TORONTO – While much of the industry’s attention will be focused on a plain, grey building in Gatineau on Monday (btw, anyone else see the irony that the Cable Public Affairs Channel is the only place providing full video coverage of the hearing this week on cpac.ca?), a couple of other interesting items are on the industry docket this week.
Rogers Communications is apparently still set to launch its new broadband video customer portal in a soft launch to certain customers this week.
More irony here… While the closed shop, regulated, OTA, MPEG2 and RF driven system is being debated in…
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OTTAWA – CPAC will carry live, on-line coverage of next week’s CRTC hearings on group licensing for broadcasters and fee for carriage for local conventional TV stations.
Starting Monday, the parliamentary channel will stream the proceedings on its website www.CPAC.ca. The hearing will be broadcast on the television channel at a later date.
And, of course, Cartt.ca will be there too with daily reports.
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OTTAWA – In a letter to incumbent telcos and others involved in the recent review of Globalive’s ownership by the CRTC, Industry Minister Tony Clement has asked for even more information as he examines the Commission’s call on the prospective new wireless entrant.
On October 29 the CRTC decided that since Egypt-based Orascom Telecom owned 65% of the equity in Globalive and virtually all of the debt, that the company was not Canadian controlled and could not operate as a telecom company in Canada. Our Telecom Act says our telcos, cablecos and broadcasters have to be majority Canadian-owned and…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has approved the transfer of CHEK TV’s assets from Canwest to a numbered company owned by station employees, a local investment group and the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union.
In a decision on Monday, the CRTC identified the purchase price for the transaction as $2.00. It also noted that the station “is currently losing approximately $12 million per year and has not shown any marked improvement in profitability over the past three years”.
The Commission also renewed the station’s broadcasting licence through August 31, 2016, though said that given the specific context of the renewal…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has received over 15,000 submissions – and counting – on the issues of fee for carriage and the digital transition, after encouraging Canadians to take part in the public consultation process that ended Monday.
According to the broadcaster backed coalition ‘Local TV Matters’, support for local TV has been “unprecedented”. And a CRTC source says those cataloguing the submissions are working nearly 24/7.
“We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of clear and unequivocal support for our position," said Paul Sparkes, EVP of corporate affairs for CTVglobemedia, in a statement on Wednesday. "Canadian consumers were not fooled, they understood…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has received nearly 15,000 submissions – and counting – on the issues of fee for carriage and the digital transition after encouraging Canadians to take part in the public consultation process that ended Monday.
According to the broadcaster backed coalition ‘Local TV Matters’, support for local TV has been “unprecedented”.
“We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of clear and unequivocal support for our position," said Paul Sparkes, EVP of corporate affairs for CTVglobemedia, in a statement on Wednesday. "Canadian consumers were not fooled, they understood the issues, and we can’t thank them enough."
The group said that more than…
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OTTAWA and TORONTO – The CRTC’s decision which derailed wireless challenger Globalive’s plans to launch in Canada has also served to put a “regulatory gun to our head”, says chairman Anthony Lacavera.
In an interview Wednesday with Cartt.ca, the head of Globalive Wireless Management, the Canadian parent of Wind Mobile, said that the Commission has handicapped his Toronto-based company from sourcing Canadian financing.
“The CRTC said in the decision that they wanted us to deal with the debt, but they didn’t say how, and we have an issue with how ambiguous that is. But, they’ve also put us in the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Globalive does not meet the Canadian ownership requirements set out in the Telecommunications Act, the CRTC ruled late Thursday.
Under the legislation, a telecommunications company is only eligible to operate in Canada if it is not at any time owned and controlled, in law and in fact, by non-Canadians. Egypt-based operator Orascom Telecom, which has about 78 million subs world-wide, is providing much of the funding and the Wind brand name for Globalive.
During its proceeding, the Commission examined the influence of Orascom over Globalive’s business decisions and day-to-day operations. Despite the fact that Globalive made structural changes…
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TORONTO and VANCOUVER – Calling it “a bad day for Canadians and wireless competition in Canada”, Globalive may be down, but it doesn’t sound like they’re entirely out of the wireless industry in Canada.
After learning that the CRTC found it to be non-compliant with Canadian ownership and control requirements, the company said in a statement that “Wind Mobile will be delayed in becoming Canada’s newest competitive wireless operator in over a decade.”
It also expressed surprise that the Commission’s decision would be “at odds” with Industry Canada.
“Having already received approval from Industry Canada, we are extremely disappointed that the…
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OTTAWA and CALGARY – Shaw is now Canada’s largest cable company after receiving CRTC approval to proceed with its purchase of Mountain Cablevision.
As reported by Cartt.ca, Shaw offered to buy the Hamilton-based BDU back in July. Rogers tried to block the acquisition citing a near decade-old non-compete arrangement it had with Shaw, but that argument was dismissed by the Ontario Superior Court last month.
The Commission officially approved Shaw’s application on Thursday, meaning that Mountain’s ownership and control will be changed to 1474888 Alberta Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Shaw Communications Inc. Approximately 135 employees, 41,000 cable customers, 29,000…
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