OTTAWA – According to a front-page story of the Italian newspaper Corriere Canadese’s June 4th issue, Jean Brazeau, VP regulatory affairs of CorrCann “has written a letter to the PM and individual members of cabinet expressing disappointment and saying that Corrcan is going to launching a formal petition to Cabinet asking for a re-determination, a change in the decision.”
Of course, when the CRTC issued its decision on the licensing of a national, multilingual multi-ethnic discretionary service with mandatory 9(1)(h) distribution to Rogers Media to continue on with OMNI, it probably anticipated that the other applicants, which CorrCann was…
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GATINEAU – Alicia Barin has been appointed as the CRTC’s regional member for Quebec, announced Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez this afternoon.
Her five-year term will begin August 11, 2019, the day after the term of current CRTC commissioner for Quebec, Yves Dupras, expires.
Barin has more than 20 years of experience in the Canadian media industry and was a key member of Astral Media's senior management team from 2003 to 2013. When she left the company in 2013 she was vice-president of strategic planning. Since then, she has been working in corporate affairs for AECO Project Management and Barin Architecture…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has agreed to delete 44 of Corus’ rebroadcasting transmitters from its broadcasting licences but has tweaked the broadcaster’s proposed reallocation of tangible benefits.
As Cartt.ca reported, Corus filed an application with the Commission last fall seeking to delete 44 rebroadcasting transmitters from its broadcasting licences for some over-the-air (OTA) television stations located in smaller markets across the country. Corus also asked that $2,365,771 in tangible benefits, relating to Shaw Communications’ acquisition of Canwest Global stations that was to be spent on the digital conversion, be reallocated to a number of other initiatives.
On Thursday, the…
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SUNSHINE COAST, BC – Eastlink’s Coast Community TV is celebrating 40 years showcasing the best of the Sunshine Coast.
The volunteer driven channel got its start by students and teachers at Elphinstone Secondary School who hosted a Community Television Forum in June, 1979 to determine the community support for a volunteer run community television station.
"We were actually an after school group; we called ourselves ESRP, Elphinstone Student Research Productions,” said filmmaker Velcrow Ripper, a student of the original television production class, in a statement. “Our mentor and teacher, Marta MacKown, came up with this idea of creating a broadcasting…
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GATINEAU – The American industry association which represents some of the biggest names in tech and telecom have told the CRTC it wants to see mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) mandated in Canada.
In a short submission to the CRTC’s review of wireless services last month, the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) told the Commission it believes MVNOs “under the right regulatory circumstances, can promote competition, connectivity, and economic growth.”
MVNOs typically don’t own their own networks and instead lease space on an incumbent’s network and sell service to customers. There are a number of them operating successfully in the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Northwestel will lay out $5 million in new and unplanned investments in its network infrastructure over the next three years as part of an agreement with the CRTC to rectify issues of non-compliance.
The Commission said Wednesday that Northwestel failed to obtain its approval for the rates it charged for nine of its Special Services Tariffs (SSTs) over seven years. After coming clean to the CRTC, the BCE-owned telco submitted a Part 1 application in February 2018 seeking retroactive approval for the rates that it had charged, but the Regulator denied that request later that year, adding that the…
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OTTAWA – Last month, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains unveiled Canada’s Digital Charter, a document which outlines 10 principles – including “universal access” for consumers and “a level playing field ensure competition ensure fair competition in the online marketplace.”
He also launched the Advisory Council on Artificial Intelligence in which companies operating in this space attracted a $548-million investment in venture capital.
This week, Bains (pictured at last week’s Canadian Telecom Summit) spoke again to Cartt.ca about both initiatives as well as a few other issues, including broadening Canadians’ access to high-speed Internet.
Christopher…
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OTTAWA – Listeners in Ontario's North Bay may soon have a new radio station after the CRTC determined that the region can support one.
The Commission said Thursday that it is not necessary to publish a call for applications for new stations given that Vista Radio was the sole party to express an interest in serving that market.
Located in northeastern Ontario, approximately 120 kilometres east of Sudbury, the North Bay radio market currently has four English-language commercial radio stations: CHUR-FM, CKFX-FM and CKAT, which are operated by Rogers Media, as well as CFXN-FM, operated by Vista. The market is also…
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TORONTO – Starting today, dotmobile members can provide individual feedback on planned features, vote for the ones they like and even collaborate with other members and the dotmobile team.
“We’ve seen the problems that many Canadians face with their current providers. There’s so much that can be done to improve efficiency, experience, and affordability – and our members are by far the best people to validate our ideas,” said dotmobile co-founder and CXO Alex Bauman. “With our new Build it! page they can weigh in on concepts, designs and eventually even test out prototypes.”
Dotmobile plans to…
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CWTA chief advocates against MVNOs
OTTAWA – While the topic of MVNOs dominated this year’s Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto, it also made sizable waves during the Thursday morning’s meeting of the ongoing Rural Digital Infrastructure Committee in the nation’s capital.
Speaking before the committee on Thursday, Robert Ghiz, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, issued a pointed warning about MVNOs to committee members – similar to the one he delivered in Toronto on Tuesday.
“MVNOs do not invest in wireless infrastructure or spectrum. Rather, they pay wholesale rates set by the regulator to…
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