By Ken Kelley
TORONTO – Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic insists his company isn’t the least bit troubled about the potential tie-up between Rogers and Shaw. While the jury – namely the CRTC, the Competition Bureau and ISED – considers the ramifications of such a deal upon the Canadian competitive landscape, Bibic says Bell plans to continue pushing forward and won’t let the merger distract from its normal course of business.
“ doesn’t change our strategy at all. In fact, I think it reinforces that we’re on the right track,” Bibic said during his appearance at Scotiabank’s 24th annual…
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Trying to make 2+2=5
By Greg O’Brien
OTTAWA – There’s essentially nothing the politicians can do directly about the proposed purchase of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications because the arbiters are the CRTC, Competition Bureau and ISED. But that would never stop them from extracting their pound of flesh from powerful CEOs, if they so desire. And they desired.
So it was on Monday when Joe Natale, president and CEO of Rogers Communications, and Brad Shaw, CEO of Shaw Communications (along with other senior executives) faced the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology and attempted to explain to mostly dubious MPs…
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By Catherine Edwards
IN THE LEAD UP TO the Broadcasting Act review, Canada’s five associations representing the community element (two TV, three radio) were dismayed the Creative Canada Policy Framework, the Shattered Mirror, and the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review reports barely mention community broadcasting, despite it being one of the three pillars of the system.
This omission was significant. The community element is uniquely positioned to address the most pressing issues that face our broadcasting system:
the lack of local programming outside major population centres
the lack of programming made by and for minorities, especially Indigenous communities
…
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By Doug Barrett
WHEN BILL C-10 WAS TABLED last November, it didn’t take long to notice that the first section in the Broadcasting Policy for Canada (“the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians”) had been deleted.
Not modified or amended, but completely deleted.
Since that time, the bill has been debated in Parliament and wended its way through the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage – which has now heard comments from lobby groups, sages, elders, and experts and will soon be considering its own amendments. Many of those appearing before the Committee (including independent broadcasters, producers, associations,…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The CRTC’s chief compliance and enforcement officer announced today a penalty of $75,000 to Scott William Brewer for violating Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) by allegedly sending hundreds of thousands of commercial emails without prior consent — marking the largest fine ever issued by the Commission to an individual for sending spam messages.
Between December 2015 and May 2018, Brewer allegedly sent more than 670,000 spam messages in what are known as hailstorm spam campaigns, where a very high volume of emails is sent over a short period of time, before anti-spam defences can respond and block the messages.
Brewer’s…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Government agencies normally say as little as possible when facing a committee of politicians, even when queries from the elected folks repeatedly demand personal opinions. On Friday, however, while appearing in front of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which is studying Bill C-10, which will amend the Broadcasting Act, the chair of the CRTC tried to reassure the MPs the CRTC is up to the task of writing new regs – and offered a few good nuggets of wisdom.
When Conservative member and former sportscaster Kevin Waugh commented, “Actually today, you have the authority to…
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Briefing note pointed to Premier Legault’s promise of 50/10 for all by end of 2022
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal portion of the $826.3 million investment announced this week to connect 150,000 households in Quebec by September 2022 is coming from the $1.75-billion Universal Broadband Fund, Innovation Canada confirmed, less than 10 days after the final deadline for applications closed.
This would make Tuesday’s announcement the first award from the UBF’s core program, as its “rapid” stream for projects completed by November has already disbursed funds. The massive $826.3-million operation will be evenly split between Quebec’s new Operation…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Independent internet service provider TekSavvy said this week a lower court made an error when, for the first time, it ordered Canada’s ISPs to block the websites of an alleged copyright infringer.
That’s because the Federal Court, in ordering the blocking of websites associated with alleged IPTV infringer GoldTV, leaned too much toward the rights of the copyright holders at the possible expense of free expression and the impact it could have on legitimate content, it alleged in a two-day hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal this week.
TekSavvy is challenging the first site-blocking order…
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By Steve Faguy
IT WAS SUPPOSED to be to FM radio what FM was to AM: Better audio quality, a way to expand to more channels, and a future replacement with some cool bells and whistles.
In the 1990s, Canada’s radio broadcasters spent millions of dollars on new transmitters and devoted a lot of airtime to marketing the new technology: DAB, or digital audio broadcasting.
“The radio industry is primed to reinvent itself for the digital age and 1997 will be the first year of the revolution,” read a 1996 article from the Vancouver Sun. “Within a generation, AM and FM radio…
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GATINEAU — As the first phase of its consultation on the development of a new Indigenous broadcasting policy in Canada, the CRTC released today the results of its early engagement sessions with First Nations, Métis and Inuit broadcasters, content creators and artists during which the Commission gathered input to establish the conduct and scope of the next phase of the policy development.
In June 2019, the CRTC launched a three-phase process to co-develop a new Indigenous broadcasting policy in collaboration with Indigenous peoples. Phase one consisted of 12 engagement sessions — nine in-person and three teleconference sessions — held across…
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