GATINEAU – The CRTC is holding a public hearing on November 7, 2012, to consider three applications:
• Rogers Broadcasting's application to acquire the assets of the Montreal-based television station CJNT
• An application to operate a new over-the-air television station in Montreal that would be called International Channel/Canal International (ICI)
• CHMZ-FM Radio Limited's application to acquire the assets of the radio station CHMZ-FM Tofino. The Commission says it will also address past and current compliance of CHMZ-FM with respect to its regulations.
The hearing will be held in the Conference…
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OTTAWA – Bell is falling far behind schedule in rolling out broadband services to rural communities using public funds and will only have 12 Commission-approved communities completed by year’s end, not the 49 communities it forecast says the CRTC. The regulator is now demanding that Bell Canada and Bell Aliant submit quarterly reports on the status of their deferral account project to ensure it gets back on schedule in order to be completed as agreed by August, 2014.
In an August, 2010 decision regarding how Bell should dispose of the funds remaining in its deferral account the…
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OTTAWA – Wireless carriers have until December 4 to file their intervention regarding the upcoming CRTC hearings to create a mandatory code for mobile wireless services which begins February 11, 2013 and is expected to run all week. It has also added a two-phased online consultation process which begins this November 13.
The Commission notes that, as a result of this proceeding, it could impose additional obligations on some or all mobile wireless service providers, including resellers, whether or not they are parties to this proceeding.
Interveners must indicate on the first page any special…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is ending the 5% limitation on the carry-over of Canadian programming over-expenditures and the obligation to use them in the subsequent broadcast year, but broadcasters currently subject to it will have to apply to have it removed.
The CRTC’s decision follows previous filings by both Rogers and Bell that argued the 5% cap limited their flexibility. Rogers submitted that the cap reduced its ability to operate its Citytv conventional television stations and that some of its Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) were already committed to large budget productions during the first broadcast year…
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OTTAWA – Jean-Pierre Blais wasted little time during his keynote at IIC Canada’s annual conference Monday in restating that the interests of Canadians as consumers, creators and citizens will be of utmost importance to the CRTC during his mandate as chairman.
An example of how he will make sure individual Canadians are front and centre will be when the CBC/Radio-Canada appears before the Commission next month for its licence renewal hearing. “I don’t think our proceedings should be attended only by people who are paid to be there in their official capacity. Let’s level the playing field,” he said. “We’ve offered evening sessions…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Incumbent telephone and cable companies will have to make more information public when proposing rates for wholesale services says the CRTC in a decision released on Friday. Much of the previously confidential information submitted to establish wholesale rates will now be put on the public record, but companies will retain the right to protect competitively sensitive information.
“This represents a key part of a huge shift,” says OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson. “The CRTC has been the site of some major changes—from being very industry-centric and closed-off to increasingly public-interest oriented—as the pro-Internet…
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OTTAWA – Consumer complaints received by the CRTC regarding bandwidth throttling by their Internet service providers (ISPs) for the last quarter dropped dramatically compared to the first quarter of this year.
The Commission reports it received a total of 13 complaints regarding Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs) from July 1 to September 30, 2012. This compares to a total of 39 complaints that were filed from January 1 to March 31, 2012.
After a steady stream of complaints from consumers over bandwidth throttling, the CRTC issued guidelines in September 2011 on how it will…
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TORONTO – Former CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein is joining the JAMS Toronto Resolution Centre. Justice von Finckenstein will serve as an arbitrator and mediator in a wide variety of disputes including Business/Commercial, Competition Law, International and Telecommunications.
Prior to joining JAMS, Justice von Finckenstein was Chairman of the CRTC from 2007 until 2012. Before that, he served on the Federal Court of Canada for four years where he rendered more than 200 written judgments in administrative law, intellectual property and human rights. Prior to his appointment to the bench Justice von Finckenstein was Commissioner…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC’s Do Not Call List (DNCL) has been a costly success and the regulator is now calling on telemarketers to start picking up the tab. To date about 11 million Canadians have registered their telephone numbers on the DNCL and the costs associated with investigating complaints and enforcement have already amounted to some $9.6 million by the end of 2011 and continue to grow. In response the Commission is establishing a National DNCL cost-recovery regime to help recover those costs.
Under the regime the National DNCL List Operator will be authorized to recover…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada claims the CRTC, in its decision to kill the company's $3.4 billion takeover of Astral Media, ignored its own rules, created a bunch of new ones, was based on incorrect market share calculations and because of that it has asked the federal government to directly step in.
Calling the CRTC decision “absurd,” on Monday, BCE Inc. submitted a request to the federal Cabinet that it issue a policy direction under Section 7 of the Broadcasting Act that directs the CRTC to follow its existing policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting,…
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