GATINEAU – The oral reply phase of a CRTC hearing is the last opportunity for applicants to make their final pleas, respond to comments from competing applicants but also one more opportunity for the Commission to ask questions and, most importantly to raise an issue to ensure it is on the record of the hearing.
Interestingly, in the last phase of this week’s hearing into a mandatory license for an ethnic, multi-language primarily news specialty service, the vice-chair-broadcasting, Caroline Simard, asked each applicant something new: “Could you tell us which are the main steps that you would be doing in…
Continue Reading
Telus, Shaw, say no licence should be granted, and especially not to Bell or Rogers
GATINEAU – On Wednesday, phase II and III of the hearing into a mandatory carriage licence for a national, news oriented multilingual and multi-ethnic television service was the opportunity for the applicants and then outside intervenors to tell commissioners why they believe certain applications are not special enough to warrant a license under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act.
Four of the eight applicants chose not to make any presentations Wednesday (perhaps keeping their powder dry for Thursday’s final public reply day) but each of Rogers…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Blue Ant Media’s HIFI network has been chastised by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) for failing to keep official copies of broadcasts that were the subject of a complaint.
The CBSC contacted the TV service after receiving a viewer complaint on June 6, 2018 that alleged 22 issues within various shows, including the presence of adult-oriented coarse language, sexuality and violence during daytime hours, that HIFI had incorrectly rated such programming, and that the programming lacked adequate viewer advisories. The complainant also provided detailed times and descriptions for each instance.
In its response to the complainant, HIFI acknowledged that…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Day two of the hearing into the applications for a mandatory carriage licence for a national, multilingual and multi-ethnic television service saw the panel of commissioners pick at the shortcomings of the applications brought forward by the final four applicants for the TV license currently held by Rogers Media’s OMNI.
Here are the highlights we saw:
BELL MEDIA WAS FIRST UP with it’s pitch for OurTV, which promised, among a number of other things, the hiring of 53 new journalists spread across the country and some international sites producing 40 hours a week of news and current affairs content…
Continue Reading
Chair says 9(1)(h) may not go to anyone
GATINEAU – Sometimes the headline for a CRTC hearing day comes mid-morning, or maybe late afternoon during a good Q&A session between an applicant and a commissioner which puts a tight focus on the issues at play.
On Monday, however, that headline came in the first five minutes during CRTC chairman Ian Scott’s short opening speech. While we have surmised here that granting a mandatory carriage licence to a national, multilingual and multi-ethnic television service was a foregone conclusion – and that the only question is which of the…
Continue Reading
CCTS Annual Report shows troubling trends
OTTAWA – Just over a month after the telecom industry was raked over the coals for their sales practices by the CRTC, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) released its annual report showing such complaints about wireless, broadband, telecom and TV carriers are on the rise.
Today, the CCTS reported a 57% increase in the number of complaints received during its 2017-18 year (ended July 31st) from Canadian telecom and TV customers, following an 11% increase the prior year. Canadians complained most often about non-disclosure of information, which accounts for almost 15%…
Continue Reading
“THE WORST ENEMY of a regulatory lawyer is the marketing guy,” said Willie Grieve to me during a break at a hearing once. Perplexed, as a new CRTC communications person at the time, I said, “How so?”
“At the beginning, marketing guys come to you asking: Can I do this promotion? And we always say no. So, they stop coming and I get in trouble,” he added, and he walked away.
Those were the days when incumbents telephone companies were not allowed to lower their rates, in order to give a chance to competitors, even for promotions (the bread and butter…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Media’s network of radio stations officially expanded to 22 on Monday after parent Cogeco Inc. wrapped up its purchase of 10 French-language regional radio stations in Quebec and Ontario from RNC Media.
The $19.2 million transactio received CRTC approval on October 11.
The new stations are located in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (Planète 104.5 in Alma, Planète 93.5 in Chibougamau, Planète 99.5 in Roberval, Planète 100.3 in Dolbeau-Mistassini, and Radio X 95.7 in Saguenay), in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (Capitale Rock 104.3 in Val-d’Or, Capitale Rock 102.1 in La Sarre, and WOW 96.5, in Val-d’Or), in Lachute (Pop 104.9) and in Hawkesbury (Pop…
Continue Reading
But interim ruling means squabble not over yet
OTTAWA – Noting that the issue of calls not being completed must be addressed in “an expeditious manner”, the CRTC Friday waded into the dispute between Telus and Iristel over failed phones calls to the North.
Specifically, the Commission approved, in part, interim relief request from both companies. Telus was ordered to ensure that calls to Iristel’s users with in the 867 numbering plan area (NPA), or calls that transit through TCI’s network and terminate on Iristel’s network in that NPA, reach Iristel’s network within 10 days of the decision (by Monday, December…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) says that it will opt out of the CRTC’s Internet Code proceeding after the Commission denied its request for more time and for revisions to the proposed procedure.
In a request dated the day after the CRTC issued its call for comments on setting a code of conduct for Internet service providers, the consumer group asked that the proceeding's timelines be pushed back to March after noting that the deadlines overlap with several other proceedings that it says involve many or all of the parties who typically participate in CRTC telecommunications proceedings.
“The major…
Continue Reading
