OTTAWA – Partisan politics were on full display during Minister of Canadian Heritage James Moore’s appearance before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage yesterday. While Moore was there to talk about the mandate and funding of the CBC/Radio-Canada, a good part of his time was spent responding to criticisms regarding the appointment of Tom Pentefountas as vice-chair broadcasting at the CRTC.
During Moore’s hour in front of the committee, the chair had to interject a number of times to ensure MPs remained on track with their questions. The committee also passed a motion requesting that Pentefountas appear to…
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TORONTO – With the Commission expected to rule shortly on a proposed $5.7 million accessibility fund (proposed by BCE as a piece of its tangible benefits package in acquiring CTV), Media Access Canada is cautioning the Regulator to choose an administrator of that fund wisely.
CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein suggested the creation of such a fund to Bell executives during the hearing into the acquisition of CTV. He asked if $5.7 million of the benefits package still unspent from the first time BCE bought CTV in 2000 could be used for such a fund. Bell said sure.
The aim…
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OTTAWA – Super Écran just may face some competition in the French pay TV genre after all.
The CRTC said Tuesday that it will now consider applications for new French-language general interest pay television services that compete with Super Écran. This is a reversal of its position last November when it said that it would only accept applications for channels that would be complementary to, rather than compete with, the 25-year old incumbent. Astral-owned Super Écran is currently the only general interest pay television service currently offered by all BDUs in the French-language market.
Applications are due…
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GATINEAU – The winds of criticism were blowing Pelmorex Communications’ way during the first day of its licence renewal hearing in Gatineau on Tuesday as CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein and Pelmorex senior VP of regulatory and strategic affairs Paul Temple sparred over aspects of the company’s licence renewal application.
In addition to asking for a seven-year licence renewal, Pelmorex is requesting an extension to the 2009 mandatory order on 9(1)(h) that would keep the Weather Network and MétéoMédia on basic carriage until 2018. The company says that it needs the extension to help offset the costs of operating…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has a new vice-chairman of broadcasting at last.
Montreal lawyer Athanasios (Tom) Pentefountas was named to the post by Heritage Minister James Moore on Friday. The position has been filled on an interim basis by Ontario commissioner Rita Cugini since Michel Arpin completed his five-year term last August.
"I am delighted that Mr. Pentefountas has agreed to join the CRTC," said Minister Moore, in the announcement. "I am certain that his leadership, extensive knowledge, and strong legal background will be great assets to the CRTC."
Pentefountas is a partner in the law firm Silver Sandiford. He has also worked…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down Corus’ request for a regional, English-language category 2 specialty television network in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Known as Local1, the network had planned to offer a local news, weather, traffic and community information service customized for each community in which it was distributed. Pelmorex, for one, opposed the application.
In its decision, the Commission said it was not convinced that the proposed service would be anything more than a weather-related service, and therefore competitive with The Weather Network, a must-carry, category A service. Corus also failed to demonstrated that Local1 would be…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments on a consolidated list of satellite services to be authorized for analog and digital distribution.
Specifically, the Commission hopes to combine the different sections, appendices and parts of the two lists, resulting in one list of non-Canadian services authorized for distribution by all Canadian distributors, regardless of the size or the technology used by the distributors. It also plans to remove references to Canadian services and harmonize the rights requirements for non-Canadian services.
Written comments are due by March 4, and replies to any of the comments must be received by March…
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GATINEAU – The Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) asked the CRTC to stick to its guns on the tangible benefits policy resulting from BCE’s proposed acquisition of CTV.
Appearing Thursday morning at the hearing into the transaction, the group said that “a strong benefits commitment to development is a commitment to both the industry and the audience”.
“This is not a fire sale – the CTV assets are strong businesses which BCE is acquiring for shareholder benefit”, said executive director Maureen Parker, in a statement. “It is building a fully integrated organization to carry it into a cross-platform future. BCE needs to live up…
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MONTREAL and GATINEAU – On the first day of the CRTC hearing into the proposed marriage between BCE and CTV, the companies upped the tangible benefits package associated with the deal as a condition of approval of the transaction.
The new benefits package includes:
– Support for new Canadian independently produced programs of national interest, such as dramas, documentaries and new media content; – Enhanced local news content and HD news production, especially in the “underserved Western Canada market”, including 100 hours of incremental news programming a week and 80 new jobs in Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver;…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has revoked the broadcasting licence of CKLN-FM, the community-based campus radio station located at Ryerson University, after finding that it breached numerous regulations and conditions of licence.
“Holding a broadcasting licence is a privilege that comes with responsibilities and regulatory obligations,” said CRTC chair, Konrad von Finckenstein, in a statement. “CKLN Radio was given several warnings and opportunities to come into compliance. Each time, it demonstrated an inability or unwillingness to address our concerns. Taking away its licence is the only appropriate course of action in this case.”
The station has been told to cease broadcasting no…
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