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CFL asks federal government for $150 million to help cope with shutdown – CBC.ca

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The Canadian Football League is asking the federal government for up to $150 million in financial assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie told The Canadian Press on Tuesday the league’s proposal involves three phases: $30 million now to manage the impact the novel coronavirus outbreak has had on league business; additional assistance for an abbreviated regular season; and up to another $120 million in the event of a lost 2020 campaign.

“We’re like so many other businesses across Canada,” Ambrosie said. “We’re facing financial pressures unlike anything we’ve seen before.

“Our best-case scenario is we’re almost certain to have to cancel games. But at worst if this crisis persists and large gatherings are prevented, we could lose the whole season and the types of losses we could incur would be devastating.”

CBC Sports confirmed the CFL’s ask of the government. Beyond money, the CFL is looking to work with the government on several programs (tourism, broadcast, leveraging Grey Cup for example) in a way to be accountable to tax payers.

If the season is wiped out, Ambrosie said the CFL’s long-term future would be in peril.

“One of the things, I think, that the CFL and all of us who love the league pride ourselves on is we’re striving to be very optimistic,” he said. “But to be realistic, the kinds of losses could have an effect on the future of this league.”

A federal official declined to comment on the league’s proposal.

Federal wage subsidy already in place

The federal government already has introduced a $73-billion wage subsidy program to cover 75 per cent of wages for employers that have seen sharp declines in revenue since the novel coronavirus pandemic hit Canada hard last month.

The wage subsidy program makes up half the roughly $145 billion in federal spending on COVID-19 countermeasures, and will cause a ripple of changes for the millions of workers who have either lost their jobs or had their hours slashed due to the crisis.

Three of the CFL’s nine teams — Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg — are community-owned. The remaining six are privately owned.

Ambrosie said the CFL is an important part of Canada’s fabric. The CFL was founded in 1958 following the merger of two previous leagues. The Grey Cup was first presented to Canada’s football champion in 1909.

Unlike many other professional leagues with Canadian teams, the CFL mandates a minimum amount of Canadian content for its rosters. Twenty-one of 46 players to dress each game must be Canadian.

“I wake up every day reminded how important this game is to Canada,” Ambrosie said. “How big a part of Canada it’s been for now 107 Grey Cups and the 108th that would be played this year.

“How many Canadians have been positively affected by this great league and also how aligned we are with Canadian values. In so many ways we are so much like this country and we want to make sure we’re around for the next generation and the generations after that to benefit from what this league has stood for.”

The Grey Cup is scheduled for Nov. 22 in Regina.

‘A lot pointing to September’ as reasonable start time

The CFL hasn’t given up on staging a 2020 season but it has postponed the start of training camps — which were to open next month. It has also pushed back the beginning of the regular season — which was to begin June 11 — to early July, at the earliest.

But many provincial governments have said there will be no sports events with large crowds this summer.

“No decisions have been made but it’s pointing us to a September start, at the earliest,” Ambrosie said.

“We’d love for things to stabilize and improve in the weeks to come and try to play sooner than that but there’s a lot pointing to September as being a reasonable person’s view of when we might be able to resume.

“But again there’s so much we don’t know at this point and so many unanswered questions that we’re just going to have let time march and then determine what’s best as we learn more.”

Ambrosie doesn’t see it as asking for a government handout. He wants the CFL to be able to give back to Canadians in other ways.

“We’ve been clear to the federal government we want to be accountable to taxpayers,” he said. “In all conversations we’ve talked about making sure the model would hold the league accountable to repaying Canadians back through community programs, tourism promotion, the Grey Cup, our digital channels.

“Anything and everything to repay the government we would be amendable to.”

Previous financial crises

This isn’t the first time the CFL has faced a financial crisis.

From 1993 to ’95, the CFL had teams in seven American markets — Las Vegas, Sacramento, Memphis, Baltimore, Birmingham, Ala., Shreveport, La., and San Antonio. The expansion fees paid by the clubs helped keep the league operating.

In 1996, the CFL faced not having enough cash to pay Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts players in the Grey Cup game. But the potential crisis was averted when Tim Hortons provided the league with extra funds.

In 2003, the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats met in the infamous Bankruptcy Bowl because neither franchise had an owner. The league did manage to secure new ownership for both clubs.

Some sports have suggested the idea of resuming play without fans. But Ambrosie said that’s a scenario that would be hard for the CFL to adopt because gate revenues are vitally important.

“It’s something we’ve explored but it isn’t a high-probability scenario,” Ambrosie said. “We’ve basically explored the landscape of all the things that sports are doing around the world and we’ve thrown those into the mix.

“We have said, ‘Let’s at least do the work to see whether that scenario would work for us.’ While many of those options don’t appear to be viable today, we’re not discarding anything because we don’t know what we’ll be facing in a week, much less a month or two from now.”

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, one of the community-owned franchises, reported in 2018 that 13 per cent of their revenue came from the CFL — with the television deal with TSN likely accounting for a large portion of that.

More than half of the team’s revenue came from game operations and concessions.

The CFL and CFL Players’ Association had been jointly discussing all possible contingency plans for the 2020 season. But a disagreement in talks last week resulted in the two sides no longer meeting.

The two sides must agree to make any modifications to the current CBA. But Ambrosie remains undeterred.

“We have an issue we didn’t agree on and that’s fine because sometimes that happens,” Ambrosie said. “But rather than poking at one another while we’ve got so many other issues to deal with, stepping away from it … and taking a deep breath to make sure when we go back to resume those discussions it’s with a clear head and the proper amount of reflection.”

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Telus prioritizing ‘most important customers,’ avoiding ‘unprofitable’ offers: CFO

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Telus Corp. says it is avoiding offering “unprofitable” discounts as fierce competition in the Canadian telecommunications sector shows no sign of slowing down.

The company said Friday it had fewer net new customers during its third quarter compared with the same time last year, as it copes with increasingly “aggressive marketing and promotional pricing” that is prompting more customers to switch providers.

Telus said it added 347,000 net new customers, down around 14.5 per cent compared with last year. The figure includes 130,000 mobile phone subscribers and 34,000 internet customers, down 30,000 and 3,000, respectively, year-over-year.

The company reported its mobile phone churn rate — a metric measuring subscribers who cancelled their services — was 1.09 per cent in the third quarter, up from 1.03 per cent in the third quarter of 2023. That included a postpaid mobile phone churn rate of 0.90 per cent in its latest quarter.

Telus said its focus is on customer retention through its “industry-leading service and network quality, along with successful promotions and bundled offerings.”

“The customers we have are the most important customers we can get,” said chief financial officer Doug French in an interview.

“We’ve, again, just continued to focus on what matters most to our customers, from a product and customer service perspective, while not loading unprofitable customers.”

Meanwhile, Telus reported its net income attributable to common shares more than doubled during its third quarter.

The telecommunications company said it earned $280 million, up 105.9 per cent from the same three-month period in 2023. Earnings per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was 19 cents compared with nine cents a year earlier.

It reported adjusted net income was $413 million, up 10.7 per cent year-over-year from $373 million in the same quarter last year. Operating revenue and other income for the quarter was $5.1 billion, up 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.85 in the third quarter, a decrease of $2.09 or 3.4 per cent from a year ago. Telus said the drop was attributable to customers signing up for base rate plans with lower prices, along with a decline in overage and roaming revenues.

It said customers are increasingly adopting unlimited data and Canada-U.S. plans which provide higher and more stable ARPU on a monthly basis.

“In a tough operating environment and relative to peers, we view Q3 results that were in line to slightly better than forecast as the best of the bunch,” said RBC analyst Drew McReynolds in a note.

Scotiabank analyst Maher Yaghi added that “the telecom industry in Canada remains very challenging for all players, however, Telus has been able to face these pressures” and still deliver growth.

The Big 3 telecom providers — which also include Rogers Communications Inc. and BCE Inc. — have frequently stressed that the market has grown more competitive in recent years, especially after the closing of Quebecor Inc.’s purchase of Freedom Mobile in April 2023.

Hailed as a fourth national carrier, Quebecor has invested in enhancements to Freedom’s network while offering more affordable plans as part of a set of commitments it was mandated by Ottawa to agree to.

The cost of telephone services in September was down eight per cent compared with a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent inflation report last month.

“I think competition has been and continues to be, I’d say, quite intense in Canada, and we’ve obviously had to just manage our business the way we see fit,” said French.

Asked how long that environment could last, he said that’s out of Telus’ hands.

“What I can control, though, is how we go to market and how we lead with our products,” he said.

“I think the conditions within the market will have to adjust accordingly over time. We’ve continued to focus on digitization, continued to bring our cost structure down to compete, irrespective of the price and the current market conditions.”

Still, Canada’s telecom regulator continues to warn providers about customers facing more charges on their cellphone and internet bills.

On Tuesday, CRTC vice-president of consumer, analytics and strategy Scott Hutton called on providers to ensure they clearly inform their customers of charges such as early cancellation fees.

That followed statements from the regulator in recent weeks cautioning against rising international roaming fees and “surprise” price increases being found on their bills.

Hutton said the CRTC plans to launch public consultations in the coming weeks that will focus “on ensuring that information is clear and consistent, making it easier to compare offers and switch services or providers.”

“The CRTC is concerned with recent trends, which suggest that Canadians may not be benefiting from the full protections of our codes,” he said.

“We will continue to monitor developments and will take further action if our codes are not being followed.”

French said any initiative to boost transparency is a step in the right direction.

“I can’t say we are perfect across the board, but what I can say is we are absolutely taking it under consideration and trying to be the best at communicating with our customers,” he said.

“I think everyone looking in the mirror would say there’s room for improvement.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

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TC Energy cuts cost estimate for Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico

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CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.

It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.

The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.

TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:TRP)

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BCE reports Q3 loss on asset impairment charge, cuts revenue guidance

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BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.

The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.

“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”

Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.

BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.

The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.

BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.

It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.

The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”

Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

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