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Media Beat: February 11, 2019

By David Farrell

Stingray revenues balloon following broadcast acquisition

Montreal media company Stingray Digital announced its financial results Friday for its Q3 ended December 31, 2018


Below are highlights from the earnings report.

  • •Revenues increased 101.6% to $70.8 million following the Newfoundland Capital Corporation Inc. (“NCC”) acquisition

  • •Recurring Broadcasting and Commercial Music revenues(1) of $33.4 million, an increase of 15.9%

  • •Radio accounted for 44.1% of total revenues at $31.2 million

  • •Subscription video on demand (“SVOD”) subscribers reached 356,000 subscribers in Q3, representing a 25% increase in monthly revenues over the last quarter

  • •Adjusted EBITDA(2) up 144.1% to $27.2 million

  • •Net loss of $18.1 million or $(0.26) per share (diluted) compared to a net income of $0.7 million or $0.01 per share (diluted) last year mainly attributable to the non-recurring expenses totaling $35.3 million related to the CRTC Tangible benefits expense and acquisition costs related to the NCC transaction

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  • •Adjusted Net income(3) up 106.1% to $12.4 million or $0.18 per share (diluted) compared to last year

  • •Cash flow from operating activities increased to $9.2 million

  • •Adjusted free cash flow(4) of $16.0 million, an increase of 99.4%

  • •Dividend increased by 8.3% to $0.065 per share

Reminder: Noms open for CMW Music & Broadcast Awards

Industry trailblazers and outstanding professionals are celebrated annually at the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards. To be considered for the awards, companies are encouraged to submit their nominations online by no later than March 11.

Submit nominations online here

The Canadian Press cuts jobs resulting from falling revenues

The Canadian Press is cutting six editorial positions, in a move the company said is prompted by a decline in its subscription revenue. Most of the journalists affected work in the news agency's Atlantic bureau in Halifax.

In a statement to employees, Canadian Press president Malcolm Kirk cited "tremendous disruption to traditional business models," which has caused a decline in the advertising revenues of the news outlets that pay for Canadian Press services. – CBC News

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German regulators just outlawed Facebook’s entire ad business

Privacy advocates have argued that the company isn’t transparent enough about what data it has and what it does with it. As a result, most people don’t understand the massive trade-off they are making with their information when they sign up for the “free” site.

On Thursday, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, the country’s antitrust regulator, ruled that Facebook was exploiting consumers by requiring them to agree to this kind of data collection in order to have an account, and has prohibited the practice going forward. – Emily Dreyfuss, Wired

Netflix posts highest profit ever and paid $0 in taxes

The popular video streaming service Netflix posted its largest-ever U.S. profit in 2018­­—$845 million—on which it didn’t pay a dime in federal or state income taxes. In fact, the company reported a $22 million federal tax rebate. – Institute of Taxation & Economic Policy

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Théodora
Courtesy Photo

Théodora

Concerts

Francos de Montréal 2025 Highlights: One Language, A Thousand Faces

From June 13 to 22, Montreal transformed into a vibrant capital of Francophone music. From French rapper Théodora to local rockers Corridor, this year’s acts showed that the French language, far from static, is an endless playground.

In Montréal, June rhymes with music, and Francos de Montréal are the perfect proof. Once again this year, the festival celebrated the full richness of the French language in its most lively, vibrant, and above all, varied forms. While French served as a common thread, every artist inhabited it in their own unique way – with their accent, life experience, expressions, imagery and struggles. Between urban poetry, edgy rock and hybrid Creole, Francos 2025 showed that French has never been so expansive – or popular.

What Francos 2025 proved is that the French language is no fixed monument. It’s alive, inventive, plural. It can be slammed by a poet from Saint-Denis, chanted by an afro-futurist rapper, whispered by an indie band, or hammered out in Montréal neighbourhood slang. From Congolese expressions to Québec regionalisms, from playful anglicisms to Creole nods, the French language danced in every form this year. It was « full bon »!

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