The TV tax battle
By Phil Lind with Robert Brehl
FEW THINGS GET ME SEETHING like the Canadian television networks’ attempted fee-for-carriage cash grab, the so-called “TV tax.” After everything cable did to increase their TV licences’ value over the years, in 2006 the broadcasters ignited a six-year battle to get us to pay them for carrying their signals. It went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and they came very close to winning.
Just writing this raises my hackles. Ken Engelhart and Jan Innes would joke that fee-for-carriage was my “Wullerton.” I had no idea what they meant…
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VANCOUVER – Nearly two years after the CRTC decreed broadband a basic telecom service for all Canadians, a collection of federal, provincial, and territorial ministers have agreed to the principles of a Canadian broadband strategy.
In a statement Friday after meetings in Vancouver, the Ministers pledged to work towards universal access to high-speed Internet and to improve access to the latest mobile wireless services along Canada’s major roads.
Guided by the connectivity principles of access, collaboration, and effective investments, the Ministers issued a joint statement calling universal access to high-speed Internet and mobile wireless networks “essential for long-term economic growth, innovation,…
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GATINEAU – With the large Canadian telecom players reading the writing on the wall (where it appears the Commission is seriously considering some sort of new code of conduct for telecom sales practices) a few of the larger carriers last week set out some ideas for commissioners to consider while they deliberate.
Each company last week essentially told the CRTC during its hearing into telecom sales practices the same thing: “There’s no problem with us when it comes to selling wired or wireless products and services to Canadians.” If there is, added most of the intervenors, the problem stems mainly…
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NCC’s president and CEO Rob Steele steps down
MONTREAL and DARTMOUTH – Stingray Digital Group officially completed its $506 million acquisition of Newfoundland Capital Corporation (NCC) Friday, creating what it described as Canada’s largest public independent media company.
NCC owns and operates two TV stations as well as Newcap Radio and its 101 broadcast licences (72 radio stations and 29 repeating signals) in seven provinces across the country and has approximately 800 employees. First proposed in May, the deal received CRTC approval earlier this week.
Friday’s announcement said that Rob Steele has stepped down as president and CEO of NCC,…
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GATINEAU – Back in August, when the CRTC and researcher Ipsos launched a survey on what Canadians think of the sales practices of Canadian telecom companies, much private (and some public) hue and cry arose from the carriers across the country.
The tight timeline for Ipsos to finish the survey and the weak overall structure and wording of the questions could only lead to negative answers, they said. They were right. The results came back substantially negative, but does that mean they have a point? Does the survey’s supposedly skewed queries mean the results should be tossed out?
Consumers and consumer…
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GATINEAU – If we may paraphrase some of the reaction by TekSavvy, Tbaytel and Eastlink representatives Wednesday morning in front of the CRTC it would be: "It seems strange to mandate us to continue being nice to our customers."
These three smaller independents (respectively, a wholesaler, a municipally owned telco and a regional wired and wireless carrier) also all had the same story to tell when it came to the dubious sales practices which have been so far outlined by consumers during the CRTC’s Telecom Sales Practices hearing this week in Gatineau:…
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OTTAWA – Divergent opinions on whether a movie and television producer should be credited as an author on their productions took centre stage at the latest Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which is discussing remuneration models for artists and creative industries in relation to the Copyright Act review.
Speaking on behalf of the Writers Guild of Canada on Tuesday, which represents more than 2,000 English-language writers working in film, television, radio and digital media production, director of policy Neal McDougall pointed out that both scripts and productions resulting from scripts are separate entities under…
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Consumer groups tell Commission most problems likely go unreported
GATINEAU – No one is disagreeing telecom sales practices can and should be improved. The companies know this and so do the consumers and consumer groups.
But, how deeply do the problems run? The telecom companies have said, for the most part, the bare number of complaints made to the CCTS annually and to the CRTC in this proceeding collectively point to sporadic, small problems which are inevitable given the tens of millions of customer interactions they log every month. Even counting all of the complaints from all sources, the total is…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given the green light to Stingray Digital Group’s plan to buy Newfoundland Capital Corporation (NCC, or as it’s more commonly referred in the radio business, Newcap), for $506 million.
The deal, first announced in May, includes 101 radio licences (82 FM and 19 AM) across the country, as well as conventional television stations CITL-DT and CKSA-DT Lloydminster, and the rebroadcasting transmitter CKSA-TV-2 Bonnyville, AB.
The Commission said Tuesday that it has determined that the deal is in the public interest, saying that its approval of the proposed transaction “would allow the acquired stations to benefit…
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GATINEAU – "I'm doing this for everyone."
So said Tony Wacheski to Cartt.ca as he headed into the hearing room for his individual presentation to the CRTC on day one of its hearing into telecom sales practices. He was one of several individual Canadians to face the Commission either in person, on the phone or Skype on Monday, including Ryan Adams, pictured at right.
(You, too, can be part of the public record, at least via Twitter, if you hashtag your tweets #CRTCforum)
We happened to sit down with him at lunch as he tapped on his tablet to fine-tune his…
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