OTTAWA – The CRTC will rule on Telus’ controversial network access fee tomorrow and Cartt.ca will have complete coverage of the decision.
The CRTC is reviewing the new fee Telus added to local phone bills after competitor Yak Communications filed a formal complaint last year. The commission has also received complaints from over 400 B.C. residents since the $2.95 charge was added to phone bills last November.
The monthly fee to access Telus’s long-distance network is charged to customers who haven’t signed up for long-distance calling plans with Telus or any of its competitors.
Customers are charged whether or…
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GATINEAU – Imagine – a video presentation at the CRTC’s hearings on broadcasting! Who would ever think of doing that?
“3-2-1. Blastoff!”
The Shaw Rocket Fund cleverly grabbed the attention of CRTC commissioners yesterday with a short animated video to make their point that children, as the ones who are already immersed in multi-media culture, should have a voice in this three-week gabfest about a future Canadian broadcasting model.
But it also took a former Radio-Canada journalist and now CRTC commissioner, Michel Morin, to ask the most probing question of the day: how come no one else at these…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has ruled that ARTV did not comply with the “watershed hour clause” when it broadcast an NFB documentary about rape at 7:30 p.m. (Broadcasting Decision 2008-81).
The regulator stated it expected ARTV to ensure that in the future all programs it broadcast containing scenes of explicit violence or dealing with other subjects intended for an adult audience were scheduled after 9 p.m., as called for by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Voluntary code regarding violence in television programming. ARTV is required to meet that standard as a condition of its licence.
The CRTC said it…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Rogers Broadcasting Inc.’s application to acquire CTV’s stake in Outdoor Life Network, and the CBC’s application to purchase CTV’s shares in ARTV inc. were gazetted Tuesday (Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-27).
On behalf of 1163031 Ontario Inc., Rogers Broadcasting is applying to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares currently held by CTV in Outdoor Life for $38.805 million. Rogers is proposing a $3.880 million tangible benefits package in conjunction with the sale.
CBC is paying $1.760 million for CTV’s stake in the French-language arts channel ARTV. The CBC currently holds 45.09% and CTV 15.57% of the channel. If…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada is seeking leave to appeal the CRTC’s March 3 wholesale services decision to the Federal Court of Appeal on the grounds that the regulator “erred in law and/or as to its jurisdiction.”
The court has no deadline to respond “yes” or “no” to the request made last week by Bell and fellow appellants Bell Aliant, Saskatchewan Telecommunications and Telebec, Societe en commandite to take Telecom Decision 2008-17 through the judicial system to try to have it overturned.
The CRTC’s decision is “incorrect and unreasonable” and “didn’t meet legal standards,” Mirko Bibic, Chief of Regulatory Affairs at Bell…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC on Thursday turned down HDTV Networks Inc.’s bid for a licence to operate a national, English-language high-definition over-the-air TV service (Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2008-75).
“HDTV Networks sought to launch a television station that would be the Canadian equivalent of a superstation,” said CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting Michel Arpin in a media release. “The programming strategy associated with such a station is inconsistent with the objectives of the Broadcasting Act and the commission’s policies. We have never granted a licence for such a conventional television station in the past and did not find any compelling reason…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will be questioning commercial radio station CJMS Saint-Constant over its failure to once again meet its contributions to Canadian content development.
The CRTC has added the station’s licence renewal to a May 13 public hearing at which a number of new radio licence applications will be heard, including for the Ottawa area.
The regulator notes that it appears CJMS Saint-Constant “may have failed” once again to comply with its contributions to Canadian content development for the 2006 broadcast year.
In Broadcasting Notice of Public Hearing 2008-1-2, issued Wednesday, the commission states it expects the radio…
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OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) has filed an application for leave to appeal the CRTC decision’s denying the media union’s request for a public hearing into restructuring plans announced by Canwest Media Inc. last October.
Canwest is moving control and production of its television stations’ local newscasts to four broadcast centres and laying off 200 people in the process, claims CEP.
“Canwest is changing the face of Canadian broadcasting by introducing central casting, where each local television station’s local newscast is produced, packaged, assembled and transmitted from one of four broadcast centres,” said…
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TORONTO – Rogers Broadcasting has finally gotten the over-the-air ethnic channel in Vancouver it coveted back in the 1990s as the CRTC on Monday approved its purchase of channel m (CHNM-TV) from Multivan Broadcast Ltd. (Broadcasting Decision 2008-72).
The transaction initially announced last July, but without the financial terms of the deal being disclosed, is expected to close on April 30.
“We are delighted with the approval by the CRTC of our acquisition of channel m. The Rogers OMNI Television group will continue to illustrate Canada’s ongoing commitment to a media landscape that reflects our multicultural and multilingual history,”…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given its approval, subject to certain conditions, to the purchase of BCE Inc.’s broadcasting assets by the group headed by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and three U.S. private equity firms.
“The application proposed to privatize the country’s largest communications company and included significant foreign interest,” wrote CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein in the decision. “Consistent with previous decisions, we have imposed conditions to address our concerns relating to corporate governance. These conditions will ensure that control of BCE remains in Canadian hands once the transaction is completed.”
The CRTC set out six major…
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