Commissioner of Competition blocks sale of Corus specialty channels to Bell

Corus Entertainment Inc. says the Commissioner of Competition has blocked the sale of its French-language specialty channels Historia and Series+ to Bell Media Inc.
When the companies announced the sale in October 2017, they valued the transaction at about $200 million.
Corus says the companies are reviewing the decision.
The company says it will provide further updates in due course.
In addition to Competition Act approval, the deal requires approval from the CRTC. (CP)

Media must not be turned into an investigative arm of police, Vice lawyer tells Supreme Court

The Star's Tonda MacCharles writes:
"The media’s ability to shield their sources, notes and reporting materials from police “fishing expeditions” could be strengthened after a senior federal Crown attorney made several concessions in a high-profile media case Wednesday at the Supreme Court of Canada.
"Vice Media is fighting the RCMP’s effort to seize reporter Ben Makuch’s 2014 texts and communications with Farah Shirdon, a self-declared Canadian ISIS fighter.
"Although Shirdon is reported to be dead, the Crown and the RCMP have not given up the pursuit of Vice Media materials, and federal lawyer Croft Michaelson hammered the fact Shirdon could still be alive, could still return to Canada, and the public interest in prosecuting him remains high."
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The U.S. EPA prevents three news organizations from attending conference on water contaminants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency kept three news organizations from attending a national summit on harmful water contaminants on Tuesday morning, with the agency insisting it did so because the room was full.

The Associated Press, CNN and E&E News were prevented from attending the first half of the meeting. Politico said its reporter had been allowed into the event, but would be asked to leave for the afternoon.

Following Tuesday morning's reports, EPA announced that the second half of the day would be open to press.

AP reported that security guards grabbed its reporter by the shoulders and "forcibly" shoved her out of the EPA building.

"The Environmental Protection Agency's selective barring of news organizations, including the AP, from covering today's meeting is alarming and a direct threat to the public's right to know about what is happening inside their government," AP Executive Editor Sally Buzbee said in a statement. "It is particularly distressing that any journalist trying to cover an event in the public interest would be forcibly removed.

CNN said in a statement that it had been turned away from covering the summit.

"While several news organizations were permitted, the EPA selectively excluded CNN and other media outlets," it said. "We understand the importance of an open and free press and we hope the EPA does, too."

E&E, an environment and energy-focused news site, said on Twitter that its own reporter had also been prevented from attending. E&E reported the event was open to the press, but not to reporters from the barred organizations.

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The Last Days of Time Inc.(NY Times)

 

The Last Days of Time Inc.

An oral history of how the pre-eminent media organization
of the 20th century ended up on the scrap heap.

By SRIDHAR PAPPU and JAY STOWE MAY 18, 2018

It was once an empire. Now it is being sold for parts.

Time Inc. began, in 1922, with a simple but revolutionary idea hatched by Henry R. Luce and Briton Hadden. The two men, graduates of Yale University, were rookie reporters at The Baltimore News when they drew up a prospectus for something called a “news magazine.” After raising $86,000, Mr. Hadden and Mr. Luce quit their jobs. On March 3, 1923, they published the first issue of Time: The Weekly News-Magazine. . . .

The flush times went on for a while. But then, starting about a decade ago, the company began a slow decline that, in 2018, resulted in the Meredith Corporation, a Des Moines, Iowa, media company heavy on lifestyle monthlies like Better Homes and Gardens, completing its purchase of the once-grand Time Inc. in a deal that valued the company at $2.8 billion. The new owner wasted no time in prying the Time Inc. logo from the facade of its Lower Manhattan offices and announcing that it would seek buyers for Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated and Money. The deadline for first-round bids was May 11.

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CBC warns past, current staff personal data may be at risk after break-in, theft of computer

The CBC is warning more than 20,000 of its past, present and contract employees that their personal and financial information may be at risk after a break-in and the theft of computer equipment.
"An intruder recently broke into a secure area of CBC/Radio-Canada, stealing a piece of computer equipment," Judith Purves, executive vice-president and CFO of CBC, said in a statement.
"We have determined that the stolen equipment, while password-protected, may contain electronic files, including some financial information."
Employees received an email on Wednesday saying that a letter has been sent to the home addresses of all employees detailing the information that has been put at risk — including names, bank accounts and amounts deposited into bank accounts by CBC.
CBC has budgeted $300,000 to cover the cost of notifying those affected by the breach and providing employees with a year's worth of credit monitoring and insurance against identity theft. (CBC web page)
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Changing channels at Rogers: A creative cost cutter navigates a TV industry under threat

Susan Krashinsky Robertson writes in the ROB: 

It was early 2015, and Colette Watson, new to her job as vice-president of broadcast television at Rogers Media Inc., had just been handed an ugly assignment.

For decades, Rogers had run multicultural television stations under the OMNI name. They were losing significant amounts of money – and there was little hope it would get better. OMNI had become a big financial drag on a media company that was still trying to digest its $5.2-billion contract with the National Hockey League for 12 years of broadcast rights.

Ms. Watson’s marching orders from then-president Keith Pelley: “Shut it down.”

“The entire broadcast media group at Rogers was losing a ton of money,” Ms. Watson recalls now. “I chased Keith around saying, ‘Please let me do this. I think this can be fixed.’”

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La Presse goes non-profit as Desmarais family lets go

Canada’s billionaire Desmarais family is cutting loose Montreal’s La Presse in a bid to take advantage of Ottawa’s new willingness to allow media companies to operate as charities, PaulChiasson of the Canadian Press reports.

Desmarais-controlled Power Corp. of Canada plans to make a $50-million contribution to La Presse and turn it into an independent, not-for-profit news organization. The change will allow the francophone publisher to seek new revenue sources, including government funding and donations.

The move comes as Canadian media organizations are facing threats to their business models as advertisers flee print and tech giants such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. increasingly control the flow of online traffic. La Presse made the boldest bet in the country on a daily tablet edition, investing millions in the process and eventually cutting the production of its newspaper altogether.

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