OTTAWA – The CRTC will consider broadcast licence renewal applications from Canada’s big English- and French-language ownership groups at two public hearings this November.
The Commission said Wednesday that it will review applications from French-language ownership groups Bell, Corus, Quebecor and Groupe V starting November 22 in Laval.
The public hearing to review the applications from the English-language ownership groups Bell, Corus and Rogers, plus Shaw Communications and Telelatino Network, will begin on November 28 at the CRTC’s headquarters in Gatineau.
The deadline for the submission of interventions/comments/answers is August 2, 2016.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will be recognized with a 2016 Public Service Award of Excellence this fall for its Let’s Talk TV initiative aimed at modernizing the Canadian television system.
The Public Service Award of Excellence recognizes employees who have demonstrated excellence in achieving results for Canadians and who reflect the priorities of the public service, while demonstrating key leadership competencies.
Commission employees will receive an award in the category of Excellence in Policy for their leadership and dedication in engaging and consulting more than 13,000 citizens and stakeholders in a number of innovative ways, including ‘Flash!’ conferences, social…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is continuing its crackdown on telemarketers making robocalls, announcing Tuesday that it has dinged nine individuals and companies in several countries for calling Canadians whose numbers are registered on the National Do Not Call List.
The Commission said that its recent enforcement action has resulted in over $490,000 in penalties and one citation. A citation is a procedural administrative action that alleges violation(s) and notes the specific corrective action to be taken within a certain time frame.
Since January 2015, the CRTC, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office have been…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has scolded Toronto-area telecom Iristel Inc. and American VoIP provider netTALK for their respective roles in a dispute earlier this year that resulted in approximately 75,000 Canadians losing their full phone services.
In a letter dated June 8, 2016 addressed to Iristel president and CEO Samer Bishay and netTALK COO Nicholas Kyriakides, the Commission said that its investigation in to the matter was “inconclusive as to whether one, or both parties, clearly contravened regulatory obligations”, but added that the service disconnection in this case could, and should, have been avoided.
“It does not seem that the parties…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has extended the deadline for submission of interventions into its highly anticipated review into differential pricing practices related to Internet and wireless data plans.
The Commission said Friday that initial interventions are now due by June 28, rather than the original deadline of June 17, 2016.
The revision comes at the behest of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) which noted in a letter to the CRTC that parties had less than a month to prepare their interventions, while a significant number of other Commission proceedings that they need to prepare for are also ongoing. …
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The first recipients of the CRTC’s prize for academic research were honoured Monday at the annual conference of the Canadian Communication Association (CCA) in Calgary.
The CRTC Prize for Excellence in Policy Research was launched in June 2015 to encourage a new generation of researchers to contribute to Canada’s public policy development relating to information and communication. Ten papers were submitted from across the country in the award categories of Master’s, Doctoral and Post-doctoral. Papers were reviewed by a selection committee of three CCA executives and the CCA vice-chair, and a CRTC representative participated as an observer.
The winners are:
-…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for feedback on its proposed standard conditions of licence for television stations, discretionary services and on-demand services.
During its Let’s Talk TV policy review, the Commission announced plans to streamline the licensing approach for television programming services by consolidating virtually all such services into three broad licensing categories. On Friday, the CRTC defined those categories as:
– Television stations (including over-the-air conventional and community television stations, and provincial educational television services);
– Discretionary services (all pay television and specialty services, including those services, other than conventional television stations, granted mandatory distribution on the basic…
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Ontario commissioner not named to most panels
OTTAWA – The conflict between CRTC Ontario commissioner Raj Shoan and chairman Jean-Pierre Blais has escalated again.
Earlier this month, Shoan filed another judicial review with the Federal Court of appeal once again challenging the CRTC chairman’s ability to name panels of commissioners to preside over telecom hearings. While Blais and the CRTC’s legal department maintain the chairman has the right to name panels of commissioners for hearings (which has been the accepted practice according to former commissioners and others we have talked to), Shoan insists that under the Telecommunications Act, the chair is…
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New hearing in the fall
GATINEAU – The CRTC is calling for comments into differential pricing practices related to Internet and wireless data plans in a review that will include a public hearing starting on October 31, 2016.
Differential pricing occurs when the same or a similar product or service is offered to customers at different prices, such as when an ISP exempts a music or video streaming service from data charges.
The Commission said Wednesday that it was prompted to examine the issue in light of complaints over Videotron’s Unlimited Music service, which exempts music streaming services like Google…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is refunding more than $300,000 to telemarketers after the total amount paid for violations in 2015-16 exceeded its estimated regulatory costs.
The Commission said Tuesday that $3,677,716 was paid under the Unsolicited Telecommunications Fees Regulations last year, $377,716 more than the $3.3 million it estimated in telemarketing regulatory costs. In accordance with the formula set out in subsection 4(2) of the Regulations, the CRTC must refund the overage.
The Regulator also estimated its telemarketing regulatory costs for fiscal year 2016-17 at $3.3 million. Costs to enforce the national Do Not Call List are covered by fees paid…
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