OTTAWA – The CRTC introduced new regulations on Thursday designed to help it police spam.
The Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations include Information to be included in commercial electronic messages (CEM), the form of electronic message (unsubscribe mechanism), information to be included in a request for consent, and specified functions of invasive computer programs.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC’s recent revisions to BDU’s contributions to local expression was met with disappointment by the Canadian Association of Community TV Users and Stations (CACTUS) who says that the approximate $30 million would have better spent on both the diversity of voices in broadcasting in Canada and the digital economy.
"We have reviewed the Commission’s decision and are disappointed," said CACTUS spokesperson Catherine Edwards, in a statement. "Instead of establishing a community TV fund – equivalent to the Community Radio Fund that was established in 2008 – the money has instead gone to help cable companies pay…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments over the confidentiality of information it uses to establish wholesale service rates.
When establishing these rates, the Commission generally uses an incremental costing approach, known as Phase II costing, to evaluate the incumbent telephone and cable carriers’ costs of providing wholesale service to competitors. Incumbent carriers submit regulatory economic studies that contain Phase II costing information and reflect the costs of prospective incremental resources used to provide the service, some of which may be submitted with a designation of confidentiality. The CRTC then applies a markup to these costs as a contribution…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has tweaked its approach regarding contributions by broadcasting distribution undertakings to local expression.
Under the current broadcasting distribution regulations, licensed BDUs must, for each broadcast year, contribute 5% of their gross revenues derived from broadcasting activities in that year to support Canadian programming, and are authorized to allocate up to 2% of those revenues to local expression.
After seeking industry input, the Commission determined that the maximum dollar contribution to local expression by each terrestrial BDU licensee will be based on the amount contributed during the broadcast year ended August 31, 2010 (the 2010 contribution level). This…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has revised the country’s new anti-spam law, but Canadian businesses hoping for a significant re-tooling may be disappointed.
According to a Canadian Communications Law report by business law firm Stikeman Elliott, the final regulations include the following changes from those originally proposed:
– Clarification that persons sending a message, or persons on whose behalf a message is sent, must identify themselves by the name by which they carry on business;
– Greater choice with respect to the contact information to be provided. Senders, and those seeking consent to send messages, may now provide either a telephone number providing…
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OTTAWA – The success of independent producers under the CRTC’s group licensing regime (GLR) will be tied to that of the broadcasters, the Canadian Media Production Association’s Prime Time 2012 heard this morning.
Peter Grant, counsel at McCarthy Tetrault, presented findings of a short paper examining the impact of GLR on indie producers that show under this new regime a substantial increase in money will become available for Canadian programming. He said that money available will jump from $290 million in 2012 to approximately $329 million in 2016. What’s also evident is that programs of national interest (PNI) will make…
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OTTAWA – Its game over for Telus’ complaints against Bell over exclusive mobile rights agreements to select National Hockey League (NHL) and National Football League (NFL) content, the CRTC said Thursday.
In a letter addressed to Mirko Bibic, Bell’s SVP of regulatory and government affairs, the Commission said that it accepts Bell’s report that the two agreements in question were entered into prior to the issuance of a temporary moratorium against certain new exclusive programming agreements, and before the vertical integration framework prohibition against carriage exclusives on new media platforms.
The Commission also acknowledged that Bell has since reached…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today announced a three-month trial that will allow 911 call centres to communicate with pre-registered participants with hearing and speech impairments via text message.
"This text messaging trial is one of several initiatives that the CRTC is exploring to improve the accessibility of communications services for the hearing and speech impaired," said Len Katz, the CRTC's acting chairman and vice-chairman of telecommunications. "This trial will give us the technical and operational information we need before making a final decision on whether to expand the program nationwide."
The trial will involve participants in Vancouver, Toronto, Peel Region and…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said today that it will continue to license satellite relay distribution undertakings (SRDUs) because of a lack of competition in that market, but will not incorporate the transport of pay and specialty services into SRDU licensing.
In its decision the Commission maintained that its dispute resolution process “remains the best way to address concerns regarding uplink fees that the Bell direct-to-home undertaking charges Canadian pay and specialty services for the transport of their signals to cable headends in cases where they do not need to use Bell’s SRDU facilities.” Canada’s only two SRDU operators, Shaw Satellite…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC wrapped up its review of the country’s telecom regulations Thursday after cutting out a lot of red tape.
The Commission said that it has either eliminated or streamlined over 60% of its 80 telecommunications regulations, though left alone regulations deemed to be in the public interest such as those relating to 911 services, accessibility, and customer privacy.
The review concluded with a decision regarding telephone wiring in which the CRTC directed large telephone companies to provide a free diagnostic service if their customers experience a problem with their phone line and do not have a jack-ended demarcation device…
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