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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Commission favoured Bell
MONTREAL – Quebecor has filed for leave to appeal a “baffling” CRTC decision that ruled against its French-language sports service TVA Sports in a carriage dispute with Bell.
The company said Friday that it is asking the Federal Court of Appeal for a review of the Commission’s January 17th decision in the final offer arbitration process between the two companies that selected Bell’s per-subscriber wholesale rates for the distribution of TVA Sports in the francophone market, defined as the province of Quebec.
“Quebecor fails to understand the CRTC's position in this case”, reads the company’s statement. “TVA Group's…
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TORONTO – Global News is cutting close to 80 positions across the country, many of them tied to TV production, as part of its "transformation into a sustainable, digital-first organization".
A story on the Global News website said that the company will add 50 new positions in “the growth area of digital news”, mostly journalists who will file for new, local versions of the Globalnews.ca website in Ottawa, Kitchener, Guelph and Barrie in Ontario.
Global already has 18 websites across Canada that it says were born from the company’s traditional television and news-talk radio stations.
“With digital platforms, our audience no longer…
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And why CPE should be reduced for traditional media companies
GATINEAU – Saying online content platforms have radically altered the Canadian broadcasting system is as undeniable as it is now cliché. Netflix itself, has an estimated six million subscribers in Canada, an amount greater than half of all cable TV subscriptions here.
With Amazon Prime growing and the arrival of other online services in the future (BritBox arrived this week and CBS All Access is coming), the Canadian system needs to evolve with this new reality in mind, several have told the CRTC…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given Bell Media the go-ahead to proceed with its $17 million purchase of four FM radio stations in Ontario from Larche Communications Inc.
The deal, first announced last August, encompasses the assets of English-language commercial radio stations 104.1 The Dock (CICZ-FM) Midland, 92.3 The Dock (CJOS-FM) Owen Sound, KICX Country 106 (CICX-FM) Orillia, and KICX Country 91.7 (CICS-FM) Sudbury.
Noting Bell Media’s proposed tangible benefits package of $1.02 million (representing 6% of the value of the transaction) and the broadcaster’s stated commitment to continue to serve the markets with local programming that meets the needs and interests of the communities,…
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THE HEADLINE WAS a typical one: “Thousands slam Bell coalition’s website blocking proposal,” said the Globe and Mail two weeks ago.
That number (4,700-plus comments from Canadians to the CRTC over the Part I proceeding begun thanks to the FairPlay Canada coalition proposal), should not matter. At all. It will of course, especially to skittish politicians, but it shouldn’t. A large count of submissions to the CRTC on this or any topic shows people are engaged, which is a good thing, but that doesn’t make them correct.
It’s the subject and the substance the arguments which are…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC this week told consumer group Public interest Advocacy Centre that there are already ample ways for customers to lodge complaints over what they feel are unfair telco sales practices and that no new public hearing is needed.
After some 2017 CBC.ca stories levelled accusations of potentially unfair, high-pressure sales tactics against Bell Canada (the CBC in January then did a similar story about Rogers Communications), PIAC last month called on the CRTC to launch a formal inquiry into the matter.
Both Bell and Rogers have vehemently denied the claims which were made by…
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