying $5 a month. But up to $6 million in revenue would be offset by “tens of millions” in lost ad revenue.
- Since 2010, the two largest newspaper chains in Canada (Postmedia and Torstar, I’m presuming) held on to only 35% and 42% of ad revenue. La Presse managed to keep 66% despite the fact that it no longer has a print edition.
- Le Devoir looks at the Philadelphia Inquirer, which underwent a similar transformation into a nonprofit.
- Meanwhile, the provincial government is open to expediting the process of approving La Presse’s transfer of ownership. Its unions want the change to happen ASAP.
- Alexandre Taillefer has stepped down from the board of Mishmash Media (owner of L’Actualité and Voir) and dropped his column in Voir to avoid conflicts of interest coming out of his recent decision to become campaign chair of the Quebec Liberal Party.
At the CRTC
Evanov Radio resubmits new joint #CRTC technical plan for Toronto radio stations CIDC-FM (Z103) and CIRR-FM (Proud FM):
CIDC-FM moves to 103.7, increases from 30.7kW to 45kW, points NW
CIRR-FM to 103.5, from 0.2kW to 20kW and doubles antenna height. Will also add HD. pic.twitter.com/6Njy76hm4t— Steve Faguy (@fagstein) May 10, 2018
- Evanov Radio is trying again with its plan to reconfigure its two Toronto-area radio stations to turn at least one into a bona fide Toronto station. Like its last attempt, this new one involves converting CIDC-FM (Z103.5) into a station serving Orangeville (as it was licensed to do) and clearing the way for CIRR-FM (Proud FM 103.9) to increase power to cover all of downtown Toronto. But after the last attempt was deemed technically unacceptable by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (which regulates radio spectrum) because of interference it would cause to other stations, this one tries another option: move CIDC to 103.7, with a signal pointed entirely northwest away from Toronto, and move CIRR to 103.5, allowing it to increase power 100-fold. Evanov also proposed to add an HD transmitter for CIRR, with up to four channels. The first will simulcast the analog signal, but it hasn’t decided what the other three will carry yet.
- The Supreme Court of Canada will be hearing an appeal by Bell over the CRTC’s Super Bowl ad substitution policy. The court’s focus isn’t on the CRTC’s rules per se, but on the issue of how the courts can overrule decisions by administrative bodies like the CRTC. It’s unclear if we’d get a decision on this by the next Super Bowl in February, but the court has declined a request to expedite the process.
- Kanesatake’s community radio station CKHQ-FM 101.7 is fighting against a proposed new Christian radio station in Lachute on the same frequency. Under Canadian broadcasting regulations, CKHQ is a low-power station and is unprotected, so if another station gets a licence to operate that would cause interference, CKHQ would have to move to another frequency. The problem is that Kanesatake is close enough to Montreal that there aren’t many frequencies available, even for a tiny 11-watt station. Legally it doesn’t have much to go on, but it’s hoping political pressure will push the CRTC to act in its favour. The station, which can’t be heard outside the immediate area of Kanesatake, has been off the air since last July.
At the CBC
Ethical reviews
- Another week, another decision against André Arthur. This time, the Quebec Press Council finding he was wrong to call teachers “crazy”, and wrong for his employer BLVD 102,1 to deny he said that on the air.
- Other Quebec Press Council decisions:
- A LaPresse.ca story about an assault suspect being sought by police, that was later updated after the suspect was found, should not have included a description of the suspect as “Indigenous” as that was not relevant. La Presse argued the ethnic description was an “artifact” of the previous story as a physical description of a man being sought by police.
- A TVA story about the dangers of sugary drinks was not biased against sugar and obesity, despite the complaint of Fondation Belles rondeurs. A complaint by the same group against a Le Soleil series on weight loss was also rejected.
- A La Presse story about the Quebec City mosque shooter’s like of guns was not sensationalist, despite the complaint of the Canadian National Firearms Association
- A Journal de Montréal story was not discriminatory or prejudicial by noting that a victim in a gang rape case had consumed alcohol before the alleged crime.
- CHOI host Jeff Fillion was within his rights to say that if he was a cop, he would treat protesters in a brutal manner. (A split 4-2 decision.) — We’ll see how his suggestion that protesters be outright murdered goes down.
- A Lise Ravary column in the Journal de Montréal that noted the “climategate” scandal of alleged manipulation of data by climate researchers should have noted that a subsequent investigation found no such manipulation of data.
- The Quebec Press Council itself says it has reviewed 83 cases in the past year, and is looking at mediation to accelerate them because they take about a year to process.
- Toronto Star Public Editor Kathy English wants to know why more women don’t write letters to the editor.
- CBC ombudsman: Broadcasts have to be clear about panelists’ conflicts of interest in political discussions.
- CBC ombudsman: A report quoting a witness at a murder trial saying “Jesus fucking Christ” was not inappropriate but should have come with a warning.
