MONTREAL – Broadcasters will now be able to contribute to Telefilm Canada’s new private donation fund which has been recognized by the CRTC as a certified independent production fund.
The fund, announced in early March, will consist of two streams – one that will provide better support to emerging filmmakers, and the other aimed at established filmmakers that will help them achieve their full potential both in Canada and abroad.
Under the CRTC's broadcasting distribution regulations, BDUs are required to contribute to the Canadian broadcasting system by fostering the production of new quality Canadian programming through a financial contribution to be directed…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC knows all its needs to know about over-the-top online and mobile broadcasting, at least for now.
In a letter to industry stakeholders this week, the Commission said that it has scrapped plans to hold another OTT fact-finding exercise this May. Since last year’s investigation and subsequent report, the Regulator said that it has continued to study trends related to over-the-top programming services and their impact on the Canadian system, which has included monitoring consumer behaviour, technology and financial trends, as well as reviewing third-party expert analysis.
“Based on this monitoring and expert analysis, the Commission considers that over-the-top programming services have…
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OTTAWA – Winnipeg may be the home to a new radio station after the CRTC issued a call for new applications to serve that market.
The Commission said Wednesday that it issued the call after receiving an application for a new station by Nostalgia Broadcasting Cooperative Inc. According to its website, Nostalgia Broadcasting (CJNU) is a non-profit community service radio currently operating on 107.9 FM under a temporary licence, and specializes in playing “a wide variety of nostalgia music that was first heard anywhere from the 1940s through the ’70s”.
Applications are due by July 9 and must include evidence giving…
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OTTAWA – The Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) must not only be preserved, it must be strengthened, according to CBC/Radio-Canada.
Appearing Tuesday at the hearing into the future of the fund, the national broadcaster called the LPIF a “tremendous success” that has helped to stabilize local television stations as well as boost local programming in the country’s smaller markets.
"We've increased the local news in our LPIF-eligible markets by almost 30 percent”, said Kirstine Stewart, VP of English Services. “Our supper hour news shows have been bumped up from one to one and a half hours in seven of eight eligible…
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OTTAWA – Lawyers for the broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) told the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday that the CRTC’s regulations can’t trump retransmission provisions within the Copyright Act.
Jay Kerr-Wilson, a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP who was representing Rogers Communications, said the CRTC stepped into copyright law when it established its value-for-signal (VFS) regime (also known as fee-for-carriage) and argued that the CRTC doesn’t have the authority to set new copyright, since only Parliament has that right.
“The CRTC cannot have the jurisdiction to do what it proposed since its proposed scheme creates a new copyright in television…
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GATINEAU – Len Katz picked up another job title this week. To go along with his original position as vice-chair, telecom at the CRTC – as well as acting chair of the Commission since former chairman Konrad von Finckenstein’s departure in January – Katz is also now the Ontario regional commissioner.
Former Ontario regional commissioner Rita Cugini’s term expired on Wednesday and with no other commissioner from the country’s most populous province on the panel, the regional job falls to Katz as there has been no word on a replacement for Cugini, who has been a…
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OTTAWA – True to its word, the CRTC was quick to release its determinations from last month’s expedited hearing into dispute resolution between the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG) and Bell Media.
As Cartt.ca has reported, independent distributors Cogeco Cable, Telus, EastLink, MTS and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, collectively the CIDG, object to packaging, penetration, and other terms offered to them by Bell Media for its 30-some specialty channels. Bell says that its wholesale costing model, a penetration based rate card that has already been signed by a number of other distributors, rewards stable packaging with stable long-term rates for…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s wireless providers may soon have to adhere to a new code of conduct.
The CRTC said Wednesday that it is seeking comments on whether the wireless market has changed enough to warrant its intervention in the development of a national retail wireless services consumer code, after receiving “several applications” recommending that one be established. (Cartt.ca first reported back in February on Telus's demand for such a process.) A number of provinces have recently introduced amendments to consumer protection legislation that directly or indirectly impact wireless services.
In 1994, the CRTC decided against regulating the wireless…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has rejected a request to stay its recent decisions on introducing local phone and broadband competition in areas served by small independent phone companies.
The Commission said Friday that the request made by the Ontario Telecom Association (OTA) and Association des companies de telephone du Québec (ACTQ) failed to demonstrate that their member companies will suffer irreparable harm in the absence of being granted their stay requests, and that “the balance of convenience favours not granting the stay requests”. The Commission also asked the small ILECs to track and maintain a record of all relevant costs…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – A five month investigation has resulted in 85 more telemarketing companies, many of them small businesses, caught violating the country’s do not call rules.
The CRTC said Monday that has issued citations to 74 telemarketers who had either failed to register with the national do not call list operator or subscribe to the national do not call list. Notices of violation were issued to an additional 11 companies for what the Commission described as “more significant breaches”, resulting in fines totalling $41,000.
“Today’s announcement should serve as a reminder that registering as a telemarketer is a basic requirement,” said Andrea…
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