GATINEAU – In what could be described as a case of “turnabout is fair play”, Globalive has formally questioned the Canadian bona fides of Telus and has asked the CRTC to hold a public hearing on the matter.
Globalive (which, of course, does business under the Wind brand) says that Telus’s recent aborted attempt to convert to a single share structure blew the lid off of the Vancouver-based telco’s non-compliance with the country’s telecom ownership rules and that it may well be in breach of the Telecom Act. So, a full public hearing must be held…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has given Rogers the green light to move ahead with its acquisition of Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN), however, the deal may be a little more expensive than Rogers had anticipated.
The Commission said Thursday that Rogers may continue to broadcast commercial programming and advertising on the educational service, as its previous owner Bluepoint Investments was allowed to do. But it also directed Rogers to invest an additional $1 million on independent production in Saskatchewan over the course of the six year licence term in order to “maintain the integrity of its licensing process and properly reflect SCN’s…
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GATINEAU – It took some time, but the CRTC got into the meat of Sirius XM Canada’s licence renewal application on Thursday afternoon, quizzing the company about its proposal for a decreased Canadian talent contribution (CTD) charge and insistence that its licence be renewed for seven years.
While the company wants a 90% reduction in its CTD charge, a renewed licence with a shorter term could have potentially damaging impacts on satellite radio in Canada, Sirius XM insisted during its appearance.
“Why would choose to support the satellite radio dashboard proposition when the proponent is regulated and subject…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has completed the first round of on-site inspections of 13 telemarketing companies in Toronto and Montreal.
These inspections come as the Commission cracks down on telemarketers who have been caught not following the rules and calling Canadians who have registered their numbers on the national Do Not Call List (DNCL). The initial inspections, which focused on telemarketers in industries chosen based on the trends in complaints, were carried out in Toronto during the week of May 14 and in Montreal the week of June 4, 2012.
CRTC officials reviewed the telemarketers’ telephone records to verify that they had registered with the national DNCL operator,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC cracked down on three more telemarketers Tuesday, levying fines of more than $30,000.
Euro-Seal Window Industries, based in Concord, ON, was charged a $1,000 penalty for each of its 29 violations of the country’s national do not call list (DNCL) rules.
The Commission found that the company made 14 telemarketing telecommunications to consumers whose telecommunications numbers were registered on the DNCL, 11 telemarketing telecommunications to consumers without being a registered subscriber of the DNCL and having paid all applicable fees to the national DNCL operator, two telemarketing telecommunications while not using a current version of the DNCL, one…
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OTTAWA – Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser said Monday he is “extremely satisfied” with a recent Federal Court decision asking the CRTC to investigate CBC Windsor radio station CBEF.
The decision handed down on Tuesday, May 29 “puts an end to a dispute between my office and CBC/Radio-Canada that has gone on for far too long,” said Fraser in a press release issued Monday. “The Federal Court has acknowledged my authority to investigate complaints about CBC/Radio-Canada, including those regarding its national and regional programming. I expect that CBC/Radio-Canada will co-operate fully in investigations from this point forward.”
The Commissioner is…
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OTTAWA – After months of rumour and innuendo, the federal government made one of the many rumours official and appointed Jean-Pierre Blais as chairman of the CRTC, effective June 18, 2012.
“Mr. Blais is well qualified for the position of chairperson of the CRTC,” said the Prime Minister in the press release. “He brings a strong legal background and a comprehensive understanding of the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors and the role of the…
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CAN’T. HELP. MYSELF.
I’ve told everyone who’s listened to me of late that I won’t write any more speculation on who will be the new chair of the CRTC. “I look foolish,” and “I’m tired of being wrong,” is what I keep telling people. We’ve speculated here throughout the year, we’ve been wrong quite a bit, and since these are real people with real feelings and aspirations, we do take these sorts of stories seriously before putting names out there into the ether, even if our tone sounds a little flippant.
That said, a good publication is also supposed to reflect…
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TORONTO – Marking his first appearance at the Canadian Telecom Summit as acting chairman of the CRTC, Len Katz shared some statistical highlights from the Commission’s upcoming Communications Monitoring Report during a fireside chat with CTS 2012 co-organizer Michael Sone on Tuesday morning.
“Effectively, Canada has the most connected infrastructure probably in the world, and we have the most advanced systems,” Katz said, basing his comments on data that will be released in about a month in the CRTC’s annual Monitoring Report. According to CRTC data, 99% of Canadians now have access to high-speed Internet, he said.
As part of its…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will continue in its search for a “sustainable solution” to meet the telecommunications needs of Canadians with hearing and speech disabilities.
While text relay services meet the needs of the vast majority of people with such disabilities, those who use a sign language as their first or primary language have submitted that a sign-language service known as video relay would better meet their needs.
After receiving reports from both Telus and Bell Canada on their respective video relay service initiatives, the Commission said Friday that it requires further study in order to better understand the different projections regarding use…
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