OTTAWA – As reported earlier this week, Bell Media filed for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada the CRTC’s Super Bowl simultaneous substitution policy – and along with that filing earlier this month it requested the court stay, or suspend, the CRTC policy for this year’s game, scheduled for February 4th.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court dismissed the request for a stay, meaning the policy is staying in place. However, the court did grant Bell’s request to consider its leave to appeal on an expedited basis, meaning…
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OTTAWA – Music channel Vintage TV Canada has received its broadcasting licence from the CRTC, just over a year after its launch.
The Toronto-based service, which Cartt.ca profiled here, was exempt from licensing until it hit the 200,000 subscriber mark, in keeping with Broadcasting Order CRTC 2015-88.
The Commission considered its application back in September and officially approved its licence on Tuesday. The licence will expire on August 31, 2024.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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Q HOST TOM POWER is a good interviewer. But even he can’t penetrate Heritage Minster Mélanie Joly’s ability to avoid giving a direct answer to a direct question.
The Minister appeared on CBC’s Q last week (screen-capped at right) to talk about the #MeToo movement (she was in Toronto to meet with a number of groups on that topic) as well as discuss Canadian content in the new, digital era. We’ll pick up the chat at the 6:40 mark.
After mentioning Netflix’s planned $500 million investment in making content in Canada, which was the centrepiece of Minister…
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Viceland Canada (in its current form) to end March 31st
TORONTO – Rogers and Vice Media today announced the end of their joint venture in a deal which will see Vice take 100% ownership of all Vice Canada assets, which is primarily the library of content and the Vice studio in Toronto. No financial terms were disclosed.
The JV was part of the splashy entrance made by former Rogers Communications CEO Guy Laurence who invested $100 million of the company’s money into Vice Media in 2014. Then, the partnership was supposed to be a pillar around which the company would “build…
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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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