TV
RENEW BROOKLYN NINE NINE
I ONLY WATCH LIKE 4 THINGS
THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS#RenewB99— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) May 10, 2018
- Fox has cancelled sitcoms Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Last Man on Earth and The Mick. But oh wait, NBC has stepped in and saved the Nine-Nine!
- Meanwhile, Fox picked up Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing from ABC.
- CTV is going ahead with Season 2 of The Launch, and is seeking applications from artists. One of the songs from Season 1 (Ain’t Easy by Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine) went platinum in Canada, four of the songs had short-term success going #1 on the iTunes Canada charts, and the other two (by Ethan Young and Jayd Ink) … didn’t.
- CTV has bought the right to premiere a new Martin Scorcese-directed SCTV reunion special in Canada (now with Rick Moranis set to participate). This means the show won’t be available on Netflix in Canada right away, but will be after it airs on CTV.
- Most French-language TV broadcasters not owned by Quebecor have agreed to a partnership with Radio-Canada’s Tou.tv that will make some of their content available on Tou.tv Extra. This includes Bell, V and TV5, and possibly Télé-Québec in the future.
- V has renewed Le Show de Rousseau, its replacement for Éric Salvail’s nightly talk show, despite its less-than-stellar debut.
- Bell’s food channel Gusto is on free preview from May 15 to June 26.
- Quebec City’s ComediHa! festival has renewed its TV deals — for three years with Radio-Canada and Bell Media and for two years with Unis.
- Thursday’s Winnipeg Jets/Nashville Predators Game 7 unsurprisingly did well in the ratings in Canada. Its 3 million viewers made it the most-watched Jets game ever. It even did okay in the U.S., with 1.6 million viewers on NBCSN and streaming.
Radio
- CJAD has added a new name to its wall of fame: former host Melanie King.
- Claude Rajotte is returning to CIBL, with a show Wednesday nights starting May 16.
- Mario Dumont is leaving Montreal’s 98.5FM in June, where he was a collaborator to the morning show, citing a lack of available time. His replacement, Denis Coderre, will stay on, despite saying last fall that a media job is not what we should expect him to go into.
- Vancouver’s Roundhouse Radio went off the air last Sunday, though it looks like the station will be sold. A sale requires CRTC approval before it can take effect.
- CBC has renamed its B.C. noon-hour call-in show from B.C. Almanac to BC Today. That was a bit annoying to BC Today, a website that covers the B.C. legislature.
- Amid the talk about La Presse going nonprofit, Le Devoir’s Brian Myles discusses its structure, which is technically a for-profit enterprise but one that’s controlled by its director and accepts donations.
- Cult MTL has released its annual Best of Montreal readers’ poll results, which includes a section on local media.
- The Toronto Star is bringing back the paywall, three years after dropping it. It’s also applying the paywall to StarMetro, even though those are free newspapers.
- The Star is also dropping its contract with Pagemasters North America to outsource the editing and print layout of its paper. PMNA is owned by The Canadian Press.
- Employees at the Windsor Star have voted 91% in favour of a new three-year labour contract, just before they were set to go on strike. The new deal avoids most of the concessions demanded by the employer, and includes only a 0.5 per cent pay hike in 2020.
- The Chicago Tribune’s owner has voluntarily recognized a new union, which will encompass the Tribune and some related publications.
Online
- Le Devoir talks to Mike Ward about his podcast series Sous écoute, which features discussions with comedians.
- Spotify has pulled R Kelly’s music from its playlists — but not from the service itself — after more reports of sexual misconduct.
Other
News about people
In 1975, Jim, who lived down the street, asked me to prom. We had a blast and he moved away. 40 years later we reconnected, fell in love, and last night he proposed! #ISaidYes ? pic.twitter.com/tad1aRpTX3
— Marilyn Denis (@MarilynDenisCTV) May 7, 2018
- Marilyn Denis got engaged.
- Montreal Gazette cartoonist Terry Mosher (Aislin) and La Presse’s Serge Chapleau are getting honorary degrees from Concordia University.
- CBC’s Kate McKenna launched her book about the abortion fight in PEI, first in PEI and on Thursday in Montreal.
- Radio-Canada reports the police have ended their investigations into Éric Salvail and Gilbert Rozon. It will now be up to the prosecutors if charges will be laid against them for alleged sexual harassment.
- La Presse speaks to Maripier Morin about her personal branding and her reputation.
- Robyn Doolittle has a book deal out of her long investigation into police departments dismissing sexual assault complaints.
- The Washington Post profiles Lainey Lui (The Social, eTalk) and her LaineyGossip blog.
- Amil Niazi is leaving Vice Canada to join the BBC.
- Alex Panetta is leaving The Canadian Press, where he was its Washington correspondent, for some other unnamed job.
- Tyler Dawson is leaving the Ottawa Citizen to become the new Alberta correspondent for the National Post.
- Lindsey Wiebe, formerly at audience development at Rogers Media, is joining the New York Times as its first Canadian audience growth editor.
- CTV’s Avis Favaro is getting an honorary doctorate from McMaster University.
