OTTAWA – Word that the CRTC has – for the first time – made local programming a condition of license for most over-the-air television stations is “good news”, says the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP).
However, the media union continued, it would be “very troubling” if the CRTC allowed some stations to broadcast fewer local programming hours than they have to date, even if for only a period of one year, cautioned Peter Murdoch, CEP’s vice president of media.
"We believe that the terms set out by the CRTC should mean that stations currently on the…
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THE MORE WE TALK to people and the more we hear, the more it looks like the CRTC wants to try and let conventional local broadcasters charge a wholesale fee for their local OTA signals, paid for by the customers of their cable, satellite and telco TV carriers.
Now, the power brokers on Parliament Hill have made it clear they want no part of being blamed for rising consumer TV bills (because you can bet that any new mandated fee-for-carriage would be identified as a “TV tax” or something on customer bills by those carriers if such a…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has set out the framework for forbearance from regulation of retail local exchange services that will apply in the serving territories of the small incumbent local exchange carriers (SILECs).
This framework is based on the local forbearance framework established for incumbent local exchange carriers, but with modifications to the requirements regarding the competitor presence test, the 18-month grace period for certain competitors, and competitor quality of service reporting.
The Commission also decided that SILECs who are required to join the independent telco consumer agency the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services Inc., must become…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC has pledged to resolve the telephone number shortage affecting the regions served by area codes 204, 819 and 905.
According to the Canadian Numbering Administrator, these area codes are expected to run out of telephone numbers by January 2011, February 2015 and February 2014, respectively.
Area code 289 will also be affected, as the CRTC added it in 2001 as a relief measure when area code 905 was running out of telephone numbers.
The Commission is establishing a Relief Planning Committee to “evaluate various relief options” and make recommendations. Potential relief measures could…
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ORILLIA, ON – The radio dial in Ontraio’s cottage country is about to get a little more crowded.
The CRTC has granted broadcasting licences to Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation for a new FM station in Orillia, and Instant Information Services to operate a new low-power, tourist information FM radio station in the area.
The Commission considered eight applications for new radio programming in Orillia at a public hearing that began on January 26, 2009 in the community, located approximately 120 kilometres north of Toronto. Orillia is currently served by one local commercial station, (CICX-FM), owned by Larche Communications Inc.
The Commission…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for input on whether it may conduct Canadian ownership and control reviews on a public basis, as opposed to a confidential basis, in certain instances.
Telus sent a letter to the Commission on April 20, 2009 asking it to conduct “an open and transparent process” to review whether wireless newcomer Globalive Wireless Management is under Canadian ownership and control, as required by section 16 of the Telecommunications Act. Shaw sent a letter two days later in support of Telus’ request.
But Globealive opposed the move, saying the Commission has a “longstanding practice” of conducting…
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TORONTO – The past chairman of the CRTC, Charles Dalfen, died suddenly on Tuesday. He was 66.
Canadian Press reported today that he had a heart attack.
Dalfen was chair of the Commission from 2002 to 2006, and was a well respected broadcast and telecommunications lawyer before and since. We interviewed him on a number of occasions, including early in his final year as chairman. Click here for that interview and read about how little has changed from a regulator’s point of view during the past three years.
Dalfen was comfortable in the chairman’s office but was ambitious from the get-go,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has suspended its public hearing into CBC’s re-branding of its specialty channel ‘Country Canada’ to ‘bold’, after the public broadcaster acknowledged that bold’s programming may, in fact, be inconsistent with its nature of service condition of licence.
The hearing, scheduled for June 2, was to determine whether the way that CBC re-branded the channel had negatively impacted “the integrity of the licensing process”. CBC re-launched its category 1 specialty Country Canada as bold on March 27 2008, after telling the Commission that the change could be done without amending the nature of service of Country…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has taken the unusual step of offering to step in to help resolve a carriage dispute between Rogers Sportsnet and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA).
The CCSA asked for the Commission’s assistance on February 26, 2009 to help resolve the year-old commercial dispute through either final offer arbitration or an expedited hearing.
At issue is the distribution of Rogers Sportsnet (RSI), the national, English-language specialty channel focused on regional sports programming, by the CCSA’s 98 small- and medium-sized independent cable companies. The network is packaged and distributed across Canada on four distinct regional feeds, as well as…
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OTTAWA – A coalition of consumer groups and independent telecos is appealing the CRTC decision on whether or not Bell Canada unfairly capped the bandwidth of third party Internet service providers (ISPs), a practice known as ‘throttling’.
The group says they believe that there is “substantial doubt as to the correctness” of Telecom Decision CRTC 2008-108, as a result of a “multitude of distinct errors of fact and law” committed by the CRTC.
In the decision issued last November, the Commission denied the Part VII application by the Canadian Association of Internet Providers requesting that the CRTC order…
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