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%…
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“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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Ethnic license now held by OMNI up for grabs next week
SECTION 9(1)(h) OF THE Broadcasting Act says the CRTC can “require any licensee who is authorized to carry on a distribution undertaking to carry, on such terms and conditions as the Commission deems appropriate, programming services specified by the Commission.”
It’s commonly known in the industry as the must-carry clause, the one applied to certain TV channels in which cable, satellite and IPTV are forced to offer in their entry packages. They include the main local broadcasters and a handful of other channels which the Regulator believes fills an “exceptional…
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OAKVILLE – On Wednesday, November 28, provincial and territorial emergency management organizations will be issuing public test messages through Alert Ready, Canada's emergency alerting system, that will hit TVs, radios and wireless phones all around the country.
Each province and territory will issue one test message at 1:55 p.m. local time, with the exception of Quebec, where the test will occur at 2:55 p.m. local time. This will be the second live Alert Ready test this year. The first occurred during Emergency Preparedness Week in May 2018 and readers may recall there were a few glitches.
The…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will hold a public hearing next February to consider Leclerc Communication’s proposal to buy French-language commercial radio stations CHOI-FM Québec and CKLX-FM Montréal from RNC Media for $19 million.
Leclerc is seeking to change the format of CKLX-FM (91,9 Sports) from all sports talk to a music format similar to its 91.9 WKND station in Quebec City, and added that the acquisition of the stations is conditional upon the Commission’s approval of the proposed format change. It is not proposing to change programming at CHOI 98,1 (Radio X).
The broadcaster has also requested an exception to the CRTC’s Common…
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GATINEAU – Last week Corus Entertainment filed an application informing the CRTC that it will shut down 44 transmitters and requested an amendment to their station licences.
Twenty of those stations had not been converted to digital and Corus was required to do so, according to the conditions of the acquisition imposed by the CRTC when then CanWest Global stations were acquired by Shaw Communications back in 2010.
In the November 8th application, Corus is requesting permission to shift the remainder of the benefits money meant to upgrade the transmitters to other endeavours, and therefore not convert them to digital as it…
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TORONTO – Radio is killing the radio star and needs a rebuilt system focused on creating local content if it’s ever to bring audiences back from listening to music on the Internet. That was the consensus from an industry panel (pictured) on the state of radio held last week at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters 2018 Conference at the Toronto Airport Marriott.
“Music has become commoditized,” argued Geoff Poulton, president of Vista Radio, which owns 41 smaller market radio stations in B.C, Alberta, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.
“You used to compete on music in the good old days. We have…
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