GATINEAU – Back in August, when the CRTC and researcher Ipsos launched a survey on what Canadians think of the sales practices of Canadian telecom companies, much private (and some public) hue and cry arose from the carriers across the country.
The tight timeline for Ipsos to finish the survey and the weak overall structure and wording of the questions could only lead to negative answers, they said. They were right. The results came back substantially negative, but does that mean they have a point? Does the survey’s supposedly skewed queries mean the results should be tossed out?
Consumers and consumer…
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GATINEAU – If we may paraphrase some of the reaction by TekSavvy, Tbaytel and Eastlink representatives Wednesday morning in front of the CRTC it would be: "It seems strange to mandate us to continue being nice to our customers."
These three smaller independents (respectively, a wholesaler, a municipally owned telco and a regional wired and wireless carrier) also all had the same story to tell when it came to the dubious sales practices which have been so far outlined by consumers during the CRTC’s Telecom Sales Practices hearing this week in Gatineau:…
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BURLINGTON, ON – Hamilton-area community television channel Cable 14 has completed its upgrade to the DreamCatcher (DC-ONE) replay system and live production suite offered by Evertz Technologies.
DC-ONE provides the advanced production tools needed for any demanding live production, including zooming, splitscreens, ganged inputs and transcoding in a streamlined, easy to use platform that is fully upgradable, reads the news release.
Noting that its replay system operators come from a variety of backgrounds, including college and high-school interns, Cable 14 said that the DC-ONE platform’s intuitive interface enabled operators to rapidly adapt to live production workflows. In addition, DC-ONE’s feature…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given its blessing to Cogeco’s plan to buy 10 French-language regional radio stations in Quebec and Ontario from RNC Media.
The new stations are located in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (Planète 104.5 in Alma, Planète 93.5 in Chibougamau, Planète 99.5 in Roberval, Planète 100.3 in Dolbeau-Mistassini, and Radio X 95.7 in Saguenay), in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (Capitale Rock 104.3 in Val-d’Or, Capitale Rock 102.1 in La Sarre, and WOW 96.5, in Val-d’Or), in Lachute (Pop 104.9) and in Hawkesbury (Pop 102.1).
The Commission said Thursday that it "considers that the RNC stations integrated into Cogeco could benefit from economies…
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BURLINGTON, ON – Cogeco Connexion is expanding its fibre optic network to the southwestern Ontario town of Merlin, located in the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, offering residents and businesses access to its full range of services.
The company said that it has invested over $500 million and has already started work leading to the implementation of the network, which is slated to be in service this month.
“The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is an important market for Cogeco Connexion and we are proud to be expanding our network into the City of Merlin,” said programming and community relations VP Johanne Hinse, in the…
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ON MONDAY, WE described a Federal Court of Appeal decision as one that strikes down the CRTC’s TV Wholesale Code.
Bell Canada had appealed the Code to the Court, saying the way it was implemented fell outside the CRTC’s jurisdiction – and in its decision released Monday the Court agreed with Bell, saying the Commission had no authority under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act to meddle in private carriage contracts the way the Wholesale Code mandates.
The decision seemed to us to be the end of that Code – and we were bolstered in that…
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Better to leave it to various Acts review
GATINEAU – The CRTC announced this morning it has dismissed a proposed website-blocking regime which would address copyright piracy, dubbed FairPlay Canada by its backers.
The Commission ruled it does not have the jurisdiction under the Telecommunications Act and so it did not consider the merits of the proposal, saying in a release this is best considered under the Copyright Act, over which it has no jurisdiction.
The Copyright Act, is under review, on which Cartt.ca has been reporting on Continue Reading
RADIO RATINGS ANALYSIS is a complex task, as we’ve been saying. For radio station promotion departments getting their quarterly analysis in Canada's five largest markets, it's about toying with the numbers — age, gender, time of day, relative growth — until your station becomes number one, or at least number one in categories advertisers like.
But what about longer-term trends? We took Numeris top-line ratings data over the past seven years to capture portraits of stations in those five major markets who made changes to their programming, and what happened to their audience as a result.
For the sake of a…
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OTTAWA – Despite three tornados having torn through the city just days prior, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology reconvened in Ottawa on Monday to further discuss the Statutory Review of the Copyright Act.
Speaking before the committee, Nathalie Dorval, chair of the board of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and VP regulatory and copyright at Cogeco Inc., noted private radio broadcasters have contributed $47 million in Canadian content development funding.
Dorval said the majority of this funding is directed to Canada’s four largest music funding agencies, FACTOR, Quebec’s Musicaction, Radio Starmaker Fund and Fonds Radio Star, all of…
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STOCKHOLM – Ericsson’s sale of the majority stake of its Media Solutions business to private equity firm One Equity Partners is proving to be “more complex” than first thought and will likely not close until year end, the Swedish tech maker said Tuesday.
As part of the ongoing work to close the transaction, an independent brand known as MediaKind has been formed and is developing the business in line with a new business plan. Ericsson announced the sale in January.
“The carve-out of MediaKind from Ericsson’s global structure to create a new company, jointly owned with One Equity Partners,…
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