Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2018-274

PDF version

Ottawa, 3 August 2018

Public record: 1011-NOC2018-0274

Notice of applications received

Across Canada

Deadline for submission of interventions/comments/answers: 4 September 2018

[Submit an intervention/comment/answer or view related documents]

The Commission has received the following applications:

Applicant/Licensee and Locality

  1. Québecor Média inc. (Québecor), on behalf of 9261-1813 Quebec inc.
    Across Canada
    Application 2018-0339-6
  2. Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited
    Across Canada
    Application 2018-0417-0

1. Québecor Média inc. (Québecor), on behalf of 9261-1813 Quebec inc.
Across Canada
Application 2018-0339-6

Application by Québecor Média inc. (Québecor), on behalf of 9261-1813 Quebec inc. (9261-1813), for authority to effect a change in effective control of Canal Évasion inc. (Évasion inc.) and Zeste Diffusion inc. (Zeste inc.), the respective licensees of the French-language discretionary television services Évasion and Zeste.

9261-1813 holds 84.27% of the shares of Serdy Média inc. (Serdy), which in turn holds 91.69% of the shares of Évasion inc. and all of the shares of Zeste inc. Sébastien Arsenault currently exercises effective control over Évasion inc. and Zeste inc.

Quebecor indicates that, prior to the transaction, 9261-1813 would become sole shareholder of Serdy. The transaction would subsequently be effected by the transfer of all of the shares of 9261-1813 to Groupe TVA inc. (TVA).

Pierre Karl Péladeau exercises effective control over TVA, a subsidiary of Québecor.

The applicant proposes to operate the services under the same terms and conditions as those in effect under the current licences.

According to Québecor, the combined French-language viewing share of TVA, Zeste and Évasion was 35.10% in 2016-2017.

Pursuant to the purchase agreement, the purchase price is $21 million and includes non‑regulated operations.

The applicant has proposed a value of the transaction of $22,326,074 for all its operations, including assumed leases and non-regulated operations. As indicated in Simplified Approach to tangible benefits and determining the value of the transaction, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2014-459, 5 September 2014, the applicant proposed an allocation of the value of the transaction according to the proportion of revenues generated by licensed undertakings, relative to the total revenues from all assets that are part of the transaction. As such, the applicant proposed a value of the transaction for regulated television operations of $17,927,837. It proposed tangible benefits of 10% of that amount, representing $1,792,784.

The Commission reminds the applicant that any instances of apparent non-compliance will be examined in the context of each service’s licence renewal.

Applicant's address:

619 le Breton Street
Longueuil, Quebec
J4G 1R9
Email: reglementaires@quebecor.com
Email to request electronic version of application: reglementaires@quebecor.com

2. Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited
Across Canada
Application 2018-0417-0

Application by Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited (NCCL) for authority to change its ownership and effective control through the transfer of all issued and outstanding shares to Stingray Digital Group Inc. (Stingray), pursuant to sections 11(4)(a) of the Radio Regulations, 1986 and 14(4)(a) of the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987.

Newcap Inc. (Newcap), a wholly owned subsidiary of NCCL, and its five wholly owned subsidiaries are the licensees of 71 radio broadcasting entities, 29 re-broadcasting entities, and two conventional television entities in seven provinces. Newcap also operates one exempt tourist undertaking in Alberta.

Stingray is a widely held Canadian public company effectively controlled by Eric Boyko, pursuant to the Nomination Rights Agreement and the Voting Trust Agreement. It is the licensee of a pay audio service and five national discretionary services. Stingray also operates exempt discretionary services.

Following the transaction, the licensees will continue the operation of the undertakings under the same terms and conditions as those in effect under the current licences.

Pursuant to the Arrangement Agreement, the purchase price for all issued and outstanding shares would be $505,652,061. The applicant proposed a value of the transaction of $524,297,181, including assumed leases and assumed debt. As part of the transaction, Stingray would acquire radio and television undertakings and non-regulated operations. As indicated in Simplified approach to tangible benefits and determining the value of the transaction, Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2014-459, 5 September 2014, the applicant proposed an allocation of the value of the transaction according to the proportion of revenues generated by each type of licensed undertaking relative to the total revenues from all assets that are part of the transaction. Accordingly, the proposed tangible benefits package includes 6% of the value allocated to the radio operations ($502,066,980), representing $30,124,019, and 10% of the value allocated to the television operations ($8,598,474), representing $859,847, for a tangible benefits package of $30,983,866.

The Commission reminds the applicant that any instances of apparent non-compliance will be examined in the context of each station’s licence renewal.

