Commission itself could reverse this, prior to the game
TORONTO – To the surprise of no one, Bell Media has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada looking to strike down CRTC’s Super Bowl simsub decision – and has asked for a stay of that policy for this year’s game, scheduled for February 4th.
As readers will be aware, last month the Federal Court of Canada ruled against Bell, saying the CRTC is within its rights to make rules for individual programs. However, the court also noted the “irony” of deploying rules normally used to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has ruled that Bell’s offer relating to the distribution of French-language sports service TVA Sports is “more reasonable” than the offer proposed by the channel’s parent Quebecor Media.
Once their own negotiations reached an impasse, Quebecor Media and Bell asked the Commission last September to initiate a final offer arbitration process on the per-subscriber wholesale rates for the distribution of TVA Sports in the francophone market, defined as the province of Quebec.
After hearing final offers from both companies, the CRTC said Wednesday that it selected Bell’s offer after finding that the evidence does not support the rate increase…
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TORONTO – Rogers Radio is adding to its holdings in Alberta after announcing plans to buy Medicine Hat station 102.1 CJCY from Clear Sky Radio Inc.
CJCY-FM (102.1 CJCY Classic Hits) serves communities in the southeastern area of the province, including Medicine Hat along with Redcliff, Dunmore, Seven Persons and Bow Island.
Rogers said that the new station will join its CKMH-FM (105.3 ROCK) station in Medicine Hat in a move that deepens the company's commitment to the local community, plus increases its radio portfolio to 55 stations across the country, 14 of which are located in Alberta.
Closing of the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has given Byrnes Communications the go-ahead to proceed with its acquisition of two English-language commercial radio stations in Ontario’s Niagara Region.
Byrnes applied to buy CJED-FM Niagara Falls and CFLZ-FM Fort Erie from Vista Radio for $800,000. It also asked for, and was granted, an exception to the requirement to pay tangible benefits after pledging to “invest” in the two stations.
The Commission said Monday that the sale of the two stations to Byrnes will result in benefits for the broadcasting system and for the residents of the two cities.
“CJED-FM and CFLZ-FM are the only stations with a local…
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MONTREAL — Five years after it finally added the American cable channel to its television service, Vidéotron is dropping AMC, refusing to renew its carriage contract. The channel will disappear on February 12.
"Because we operate in a regional and not national market, it's difficult for Vidéotron to meet the many demands and financial requirements of AMC," reads a statement from Vidéotron. "In addition, according to our observations, viewing of AMC dropped over the last year."
(Ed note: If there was ever a time to pull AMC from the lineup, it’s now, as there is no original first-run programming scheduled until…
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GATINEAU – Thanks to two CBC.ca news stories in late 2017 which allege some unsavoury, high pressure sales tactics are being deployed by Bell Canada, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre is calling on the CRTC to launch a formal inquiry.
“Recent media stories in late 2017 have revealed disturbing practices by agents of at least one major Canadian telecommunications and TV service provider, including “upselling” and overselling, as well as allegations of misleading sales practices. Many of these aggressive sales practices appear to have targeted vulnerable consumers, including…
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TORONTO – Bell Media and Bloomberg Media announced today they will join forces to build a new multi-platform business news brand called BNN Bloomberg that will debut this spring.
The two companies said Monday that the partnership will blend Bloomberg’s 2,700 business journalists and analysts in 120 countries with Canada’s lone all-business news channel.
BNN Bloomberg will use Bloomberg’s five Canadian news bureaus in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Montreal, and Vancouver, plus offer several hours of live evening television coverage of Asian markets, early morning programs from Europe, and contributions from Bloomberg reporters in North America and worldwide throughout the business…
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A hard-nosed businessman, he made a brilliant cable territory swap, competed ferociously with Telus and pulled Global television from the Canwest inferno
FEW OCCASIONS BETTER illustrated the cultural divide between the world of the western bottom-up entrepreneur and that of Ottawa’s top-down public service bureaucracy than when Jim Shaw and Konrad von Finckenstein crossed swords in a hearing room.
There, front and centre of the raised platform bearing commissioners, would be the multilingual von Finckenstein, a six-foot-something-awesome lawyer who was chief legal adviser on the original North American Free Trade negotiations, served as head of the Competition Bureau, became a Federal…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to fight unsolicited commercial electronic messages (spam).
The Commission said Friday that the partnership will support close cooperation and a coordinated approach in the enforcement of spam laws in both jurisdictions to limit the amount of unwanted emails received by both Canadian and Japanese residents.
As part of the agreement, the two agencies have agreed to share information and provide investigative support, upon request, and in accordance with the law. The memorandum of cooperation also provides for research and education opportunities through sharing of best…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – After first asking Canadians to weigh in on future distribution models for Canadian programming, the CRTC now wants to know why we watch and listen to content the way that we do.
The Commission launched a new survey on Thursday that it saus will help it to understand the reasons behind Canadians’ choices on how and where they consume content. The survey’s questions include queries around why Canadians opt for traditional TV or radio versus watching and listening online, as well as the importance of programming made in Canada.
Canadians can participate by filling out the survey before January 31…
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