CRTC confirmed as intended regulator
By Amanda OYE
OTTAWA – Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez (above) today introduced Bill C-18, the Online News Act, which would put in place a framework to level the playing field in the Canadian digital news marketplace and ensure news media and journalists are fairly compensated for their work.
“Bill C-18 would require tech giants to make fair commercial deals with outlets for the news and information that is shared on their platforms,” a government press release announcing the bill explains.
“The deals would need to provide fair compensation, respect journalistic independence and invest…
Continue Reading
By Monica Auer
ONE OF THE MAIN arguments offered by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez (above) in support of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, is that it will “update Canada’s broadcasting rules to include online streaming services and will require them to contribute in an equitable way to our culture.” Yet if passed as presented to the House of Commons in February 2022, exceptions and gaps in Bill C-11 mean that it may deliver much less than promised.
To begin, Bill C-11 specifically excludes some broadcasters from all or some aspects of Canada’s broadcasting legislation. Take, for instance,…
Continue Reading
By Christopher Guly
GATINEAU – Telecom regulation should be carved out of the CRTC’s mandate, said a former commissioner on a panel looking at “what’s next in telecom” at the 10th annual Canadian Association of Wireless Internet Service Providers (CanWISP) conference at the Hilton Lac-Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec today.
“We should have a Canadian communications commission based around the idea that the internet is the basic communication method going forward,” said former journalist Peter Menzies (pictured below), a senior fellow of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute who served as vice-chair of telecommunications at the CRTC.
In its final report on Canada’s communications future,…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The National Post reported earlier this week the CRTC could be named the regulator in charge of the upcoming legislation that will compel platforms including Google and Facebook to share revenue with Canadian news organizations.
“Several industry sources told the National Post that, following meetings with the government, they expect the CRTC could be tasked with the new regime,” an article from the National Post says.
A government source told the newspaper the CRTC will have a “light touch” and “will not be doing the arbitration itself – that will be left to an independent arbiter that both…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA — Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez (above) and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti announced today a new expert advisory group on online safety as the next step in developing federal legislation to address harmful online content.
The expert advisory group “will be mandated to provide advice on a legislative and regulatory framework that best addresses harmful content online,” reads a government press release.
The announcement comes after the Canadian government said in February it planned to engage a group of experts to help it revise its proposed framework after its public consultation…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC announced today Canadian television service providers can no longer distribute the Russian state-funded English-language channel RT (Russia Today) or RT France.
The Commission formally removed both channels from its list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada after determining their continued distribution “is not in the public interest,” according to a press release.
“RT’s programming is not consistent with the standards against which Canadian services are measured nor the policy objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act,” the release explains.
“The CRTC is also concerned with programming from a foreign country…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Blue Ant Media announced today Cottage Life’s hit series Life Below Zero: Canada is returning for a second season beginning Tuesday, March 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT during the channel’s eight-week nationwide free preview event.
Based on the Life Below Zero format created and produced by BBC Studios’ Los Angeles production arm, the second installment of the Canadian adaptation is a co-production between Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company, and Quebecor Content in partnership with APTN.
“Filmed across the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Northern Ontario and Nunavik in Northern Quebec in bone-chilling -51° C weather conditions, Life Below Zero: Canada Season…
Continue Reading
Also severed business ties with Russia
OTTAWA – Ross Video announced earlier this week it is making a $100,000 donation to Ukraine humanitarian relief efforts.
The company also stopped its shipments to Russia last week and severed support for its products that are already there.
“As a company, we rarely comment on geopolitical affairs. However, we are compelled to support the Ukrainian people and their remarkable efforts to defend their homeland,” says David Ross, CEO of Ross Video, in the release. “Like hundreds of thousands of other Canadians, I am proud of my Ukrainian heritage. I simply cannot sit idly by…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Two representatives from Rogers Communications appeared (virtually) before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage today to reassure committee members local news will not be worse off after Rogers merges with Shaw.
As Cartt.ca previously reported, there were concerns expressed during the CRTC’s recent hearing on the proposed merger about Rogers’s plan to redirect funding Shaw has previously allocated to Corus’s Global stations to its own City TV stations.
Colette Watson (above), president of Rogers Sports and Media, told the committee the deal will enhance City TV’s local news services.
“Our City TV news stations are located in Winnipeg, Calgary,…
Continue Reading
By Mark Goldberg
ON TUESDAY EVENING, a Twitter thread by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez requesting a rushed CRTC review of Russia Today (RT) caught my eye:
That’s right. Two weeks.
The Heritage Minister, the Minister responsible for the CRTC, is asking the independent, quasi-judicial regulator to collect evidence and render a decision in two weeks on whether RT should be continue to be permitted as a broadcasting service option for Canadians.
Two weeks.
The Commission regularly takes two weeks just to have a decision translated. Please tell me how the CRTC can prepare a…
Continue Reading
