Part VI in our series on rewriting the Broadcasting and Telecom Acts
TODAY’S COMMUNICATIONS WORLD is marked by a few large, vertically integrated companies offering Internet access, broadcasting, telecommunications and wireless services. These firms have considerable control over who has access to their networks and what content is available over their respective pipes.
This means governments and regulators must ensure smaller independent competitors have access to these networks and to make this access as competitively neutral as possible. Even more, the big owners of those networks shouldn’t be able to favour some content over others. This, in a nutshell, is net…
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6e partie dans notre série sur la révision des Lois sur la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications
LE MONDE DES communications d’aujourd’hui est dominé par quelques grandes entreprises intégrées verticalement qui offrent de l’accès à l’Internet, de la radiodiffusion, des télécommunications et des services sans-fil. Ces firmes exercent un contrôle considérable sur qui a accès à leurs réseaux et quel contenu est disponible sur leurs réseaux respectifs.
Cela veut dire que les gouvernements et les régulateurs doivent s’assurer que les petits concurrents indépendants aient accès à ces réseaux et s’assurer que cet accès soit aussi neutre que possible. De plus, les grands…
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ST. JOHN'S – Newfoundland and Labrador remain one of the few places in Canada where callers need to only dial seven digits.
On Tuesday, the Telecommunications Alliance said that the introduction of 10-digit dialing and the new area code 879 had been deferred further to a CRTC decision earlier this month plus recent numbering forecasts that indicate that current area code 709 will not reach capacity this year.
Each communications provider in Canada submits regular forecasts of their requirements for numbering resources to the Canadian Numbering Administrator. Factors such as population and economic growth, plans for new services by carriers, and…
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FOR MANY DECADES, THE Canadian TV market had the luxury of being a walled garden protected by the limits of technology. We even carved out a national production industry and nurtured significant cultural achievements next door to the world’s largest content market.
Now, however, digitalized content has climbed over the garden’s walls and caused content markets to globalize and flatten.
We responded to this change with the defensive strategy of vertical integration. We tried to create barriers, concentrating our domestic market, but the problem was this just deepened our dependence on our domestic market and made us less competitive globally. We’ve…
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5e partie dans notre série sur la révision des Lois sur la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications. Une entrevue exclusive
EN 1999 LORSQUE PIERRE Karl Péladeau était le PDG de la plus grande imprimerie au monde et un important propriétaire de journaux, il ne connaissait sans doute pas l'ordonnance d'exemption relative aux nouveaux médias (OERNM) du CRTC, rendue publique cette année-là. Et pourquoi aurait-il été préoccupé?
À cette époque, les téléphones cellulaires étaient encore un nouveau phénomène utilisé que pour faire des appels téléphoniques et qu’une personne sur cinq possédait.* Tout le monde regardait la télévision grâce à des oreilles de lapin ou au…
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Part V in our series on rewriting the Broadcasting and Telecom Acts. An exclusive interview
BACK IN 1999, WHEN Pierre Karl Péladeau was the CEO of the world’s largest printer and a significant Canadian newspaper publisher, he didn’t know or care about the CRTC’s New Media Exemption Order, released that year. Why would he?
Back then, cell phones were still-new devices that primarily just made phone calls – which only about one in five of us owned.* Everyone got their TV off-air or via cable and just over a quarter of Canadians reported a home internet connection – upon which precious…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has granted stakeholders more time to comment on the idea of an Independent Piracy Review Agency (IPRA) that would help to identify websites blatantly engaged in content theft, as proposed by FairPlay Canada.
In a letter addressed to Asian Television Network president and CEO Dr. Shan Chandrasekar, on behalf of the FairPlay Coalition, and to Tamir Israel from the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), the Commission agreed to the request made by CIPPIC and OpenMedia to amend the timelines associated with the application noting “the breadth and the…
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Part IV in our series on rewriting the Broadcasting and Telecom Acts
THE CANADIAN TV INDUSTRY faces a growing crisis. Financial contributions from the broadcast distributors to support the production of Canadian stories are on the decline. This is combined with the fact that online TV providers, namely Netflix, aren’t required to pay into the Canadian system like their Canadian competitors.
Since Netflix has emerged as a major competitor to traditional broadcasting services, many have called for the U.S. company to being paying into the Canadian system. Some have suggested taxing internet service providers is the best approach. Others have simply…
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4e partie dans notre série sur la révision des Lois sur la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications
L'INDUSTRIE CANADIENNE DE LA télévision fait face à une crise aiguë. Les contributions financières qui supportent la production d’émissions canadiennes diminuent. Et cela est combiné au fait que les fournisseurs de service en ligne, comme Netflix, ne sont pas requis de contribuer au système canadien contrairement à leurs concurrents canadiens.
Depuis l’arrivée en scène de Netflix comme concurrent important des services de radiodiffusion traditionnels, plusieurs ont réclamé que la compagnie américaine contribue au système canadien de radiodiffusion. Certains ont suggéré que taxer les fournisseurs de…
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MONTREAL – The Canadian Union of Public Employees wants the CRTC to drop its digital media exemption order.
"The CRTC has the power to act swiftly and put a stop to the preferential treatment internet giants are receiving from the federal government,” said a press release issued Friday. “We have petitioned the CRTC to reverse a decision made years ago which is completely obsolete. There is no reason Netflix and other corporations like them should be under an exemption order" said Rejean Beaudet, recording secretary for CUPE's Quebec Provincial Council for Communications (CPSC) and provincial president for the local union…
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