ARE CUSTOMERS GETTING gouged? When can they walk away from their contracts? Should the three-year variety abolished? When should phones be unlocked? These and a number of other questions will be addressed by the CRTC when it releases its new Wireless Code of Conduct Monday at 9 a.m. (This was first reported by Bloomberg yesterday, but we have confirmed it with the Commission.)
The Commission held a five-day hearing back in February where consumers and corporations and many others had their say on how Canadian wireless companies should deal with their customers. Monday morning the Regulator will have its say…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has agreed for the first time to allowed limited advertising on CBC’s Radio 2 and Espace Musique networks.
The Commission allowed the change as part of its decision, released this morning, to renew CBC’s English- and French-language television and radio licenses until August 31, 2018.
The CRTC says it will allow the radio networks to include up to four minutes of advertising per broadcast hour within a maximum of two blocks. The CBC will also have to submit a new application at the end of the three-year period…
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WHILE DROPPING IN ON the CRTC’s two-week hearing into new and renewed mandatory carriage requests (on cpac.ca) – and poring over some of the transcripts since its conclusion, two thoughts bubbled up above all the facts, self-serving opinion and pure BS that is a Commission hearing: The CRTC should impose some sort of mandatory penetration based rate card, a-la Bell Media’s, upon the entire regulated TV industry – or just deregulate the whole damn thing (which is not actually an option).
Independent broadcasters (those not owned by a vertically integrated entity) have little, if any, leverage when it comes to…
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MONTREAL – It became clear through the line of questions from the panel of CRTC commissioners this week, especially from chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, that the Regulator is trying to see a way where it can approve the purchase of Astral Media by Bell Canada with conditions that will appease those who stand strongly opposed to the deal.
We’re mindful, of course, of the chair’s consistent admonition to the parties appearing before him not to attempt to read anything into his questions, however, the hearing really focused on two issues: If the Commission were to approve the deal, should there be…
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OTTAWA – In its updated three-year plan released today, the CRTC said it will give top priority to projects such as revamping its tangible benefits policy, developing a national broadband performance testing program, and creating a new mandatory code for wireless providers.
Those initiatives are among a number of goals that the Commission has outlined for completion during 2013-16 under three key pillars it has identified as “connect,” “create” and “protect.”
The Commission's activities under the "Create" pillar ensure that Canadians have access to compelling creative content, from diverse sources, on a variety of…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC today approved Bell Media?'s application to redirect certain tangible benefits in a package that Bell inherited when it purchased CTVglobemedia Inc. in 2011.
The Commission did not receive any interventions regarding this application. As part of its decision however, the Commission told Bell it expected the company to keep its promise to redirect the tangible benefits predominantly to third parties, such as independent producers.
The tangible benefits,…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media today cleared the final hurdle in its bid to acquire Score Media after receiving regulatory approval from the CRTC.
With today’s approval, Rogers Media can now start to integrate and rebrand the channel, which has been in trust since October 19, 2012, under the Sportsnet umbrella. Rogers’ acquisition of Score Media cost $167 million, and includes The Score, Canada’s third largest specialty sports channel with 6.6 million television subscribers, closed captioning service Voice to Visual Inc., and mixed martial arts program The Score Fighting Series. The rebranded channel will be unveiled…
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GATINEAU – Amanda Cliff will be joining the CRTC as executive director, communications and external relations, the Commission announced Friday
In a memo to staff, CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais told staff that Cliff will be responsible for CRTC communications (including the web and client relations) and relations with external stakeholders such as Parliament, other government departments and agencies, other levels of government, non-governmental organizations and academia. She will also provide support to the Regional Commissioners, acting as the liaison between them and the head office in Gatineau.
Since 2006, Cliff has been director general of broadcasting and digital communications within the…
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GATINEAU – Canadian specialty, pay, PPV and VOD television services generated revenues of $3.97 billion in 2012, an increase of 5.9% over the $3.75 billion earned the previous year, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial report for this sector released today.
National advertising revenues for this group increased for a third consecutive year to $1.23 billion, although its 2.4% growth is significantly less than the 10.1% increase from the previous year. In addition, subscriber revenues exceeded $2.6 billion.
Revenues for these television services have climbed by 35.4% over the past five years to reach…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Cable companies reported a modest growth in revenues and subscribers in 2012, while satellite companies recorded a decline in these categories, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial results for the industry released today.
Combined revenues for both cable and satellite companies increased by 4.2% from $13.5 billion in 2011 to $14.1 billion in 2012. Similarly, the total number of subscribers (which includes customers subscribed to IPTV services such as Bell’s Fibe TV or Telus’ Optik TV), rose by 1% from 11.4 million to 11.5 million. (We checked with the CRTC and the only…
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