OTTAWA – The CRTC has upheld a ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council over questionable content that aired on Corus-owned radio station CFNY-FM (102.1 The Edge).
A listener appealed to the Commission in February after the CBSC determined that comments made during the March 20, 2009 broadcast of The Dean Blundell Show did not violate any broadcast codes, as Cartt.ca reported.
The complaint concerned an approximately 10-minute segment entitled “Wha’ Happened?” which aired at 8 a.m. The segment is a recurring contest in which callers are asked to share bizarre stories about things that have happened to them…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco is one step closer to buying up Corus’ radio stations in Quebec.
The cableco said Tuesday that it has submitted an official application to the CRTC detailing “the radio broadcasting strategy Cogeco intends to implement following this major acquisition”. The $80 million deal, announced in April, includes 11 radio stations: French and English stations in Montreal (CFQR-FM 92.5, CHMP-FM 98.5, CKOI-FM 96.9 and CKAC-AM 730); Quebec City (CFOM-FM 102.9 and CFEL-FM 102.1); CJRC-FM 104.7 in Gatineau; Sherbrooke (CKOY-FM 104.5 and CHLT-FM 107.7); CHLN-FM 106.9 in Trois-Rivieres and CIME-FM 103.9 in St-Jerome.
"We worked really hard to chart a…
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OTTAWA – Wireless data is now subject to same net neutrality rules as wired.
The CRTC said late last week that it will amend the forbearance framework for mobile wireless data services by making the offering and provision of these services by Canadian carriers subject to the Commission’s powers and duties under the Telecommunications Act.
Further, the Commission determined that the policy framework established for Internet traffic management practices applies to the use of mobile wireless data services to provide Internet access.
Click here for the full decision.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – Since we live in an age of convergence, where more and more lines are blurring in telecom and media, it doesn’t make much sense to open one sector to foreign investment while keeping that same door closed to the other.
That was part of the message CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein carried to delegates of the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday morning. “I don’t think you can meaningfully separate broadcast and telecom in the age of convergence,” he told conference co-chair Mark Goldberg in the “fireside chat” format.
Foreign investment has been the hot issue at this year’s CTS,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has tweaked the linkage and distribution rules for BDUs.
The revisions, which impact class 1 and 2 licensees and direct-to-home satellite operators, are designed to allow more flexibility in the packaging of Canadian specialty services with non-Canadian-originated services, including authorized U.S. superstations, to ensure that all BDUs are competing on a level playing field.
The Commission’s old regulations mandated that a Canadian pay television service be packaged in a given discretionary tier with no more than five channels containing any of the non-Canadian-originated services specified in either Section A or Section B of its list of Part…
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OTTAWA – As Bell gears up to launch its new IPTV services this year in Toronto and Montreal, the telco is asking the CRTC to change rules that it claims have long favoured cable companies when it comes to signing up new subscribers.
"Decade-old rules that have ensured a competitive advantage for cable companies need to change, never more so than now as Bell prepares to enhance competition and consumer choice in television in Canada’s largest urban markets," said George Cope, president and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE, in a statement. "We expect the CRTC to apply regulatory symmetry…
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OTTAWA – After issuing its new policy on advertising in the local availabilities of non-Canadian services, the CRTC has agreed to hear Media de Novo’s plans to do just that.
The Commission said Friday that it has re-scheduled the company’s non-appearing hearing for July 7 after postponing its appearance last February.
Led by former CAB president Glenn O’Farrell, Media de Novo has applied to sell ad time on US specialty channels’ local avails in Canada and direct the majority of the revenues to Canadian programming.
Click here for more on the company’s plans on targeted advertising.
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OTTAWA – The CRTC appears to be trying to clear up the loose ends around advertising in video-on-demand content.
After releasing its decision last March to allow ads in video-on-demand content, the Commission issued a letter to all VOD licensees on Thursday advising those licensees currently prohibited from advertising by their existing conditions of licence may do so after they have applied for an amendment
“However, it has been decided that the application of the existing VOD conditions of licence will be suspended, pending receipt and Commission consideration of applications for amendment to such conditions of licence from…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is set to consider a number of new TV channels this summer, ranging from The Wedding Channel to Reggae TV to an application from CanWest that sounds a lot like its former Lonestar network.
The non-appearing hearing, which will begin on July 19, will consider applications from the likes of High Fidelity (for The Wedding Channel), Astral (for a French-language children’s network called Vrak junior), and TVA Group for an entertainment channel called Star Système and TVA Mode, which will be dedicated to fashion, beauty and personal well-being.
CanWest’s application for a channel called Specialty A describes…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has approved BCE’s plan to introduce usage-based billing, but only under certain conditions.
Thursday’s decision means that Bell Aliant and Bell Canada can introduce new speed options, usage-based billing rates and levy excessive usage charges (together, UBB) for their wholesale residential gateway access services (GAS).
While the Commission granted interim approval of the plan last October, this decision allows Bell to “implement its economic ITMP (Internet traffic management practices) only once it charges UBB rates to all its retail Internet service customers”.
According to telecom analyst Mark Goldberg, this is not what Bell wanted, and in…
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