CCR Short Takes

Shaw releases second-quarter resultsShaw Communications Inc says its second-quarter profit more than doubled to $71.7 million as a result of asset sales. On March 27, the company reported net earnings were 33 cents a share, compared with $30.7 million or 14 cents a share a year earlier. For the first six months of fiscal 2000, profit rose to $111.6 million from $22 million. Net income in the quarter ending Feb.29 included after-tax gains of about $68.5 million from the sale of its FiberLink unit to GT Group Telecom Inc.Rogers rebuked and rejected by labour boardThe Ontario Labour Relations Board has rejected an attempt by The Shopping Channel to rid itself of the union chosen by its employees, ascribing "improper motive" to the actions of its owner, Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. A majority of the approximately 300 Shopping Channel employees voted to join the Canadian Steelworkers Union in July 1999. The employees work in telemarketing and order fulfillment for the television and Internet-based retailer. CanWest invests in Medbroadcast CorpCanWest Global Communications Ltd and Medbroadcast Corp have announced that the CanWest Interactive division will invest $20-million over three years in Medbroadcast, developers of medbroadcast.com, an Internet source for health information. The $20 million will be injected through a combination of cash and airtime on the Global Television Network and globaltv.com, in exchange for 32% of Medbroadcast. Additional provisions will enable CanWest Interactive to increase its position to 40% of the company. Tiny Native community gets first FM licenceThe CRTC has approved the application for a broadcasting licence for an English-and Native-language native FM radio station at Christian Island, a community of about 750 people in southern Georgian Bay. The commission says the Type B FM station will broadcast 56 hours each week of local programming of which approximately 2.5% will be in the Ojibway language. Aboriginal network expands into newsThe Aboriginal Peoples Television Network has expanded its programming to include current affairs and news. Contact, a current affairs program will launch March 30, 2000 and InVision, with Carol Adams, APTN's flagship news program, will run weekly beginning April 16, 2000. Norsat creates new broadband networks businessNorsat International Inc has formed a new business unit through the combination of the broadband satellite access and transport products. Norsat Broadband Networks will offer satellite IP network solutions and will be responsible for multimedia information transport systems - to be acquired from SpectraWorks - and satellite broadband access products currently under development for ASTRA-NET and KoreaSAT. Flux: Media strikes alliance with Centennial CollegeInteractive TV pioneer FLUX: Media has announced a strategic alliance with Centennial College's Bell Centre for Creative Communications to develop a program focussing on iTV. The program involves a three-tiered curriculum that will be available to graduates of the college's New Media Design program and new media professionals already in the field. Canadian joint venture to acquire broadcast towersAmerican Tower Corp of Boston and Telemedia Corp are joining forces to form a Canadian Tower LP, a company that will develop and acquire wireless and broadcast towers throughout Canada. The company's initial assets will include more than 20 broadcast towers that have been provided by Telemedia Radio Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Telemedia. The towers, which are located in several major metropolitan areas including Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Edmonton and Hamilton, enable the new company to take advantage of the growing demand for wireless applications and broadcasters' eventual transition from analog to digital. Cancom announces 2Q lossesCanadian Satellite Communications Inc (Cancom) trimmed its second-quarter loss with its sale of shares in Regional Cablesystems Inc. Cancom says its consolidated net loss for the fiscal quarter ended Feb. 29 was $10.7 million, compared with a loss of $22.2 million in the first quarter. On Jan. 6, Cancom made a pretax gain of $12.3 million from selling shares in Regional. Consolidated revenue for the second quarter was $92.4 million, compared with $93.2 million in the first quarter. Excluding the one-time gain on the sale of shares in Regional Cablesystems, the net loss for the quarter was $23 million. Global wants Sportsnet, may deal CFCFGlobal Television Network is among the interested companies looking to acquire Sportsnet from CTV, Global officials say. CTV says it will shed its 40 per cent stake in the Sportsnet channel to comply with the broadcast regulator's conditions for buying 68 per cent of NetStar Communications Inc - owner of TSN, The Sports Network. CTV's board of directors formally accepted the conditions March 28. Global executives say they will try to use Global-owned CFCF, a CTV affiliate in Montreal, as part of a deal. Rogers purchases another batch of Cogeco stockRogers Communications Inc has acquired 1,234,700 subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Cable Inc and 466,300 subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Inc from a subsidiary of Shaw Communications Inc. These purchases are in addition to the 3,019,100 subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Cable and 1,358,500 subordinate voting shares of Cogeco acquired on March 24, 2000 from a subsidiary of Shaw Communications. As a result of the acquisitions, which were effected by private purchases, Rogers holds 4,253,800 subordinate voting shares representing approximately 12.7 per cent of the equity of Cogeco Cable and 1,824,800 subordinate voting shares representing approximately 11.3 per cent of the equity of Cogeco. Rogers says it bought the shares "for investment purposes." Shaw Communications to float notes for $571 millionShaw Communications Inc plans to raise more than $US 571 million in two senior notes issues in Canada and the U.S. The Calgary-based company filed a preliminary prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for $400 million of senior notes for sale in the United States. The notes will be offered through an underwriting syndicate with Merrill Lynch & Co and TD Securities (USA) Inc as co-lead managers. Shaw also said it intends to file a preliminary prospectus with securities authorities in Canada to issue CDN$250 of senior notes due 2005 in Canada. The net proceeds from the offerings will be used to redeem the senior private debt of Shaw and for general corporate purposes, the company said. Cinar hopes Bahamas deal will satisfy stock exchangesCinar Corp's executives hope an agreement reached with three interlinked Bahamas companies will satisfy the demands of Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq officials who have halted trading in Cinar until the company releases a complete financial statement. The agreement, details of which are confidential, allows Cinar immediate access to the companies books. Return of Mean Joe Green?NBC, which lost the rights to air National Football League games to CBS three years ago, will get back in the game by broadcasting contests from the World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc proposed Xtreme Football League. NBC has signed a multi-year deal to carry XFL games on Saturday nights. As part of the deal, NBC is expected to take an equity stake in WWF. The WWF announced last month that the XFL, featuring "football with attitude," would kick off in February. 2001, with teams in eight cities that would play a 10-game season stretching through April.

CCR Short Takes

Broadcast | March 30, 2000

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