Applicant's address:

8 Basinview Drive
Darthmouth, Nova Scotia
B3B 1G4
Fax: 902-468-7558
Email: ilurie@ncc.ca
Email to request electronic version of application: ilurie@ncc.ca

Procedure

Deadline for interventions, comments or answers

4 September 2018

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules of Procedure) apply to the present proceeding. The Rules of Procedure set out, among other things, the rules for content, format, filing and service of interventions, answers, replies and requests for information; the procedure for filing confidential information and requesting its disclosure; and the conduct of public hearings. Accordingly, the procedure set out below must be read in conjunction with the Rules of Procedure and related documents, which can be found on the Commission’s website under “Statutes and Regulations.” Guidelines on the CRTC Rules of Practice and Procedure, Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2010-959, 23 December 2010, provides information to help interested persons and parties understand the Rules of Procedure so that they can more effectively participate in Commission proceedings.

An intervention or answer from a respondent must be received by the Commission and by the applicant on or before the above-mentioned date. An answer from a respondent must also be served on any other respondent.

Interventions and answers should clearly identify the application referred to and indicate whether parties support or oppose the application, or, if they propose changes to it, include the facts and grounds for their proposal.

The Commission encourages interested persons and parties to monitor the record of the proceeding, available on the Commission’s website, for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their submissions.

Submissions longer than five pages should include a summary. Each paragraph of all submissions should be numbered, and the line ***End of document*** should follow the last paragraph. This will help the Commission verify that the document has not been damaged during electronic transmission.

Pursuant to Filing submissions for Commission proceedings in accessible formats, Broadcasting and Telecom Information Bulletin CRTC 2015-242, 8 June 2015, the Commission expects incorporated entities and associations, and encourages all Canadians, to file submissions for Commission proceedings in accessible formats (for example, text-based file formats that allow text to be enlarged or modified, or read by screen readers). To provide assistance in this regard, the Commission has posted on its website guidelines for preparing documents in accessible formats.

Submissions must be filed by sending them to the Secretary General of the Commission using only one of the following means:

by completing the
[Intervention/comment/answer form]
or
by mail to
CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
or
by fax at
819-994-0218

A true copy of each intervention or answer from a respondent must be sent to the applicant and, in the case of a respondent to an application, to any other respondent.

Parties who send documents electronically must ensure that they will be able to prove, upon Commission request, that filing, or where required, service of a particular document was completed. Accordingly, parties must keep proof of the sending and receipt of each document for 180 days after the date on which the document is filed or served. The Commission advises parties who file or serve documents by electronic means to exercise caution when using email for the service of documents, as it may be difficult to establish that service has occurred.

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, a document must be received by the Commission and all relevant parties by 5 p.m. Vancouver time (8 p.m. Ottawa time) on the date it is due. Parties are responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of their submissions and will not be notified if their submissions are received after the deadline. Late submissions, including those due to postal delays, will not be considered by the Commission and will not be made part of the public record.

The Commission will not formally acknowledge submissions. It will, however, fully consider all submissions, which will form part of the public record of the proceeding, provided that the procedure for filing set out above has been followed.

Important notice

All information that parties provide as part of this public process, except information designated confidential, whether sent by postal mail, facsimile, email or through the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, becomes part of a publicly accessible file and will be posted on the Commission’s website. This information includes personal information, such as full names, email addresses, postal/street addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers, etc.

The personal information that parties provide will be used and may be disclosed for the purpose for which the information was obtained or compiled by the Commission, or for a use consistent with that purpose.

Documents received electronically or otherwise will be put on the Commission’s website in their entirety exactly as received, including any personal information contained therein, in the official language and format in which they are received. Documents not received electronically will be available in PDF format.

The information that parties provide to the Commission as part of this public process is entered into an unsearchable database dedicated to this specific public process. This database is accessible only from the web page of this particular public process. As a result, a general search of the Commission’s website with the help of either its own search engine or a third-party search engine will not provide access to the information that was provided as part of this public process.

Availability of documents

Electronic versions of the applications are available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca by selecting the application number within this notice. They are also available from the applicants, either on their websites or upon request by contacting the applicants at their email addresses, provided above.

Electronic versions of the interventions and answers, as well as of other documents referred to in this notice, are available on the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca by visiting the “Have your say!” section, then selecting “our open processes.” Documents can then be accessed by clicking on the links in the “Subject” and “Related Documents” columns associated with this particular notice.

Documents are also available at the following address, upon request, during normal business hours.

Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
Central Building
1 Promenade du Portage
Gatineau, Quebec
J8X 4B1
Tel.: 819-997-2429
Fax: 819-994-0218

Toll-free telephone: 1-877-249-2782
Toll-free TDD: 1-877-909-2782

Secretary General

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