By David Farrell
Heritage ministry to review Canada’s Broadcasting Act
Speaking at the Prime Time in Ottawa Conference Thursday, Mélanie Joly said the federal government is still considering how to best deal with international streaming services, like Netflix, as part of a broader overhaul of Canada’s Broadcasting Act,
“I think the real conversation, and I hope we will be able to work together, is the review of the Broadcasting Act,” Joly said at the annual held by the Canadian Media Producers Association. “This is how we can fundamentally change how we have Canadian content in our country in the future.” – Ottawa Citizen
Broadcaster Jesse Wente appointed first director of Canada's new Indigenous Screen Office
The Toronto-born Ojibwe has been a film program director at TIFF Bell Lightbox, a CBC culture columnist and has worked on numerous boards, including the Toronto Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. His first day on the job was Thursday, Feb. 1 – Straight.com
Thomson Reuters F&R buyout by Blackstone nets $14B financing
J.P. Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Citi are providing the debt financing backing the Blackstone-led buyout of a 55% stake in Thomson Reuters’ financial and risk business (F&R), in a deal that values the unit at $20B.
The private equity firm confirmed Wednesday in a statement that it will buy the stake together with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and GIC, while Thomson Reuters will retain a 45% stake in the partnership. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2018 – Forbes
CTV tries to bribe viewers to watch Super Bowl on their network
Well, they couldn’t win the battle of Super Bowl simsub in the courts, so CTV is trying to pull one last rabbit out of its football helmet – a “Watch To Win” contest to get viewers to stay away from the NBC feed this Sunday.
The network has announced that they’ll be airing a “secret word” that will pop up occasionally in the middle of a commercial cluster (when else?) during the Big Game. If viewers text or email those bon mots along with their ID, they could win a car, a trip and tickets to next year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta or cash amounts ranging from $50,000 to the grand prize of $150,000 – RadioActive, Sowny.net
iHeartMedia skips interest payment as it struggles with $20B debt
iHeartMedia Inc said Thursday it had skipped a US$106M interest payment, the first time it has done so, as the largest US radio station owner continues to negotiate with its creditors in search of relief from its massive debt burden.
Skipping the payment kicks off a 30-day grace period, giving the company more time to restructure its debt load and avoid bankruptcy. iHeart has been negotiating with creditors for at least two years – Reuters
Fox and NFL agree to 5-year, $3B deal for Thursday night football
“These opportunities come along very, very infrequently,” said Peter Rice, president of 21st Century Fox. “You either have the rights to the most-watched content in media or you don’t. If you don’t take the opportunity, this won’t come up again for five years. We believe in buying the very best rights, and the best rights are the NFL.” – AP