- Christiane Amanpour has been named Charlie Rose’s replacement at PBS. The new show will be called “Amanpour & Company”
- An internal report at NBC has conveniently showed that NBC bosses did not know about Matt Lauer’s behaviour toward women.
- Rita Trichur has been promoted to senior editor at the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine
Obituaries
- Elizabeth Hughes, CBC Vancouver executive producer
- André Payette, journalist and essayist
- Peter Mayer, former Penguin Group chief executive (in charge when it published the Satanic Verses)
Good reads
- The Walrus on the Toronto Star’s efforts to reinvent itself (not much new here, but a good summary of its history and some insight from star reporter Daniel Dale).
Upcoming events
Jobs
- Reporter/photographer, The Eastern Door in Kahnawake (deadline: May 14)
- Summer intern, Maisonneuve magazine in Montreal (deadline: May 14)
- Student summer researcher at FPJQ in Montreal (deadline: May 18)
- Videojournalists, City Montreal
- Program Director, K103 in Kahnawake (deadline: June 1)
Quebecor finally rids itself of the Caisse
It’s being eclipsed by some other Quebec media ownership news, but Quebecor announced today at its annual shareholders meeting that it is completing its buyback of shares in subsidiary Quebecor Media owned by Quebec’s pension fund manager, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. Once that sale is complete, Quebecor Media, a company started in 2000 with the Caisse’s help to purchase Videotron (and keep it out of the hands of Rogers) will be completely owned by Quebecor Inc.
The transaction won’t completely eliminate the Caisse’s investment in Quebecor. Some of the $1.69 billion the Caisse is getting is in the form of Quebecor Inc. stock, and the Caisse already has some Quebecor stock from previous deals and investments (its 2017 annual report put the value at between $300 million and $500 million). But getting the Caisse out of Quebecor Media simplifies the situation and means Quebecor can decide what to do with Quebecor Media’s profits and the Caisse becomes just another shareholder.
Through his family’s voting shares, Quebecor is de facto controlled by Pierre Karl Péladeau, who controls 73% of voting power in Quebecor Inc.
Whether the Caisse’s $3.2-billion investment in Quebecor Media was the right one is the subject of some debate. In pure dollar amounts, the Caisse is getting back more money than it invested, but barely keeping pace with inflation if it even did. Had the money been invested otherwise, it may have brought back more. On the other hand, Videotron and TVA might be owned by Rogers now, and it’s hard to predict what the Canadian media industry would have looked like as a result.
Timeline
- 2000: The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec buys a 45.3% stake in Quebecor Media for $3.2 billion to finance the purchase of Videotron (which also owned TVA). Quebecor Media is valued at $7.06 billion.
- 2012: Quebecor reduces Caisse’s stake from 45.3% to 24.6% in $1.5-billion deal ($1 billion in cash from Quebecor Media and $500 million in shares of Quebecor). The full 45.3% stake is valued at $2.75 billion, and so Quebecor Media as a whole is valued at $6.07 billion. The Caisse’s remaining share is valued at $1.5 billion, and the Caisse notes it has received $324 million in dividends since 2003.
- 2015: Quebecor reduces the Caisse’s stake from 24.6% to 18.93% for $500 million in cash. This would value Quebecor Media at $8.8 billion and the Caisse’s remaining stake at $1.67 billion. Quebecor promises to buy back the rest of the Caisse’s interest by 2019.
- 2017: Quebecor further reduces the Caisse’s stake from 18.93% to 18.47%, buying $38 million worth of shares in cash. This would value Quebecor Media at $8.3 billion and the Caisse’s remaining stake at $1.53 billion.
- 2018: Quebecor completes the repurchase of the Caisse stake, buying the remaining 18.47% of shares for $1.69 billion (91.1% cash, 8.9% Quebecor stock). This values Quebecor Media at $9.15 billion.
In total, just in terms of share value and not counting for inflation or dividends, the Caisse invested $3.2 billion in 2000 and over the various buybacks got $3.7 billion. (According to the Globe and Mail, the total payback is estimated around $4.1 billion.)
In terms of inflation, that $3.2 billion should have been worth $4.1 billion in 2012 and $4.5 billion today. $3.2 billion in the S&P/TSX composite would have been worth $4.8 billion.
I’m not a stock market expert and I’m not going to do a full analysis here. Maybe someone else has the time and patience to consider all the variables (and someone from Quebecor will spend time refuting those conclusions), but the debate is mostly moot now, because the Caisse’s (direct) investment in Quebecor Media has been liquidated.
La Presse being spun off as a non-profit
La Presse publisher Guy Crevier, left, and president Pierre-Elliott Levasseur announce the news about La Presse to journalists on Tuesday.
Well, TVA was right about La Presse being sold. But its guess about who was buying turned out to be very wrong.
The news giant gathered its many employees at the Palais des Congrès Tuesday morning to announce that the daily is being turned into a non-profit organization, separate from Power Corporation of Canada.
Some details are still to be determined, but here’s what we know so far: