GATINEAU – New CRTC chairman Ian Scott will preside over his first hearing in his new post beginning Monday morning – the second phase of the licence renewal process for terrestrial broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs).
Last year’s phase one was the Commission calling the carriers on the carpet to answer complaints that they were not properly marketing the CRTC-mandated skinny basic package or correctly selling channels a-la-carte, as told.
That hearing found that the carriers were operating within the rules as written and renewed their licenses for just one more year, so that an additional hearing could look into other matters, such as their community channel practices, funding of those channels and Canadian content, progress on a set top box data measurement system, any license amendments requested – and to also ensure they are still keeping to their skinny basic and flexible packaging requirements.
The hearing will also be the first for vice-chair broadcasting Caroline Simard. The other panel members will be Quebec commissioner Yves Dupras, Alberta and NWT commissioner Linda Vennard and Atlantic region and Nunavut commissioner Christopher MacDonald.
Cartt.ca will be covering the hearing in Gatineau next week.
