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Quebecor battles on two fronts
Montreal: Quebecor Media has filed a letter of complaint with the Competition Bureau asserting Cogeco and BCE are colluding to reduce the selling price of Quebecor’s 85% share of French-language TV network Television Quatre Saisons.
Quebecor put TQS on the block last fall after its $5.9-billion acquisition of Groupe Videotron and broadcast and media company subsidiary Groupe TVA, which Quebecor intends to keep.
Quebecor says BCE and Cogeco, the latter with a 13% to 15% share of TQS and a shareholder’s right of first refusal, made a joint bid for TQS that is considerably lower than an initial, standalone offer made by BCE. The BCE bid was reported to be more than $80 million.
On the road to MIP-TV
Despite talk of a decline in the number of Canadian distributors – especially for drama programming – another healthy contingent is headed to the Palais des Festivals in Cannes to sell, sell, sell from April 2-6 at the MIP-TV program market.
Telefilm Canada will host 19 Canadian companies under its umbrella stand in the Palais basement, four more than at MIP 2000. Lise Corriveau of Telefilm says 135 Canadian companies are exhibiting at the market as compared with 1,183 exhibitors from all countries – up slightly from 1,170 in 1999.
Piercing Insights
Making his Playback debut with the following guest editorial, industry insider/displaced regional Bulgarian producer/resurrected satirist Dan Pierce will share his wit, savvy and front-line experiences dealing in the Canadian film and television community in a new column. On a semi-regular basis,…
Jump Cuts
Canada@Cannes returns…
Corection
In the story "There’s good news – and good news" in the Feb. 19 Report on Investment & Finance (p. 18), Paul Stewart of Recoup Inc. was erroneously referred to as Paul Sinclair….
Clarification
The Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation deadlines published in Playback’s Feb. 19 Report of Investment and Finance are incorrect. The next funding deadline is May 4. The year’s final deadline is in September; an exact date is yet to be finalized….
Local Heroes wraps
Winnipeg: The third round of the Local Heroes Canadian Film Festival in Winnipeg was a roaring success, with daily jam-packed sessions and the festival’s first-ever feature film sellout with closing film Hey Happy!…
Features First calls for scripts
Filmmakers are being invited to submit to the third round of the National Screen Institute’s Features First program. Aimed at filmmakers in the early stages of their careers, the program is designed to help teams composed of a writer, a producer…
People
* Andre Barro (Insectia) has joined Montreal’s Cineflix Productions as executive producer – vice-president, effective at MIP-TV in April. Barro comes to Cineflix from Pixcom, Montreal, where he was VP international affairs and executive producer….
CanWest gives NSI leg up
Winnipeg: A new source of marketing assistance for Canadian producers has opened up with the announcement of the NSI Global Marketing Program….
Van ethnic station gets the nod
Vancouver: The CRTC, capitulating to the will of the federal cabinet and Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, issued a call for bids Feb. 28 for an over-the-air ethnic television station in the Greater Vancouver market. …
Funding for low-budget films ‘here to stay’: Katadotis
Montreal: Telefilm Canada has announced support for nine English and two French projects as part of its new Low Budget Independent Feature Film Assistance Program. …
Banff fest gets new prize program, ally
CTV is launching a Canadian Documart on June 13, as part of the 22nd Banff Television Festival. The program, adopted from the Australian Documart, will distribute prize money, donated by CTV, to producers pitching the top three projects. For first prize,…
UDA takes dubbing action
Montreal: L’Union des Artistes president Pierre Curzi is calling for long-term "stability" in the $20-million Quebec dubbing industry. The performers guild has asked the Quebec government to put the issue on the table in current negotiations aimed at renewing the Valenti-Bacon…
Heater hot at Blizzards
Winnipeg: Heater was the big winner at this year’s Blizzard Awards, presented March 2-3 in Winnipeg….
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