TORONTO – The union which represents media workers at Rogers' OMNI TV said Wednesday it is taking legal action in response to the company’s decision to have Fairchild TV produce its newscasts in Mandarin and Cantonese.
"This $20-billion broadcaster is in violation of its CRTC licence to produce its own news coverage," said Unifor National president Jerry Dias, in a press release. "Rogers promised the CRTC it would cover the news with its in-house staff. It is not supposed to get millions in customer fees, and then renege on that promise as soon as it gets the CRTC licence."
Rogers…
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GATINEAU – Danielle May-Cuconato is no longer secretary general of the CRTC. She left for a position at Public Works Canada late last month, which we've been told is to help spearhead the cleanup of the federal government's broken Phoenix payroll system.
While the Commission looks for a new head of operations (essentially the SG’s role) to fill her shoes, the role will be held on an acting basis during the fall. Until September 29th, Claude Doucet, executive director, communications and external relations has the job, to be followed by executive director broadcasting Scott Hutton until November 10th and then…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has revised the exemption order for terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) serving fewer than 20,000 subscribers.
Effective immediately (and just in time for the new TV Service Provider Code to apply), the revised exemption order issued Thursday stipulates:
– future contributions to Canadian programming by BDUs eligible for exemption will be based on the previous year’s revenues rather than the current year’s revenues; the calculation of monthly contributions will be simplified; and the annual true-up of monthly contributions will be eliminated, while the true-up provision for the months of September through November will be maintained;
– all…
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TORONTO – Rogers Media’s new national multilingual service OMNI Regional is set to debut Friday with daily national newscasts in Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, and Punjabi.
The service, which the CRTC approved as a must-carry, basic-service specialty channel, is promising a slate of news and current affairs, lifestyle, and entertainment programming in multiple languages. Programming will be divided in four feeds: Pacific (British Columbia), Prairies (Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan), East (Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and PEI), and Quebec, through a partnership with ICI Television.
OMNI News: Cantonese Edition, OMNI News: Italian Edition, OMNI News: Mandarin Edition, and OMNI News: Punjabi…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will set up shop at a Toronto hotel in November to consider new radio applications vying to serve Ontario’s Grimsby/Beamsville region as well as the town of Georgina.
The Commission said Thursday that it will hold a hearing beginning November 27 at the Holiday Inn Toronto Yorkdale to consider applications from Dufferin Communications, Durham Radio and Byrnes Communications seeking broadcasting licences for radio stations to serve Grimsby and Beamsville.
It will also review applications from My Broadcasting Corporation, Frank Torres, and Radio Markham York to serve the south-central Ontario market of Georgina with a new radio station.
The…
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OTTAWA – Registration is now open for the ‘New Developments in Communications Law and Policy’ presented by the Canadian Chapter of the International Institute of Communications.
Scheduled for November 14 -15 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, the event promises to bring together communications lawyers, academics, regulators and other stakeholders to discuss key developments in Canadian and international communications law and policy.
New CRTC chair Ian Scott will speak at the conference and FCC Commissioner (and former General Counsel) Brendan Carr will provide an update on the FCC's policies under the Trump administration.
In addition, research papers will be presented on, and…
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Best practices made must-practices
GATINEAU – As of Friday, the CRTC’s Television Service Provider Code will come into effect, the Commission reminds in a press release issued this morning.
“The Code was created to help Canadians make informed choices about their television service provider and resolve disputes in a fair and effective manner,” says the release.
Starting September 1st, television service providers must:
• Provide customers with a Critical Information Summary and a copy of the agreement which includes a list of channels or packages they subscribe to, their monthly charges for services, the commitment period and how to file complaints.
• Clearly set…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has decided to push forward with a launch of wholesale fibre access for independent ISPs using interim rates it has laid out for the disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (HAS) services that Bell, Rogers, Cogeco and Videotron may charge competitors in Ontario and Quebec.
The Commission said Tuesday that Telecom Decision 2017-312 will allow providers in those provinces access to services based on a new architecture that will foster competition in the broadband Internet market, despite the Regulator’s ongoing review to establish final rates for these services.
“The availability of disaggregated wholesale HSA services will enable competitors…
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OTTAWA – Despite not being able to reach the Native radio station CKBK-FM Thamesville, the CRTC still renewed its broadcasting licence for another two years.
Lenape Community Radio Society filed an application to renew the licence for CKBK-FM which is set to expire on August 31, 2017. The Commission said that it found the licensee in non-compliance with certain sections of the Radio Regulations after noting that it had failed to provide annual returns for the 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 broadcast years, or confirmation that it had implemented a public alerting system by the March 31, 2016 deadline.
“Moreover, the licensee did…
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RECENT MOVES BY GLOBAL MEDIA PLAYERS to go over-the-top (OTT) and direct-to-consumer (D2C) mark a tipping point for the media industry and could have profound, long-term implications for the Canadian media landscape, says a Bay St. analyst.
A research report by BMO Capital Markets telecom/media/cable financial analyst Tim Casey notes that Canada’s traditional television broadcasters, (whose business models rely on “reselling” content from Hollywood), are at a greater risk than television distributors (BDUs) who offer broadband service, which he describes as “a natural business hedge against changing viewing habits”.
“Television distribution is a lower-margin business compared with broadband given roughly half the revenue…
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