A community television advocate is calling on the CRTC to reject a May application by Rogers to broaden certain broadcast regions to meet its local programming obligations, alleging the result will subvert community programming.
Rogers wants to broaden into four large zones – Vancouver Island, British Columbia; Southern Interior, British Columbia; Central Saskatchewan and Southern Manitoba – the areas that it must serve with community and local programs for the purpose, it said, of avoiding having to use repeat programming to meet its community and local TV obligations. It said this must be done because of the…
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Corus Entertainment announced Monday the early retirement of its president and CEO, Doug Murphy, effective immediately.
The media company’s board has appointed Corus executives Troy Reeb and John Gossling as co-chief executive officers.
“These appointments are effective immediately and reflect the strength of Corus’ leadership bench and a forward focus on managing through a challenging environment,” reads a Corus press release announcing the changes.
Murphy had been with Corus for 21 years, first joining the company in 2003 as executive vice president of business development and holding successively more senior positions until 2015 when he was promoted to president and CEO.
“During his…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers and TekSavvy have come to an agreement to avert an impending disconnection of wholesale customers at two Toronto buildings.
Earlier this week, TekSavvy requested that the CRTC suspend a Part 1 application it filed late last month asking the regulator to intervene in a case where its customers at two buildings on Sherbourne Street were at risk of disconnection as Rogers transitions to pure fibre connections.
The CRTC sent a letter dated Wednesday to both telecoms outlining that TekSavvy sent a letter on June 11 saying that an agreement had been reached between the two companies “to…
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By Howard Law, author of Canada vs. California, and MediaPolicy.ca
Last week the CRTC released its anticipated “Phase One” ruling on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, Bill C-11. The headline was the $200 million price tag put on Canadian content contributions assessed by the commission on large foreign online audio and audio-visual streamers operating in Canada.
Following the commission’s decision, many industry players and public policy commentators were quick to declare victory or disaster, something we can expect in a regulatory drama that never quits.
This drama is chronicled in my book, Canada vs California: How…
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By Connie Thiessen
Layoffs at Global News announced this week will impact about 35 unionized staff in newsrooms from Toronto to B.C., Cartt sister publication Broadcast Dialogue has learned.
Calgary has been hit the hardest with 13 jobs in the bureau eliminated, followed by eight in Edmonton, seven in Toronto, three in Ottawa, three in Lethbridge and one in B.C.
An unknown number of non-unionized positions are also impacted.
According to a report by the Western Standard, which obtained a recording of a staff meeting in Alberta led by Global Calgary News Director and Station Manager Carmela Gentile earlier this week,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Supreme Court of Canada has approved late last month the applications of four organizations to submit interventions in its hearing on whether the CRTC has jurisdiction over wireless access to municipal infrastructure.
The Canadian Telecommunications Association, the attorney general of Quebec, the Business Council of Canada, and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce will have the opportunity to submit arguments in the case that could hold significant consequences for the roll-out of 5G technology – or at least that’s what the large telecoms have argued.
Telus is the telecom that won the appeal to the country’s…
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Bell Canada announced Tuesday its intention to sell its subsidiary Northwestel to Sixty North Unity, a consortium of indigenous organizations from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, in a transaction worth up to $1 billion in cash.
The deal will see Northwestel become fully indigenous-owned, making it the largest telecommunications company worldwide with full indigenous ownership, a Bell press release says.
The strategic transaction will create more opportunities for investment and ownership in critical infrastructure and communications projects for northern indigenous communities, the release says. In addition, the acquisition “will provide Indigenous communities with greater access to…
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By Connie Thiessen
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) says it’s concerned commercial broadcasters – the largest employer of journalists in Canada – aren’t represented on the new collective chosen by Google to distribute funds under the Online News Act.
The digital giant announced Friday that it had selected the Canadian Journalism Collective-Collectif Canadien de Journalisme (CJC-CCJ) to distribute its annual $100M CAD contribution to eligible news businesses.
CJC-CCJ is led by Erin Millar, the CEO and co-founder of Indiegraf, a tech provider for small and start-up publications. Millar is a journalist and entrepreneur who also founded The Discourse. The not-for-profit organization is made up of 12…
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Corus and Eastlink announced Thursday that a carriage dispute dating back almost exactly a year ago has been resolved.
Beginning today, Eastlink television subscribers will again have access to Corus’s 33 channels, which include dramas, comedies, kids content, factual, lifestyle and reality series. That premium programming will be available through Corus’s theme packs, which start at $7 per month but can be bundled together at a discounted rate.
Before the dispute, Eastlink subscribers had the Corus channels at no extra charge as part of their TV packages, a spokesperson confirmed.
“We are excited for Eastlink subscribers to once again…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Wednesday ordered Telus to include in its support structure tariff a provision allowing third parties to be compensated directly from the telco in the event the structure is forced to move by a government entity.
The interim ruling comes after Telus was ordered to file a tariff proposal that would outline how it would provide for such compensation to the third parties, an issue that was triggered by a Rogers and Shaw application before the former acquired the latter. The issue was that while Telus was being compensated for the move ordered by British…
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