OTTAWA – The CRTC has directed Cogeco to implement a mechanized customer transfer process for television and Internet services customers as soon as possible, and no later than January 1, 2015.
In its decision issued Thursday, the Commission responded to an application by Bell Canada submitted in June claiming that Cogeco’s “large number of manual customer transfer requests were inefficiently diverting Bell Canada’s resources and harming consumers”.
As part of the implementation of local competition in the telecommunications industry, a process was developed by the industry for the efficient transfer of a customer’s service, commonly referred to as the customer…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – With the next federal election on the horizon, the CRTC is asking Canadians to weigh in on the factors that should be considered when setting the penalty amounts for violations of the Voter Contact Registry.
As part of recent amendments to the Canada Elections Act and the Telecommunications Act, the CRTC is responsible for establishing and maintaining a Voter Contact Registry during federal elections. Persons, corporations, or groups that engage in voter contact calls in relation to an election will be required to file registration notices and identifying information with the Commission for inclusion in the Voter…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC has ordered B.C.-based Radio India Ltd. to stop broadcasting programing into Canada via an over-the-air transmitter located in the United States.
At a show cause hearing last month, the Commission determined that Radio India produces programming for broadcast on the radio at its studios in Surrey, BC, despite not holding a Canadian broadcasting licence. That programming reaches into Canada through an agreement with Way Broadcasting Operating LLC, the licensee of KVRI 1600 AM in Blaine, Washington. In addition, the majority of Radio India’s revenue comes from Canadian advertisers.
Under the terms of the CRTC’s Continue Reading
THERE ARE A WHOLE lot of misinformed Canadians when it comes to opinions on the function, and overall role, of the CRTC – something of which those working in the telecom and broadcasting business in Canada are too well aware.
That obliviousness was excruciatingly apparent during September’s Let’s Talk TV policy review hearing, when Canadians (especially the ones on Twitter) displayed a severe lack of knowledge about what the Commission does, does not, or even can do.
Montreal writer and Cartt.ca contributor Steve Faguy published a very interesting and entertaining take on all of this on his blog with a post…
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VANCOUVER – The speech CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais gave yesterday to the Vancouver Board of Trade looked like a plea for Canadians to take a deep breath, step back, and let the Regulator do its work on the TV Policy Review – and to remind all that decisions will be based solely on the hard evidence presented to it.
Blais referenced the beginnings of the satellite TV era in Canada where the incumbent cable companies and others used the term Death Star to describe the potential newcomers. Back then, incumbents spoke of all manner of ruination that would come to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has updated a number of aspects of its commercial radio policy in an effort to ensure that its approach is simple, effective and measurable.
The Commission said Tuesday that these radio policy updates will allow commercial radio to achieve the objectives of the Broadcasting Act and, ultimately, to better serve Canadians. In spite of relative stability, both financially and in terms of tuning, since the last policy review in 2006, the CRTC said that the commercial radio sector would nevertheless benefit from an update of certain regulatory and policy elements.
The changes include:
– A revised approach to…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadian families spent over $190 each month last year on their communications services as the costs for wireless, TV and Internet services all grew at a rate higher than inflation, according to the 2014 edition of the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report.
The report, released Thursday, provides an overview of the Canadian communication industry for the year ended August 31, 2013. This year, the CRTC released the report in three parts. The first focused on the country’s broadcasting sector, and the second provided data on the telecommunications sector. With the publication of the third and final part,…
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OTTAWA – The Wireless Code applies to retail mobile wireless voice and data services provided to both individuals and small businesses, the CRTC reiterated Wednesday.
Responding to an application from Telus, the Commission added that the Wireless Code applies to all contracts between an individual and a wireless service provider where the individual is responsible for some or all charges related to the contract.
Accordingly, the Commission found that both “corporate individual plans” and “employee purchase plans", as described by Telus, are wireless contracts between an individual and a service provider where the individual is responsible for some or all…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given Bell Canada and Bell Mobility some rather specific instructions on how to use $6.5 million of Bell Canada’s deferral account funds to improve access to telecommunications services for persons with disabilities.
In its decision Wednesday, the Commission:
– approved the use of $3.4 million for the proposed Technology, Product Support, and Lifecycle Management initiatives;
– approved the use of $1.5 million for the Direct Marketing initiative, conditional on the filing of a complete and detailed plan;
– denied the use of $1.6 million for the proposed Remote Device Management, Enhanced Website Upgrade and Comprehensive Accessibility Training,…
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OTTAWA – Canadian wireless service providers are at least partly compliant with the CRTC’s accessibility policy, but gaps in handset accessibility remain. That’s the gist of Assessing the Compliance of Wireless Service Providers with the CRTC Accessibility Policy, conducted by Connectus Consulting Inc. and released Wednesday by the CRTC.
The study was undertaken to accomplish three interrelated objectives: provide the CRTC with a better understanding of the level of compliance by WSPs with the requirements set out at paragraphs 44 and 46 of Broadcasting and Regulatory Policy CRTC 2009-430 (the Accessibility Policy); identify on-going gaps in the provision of…
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