Company fined $15K; owner/president ordered to pay $10K
OTTAWA – The CRTC is cracking down on an alleged telemarketer for violating the Telecommunications Act by ignoring its repeated requests for information.
In Compliance and Enforcement Decision CRTC 2017-445 issued Wednesday, the Commission found that Topline Air Duct Cleaning and its owner and president, Naveed Raza, failed to respond to a request for information (RFI) letter dated July 31, 2015 despite two deadline extensions and a show cause proceeding in August.
“The Commission reiterates that individuals and companies cannot blatantly ignore RFIs made in the course of an investigation without consequence”, reads Wednesday’s decision. “As part…
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CANADIAN CABLE SYSTEMS Alliance CEO Jay Thomson knows Canadian networks and media inside and out. How could he not? Before the CCSA, he worked for the Canadian Cable Television Association, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and the Canadian Media Producers Association (Telus and the CRTC, too).
The long-time Ottawa executive was hired as CEO of the CCSA in January 2017, replacing Alyson Townsend, who was let go in the summer of 2016. Thomson is steeped in the business and, as importantly, knows government – especially an Ottawa whose politicians and bureaucrats tend to be…
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LE PDG DE LA CANADIAN Cable Systems Alliance, Jay Thomson connaît les réseaux et les médias canadiens de fond en comble. Comment pourrait-il en être autrement ? Avant de travailler à la CCSA, il a travaillé à l’Association canadienne des télécommunications par câble (ACTC), Canadian Association of Internet Providers, l’Association canadienne des radiodiffuseurs et la Canadian Media Producers Association (également à Telus et au CRTC).
Ce dirigeant de longue date d’Ottawa a été embauché comme PDG de la CCSA en remplacement de Alyson Townsend qui a quitté son poste à l’été 2016. Thomson est à l’aise dans ce secteur et, de manière aussi…
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Whatever the future of TV may hold
GATINEAU – The rise of online TV distribution platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and others are upending the delicate balance of the Canadian broadcasting system and that means the federal government and the CRTC need to change the way they regulate the sector. In a nutshell, Canadian broadcasters, producers and distributors want these platforms treated the same way they are.
In comments to the CRTC’s consultation on new TV program distribution models (which was requested by the federal government ostensibly as the first step towards modernizing the Broadcasting Act and Telecom Act), many…
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100 Mbps – up and down – is the goal for all customers
ZURICH, Ont. – Independent incumbent telecom provider Hay Communications has launched a new 100 Mbps basic internet package for $50 a month, boasting symmetrical speeds – meaning upload speeds are as fast as download (something normally not the case for most ISPs).
The service, powered by the 100-year-old company’s growing fibre network, also has no data caps. While not everyone in Hay’s rural southwestern Ontario service regions (Exeter, Zurich, Grand Bend, Dashwood, Hensall and areas in between), can get those speeds yet, “our goal is to give 100%…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC said Tuesday it wants the opinions of Canadians about additional information provided by the large French- and English- language television groups as part of the reconsideration of decisions to renew their television licences.
The CRTC will gather comments until January 23, 2018.
On May 15, 2017, the CRTC issued a series of decisions to renew licences for the television services of large English- and French-language private ownership groups (Bell Media, Corus Entertainment, Rogers Media, Groupe V and Quebecor Media). On August 14, 2017, the Governor in Council referred back to the CRTC certain…
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OTTAWA – The majority of Canada’s mobile wireless carriers have told the CRTC that redefining home network to include public Wi-Fi will have serious negative consequences on the mobile market while smaller providers Ice Wireless and Execulink argue Wi-Fi First providers are needed to inject much needed competition to an already highly concentrated market.
The final round of submissions on the CRTC’s Governor-in-Council demand that it reconsider its March wholesale wireless roaming decision were due December 1st. This is something ISED Minister Navdeep Bains announced during June’s Canadian Telecom Summit.
For Bell Canada, the only issue…
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MONTREAL and TORONTO – The Cogeco Program Development Fund, the Independent Production Fund and Cogeco Communications announced Monday they’ve concluded an agreement to ensure “the sustainability of the CPDF's Canadian television production funding activities,” says the press release.
This new agreement will become effective on January 1, 2018.
The CPDF and the IPF had been co-operating with each other since 1992 by sharing resources for the processing of funding applications and the administration of the CPDF's program funding activities, which are supported financially by the annual contributions of Cogeco's regulated broadcasting distribution undertakings to independent production funds and the returns…
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The disruption initiated by the web was always going to result in some chaos. But now the barbarians may be the gatekeepers
MANY OF MY GENERATION wring their hands, dab the sweat off their upper lips and otherwise fuss – in the manner older generations do – about millennials.
They live at home until 30, ooze entitlement, have the attention span of a housefly and, because their parents’ generation mortgaged their future, are more focused on fun than ambition. Whatever.
What is, however, worth worrying about is the responsibility that will be unique to millennials: the nurturing of the World Wide…
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GATINEAU – Toronto-based lawyer Monique Lafontaine has been named the CRTC’s new Commissioner for Ontario.
Wednesday’s announcement by Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly says that Lafontaine (pictured) brings over 17 years' experience in entertainment and communications law to the role, and that her areas of specialization include television, radio, new media regulation, program licencing and affiliation agreements, stakeholder relations, and anti-spam and privacy legislation.
Lafontaine, who is fluently bilingual, will begin her five-year post on January 2nd, 2018. According to her LinkedIn profile, she held senior roles at ZoomerMedia, the Directors Guild of Canada and law firm McCarthy Tétrault before opening her own communications and entertainment…
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