Bidding starts at $1.54 billion
OTTAWA – The auction of 600 MHz wireless spectrum, when it happens, will favour the smaller newcomers like Freedom Mobile and Vidéotron and looks to offer no payments to TV broadcasters which will be forced off the band.
While the Canadian bandwidth plan is to be harmonized with the United States (something we’ve known for a while), our auction for the valuable low frequency spectrum sure won’t be the same. In its consultation paper released late Friday (Ed note: right before the long weekend, so no questions, media!) Innovation, Science and…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The CRTC is getting a new partner in its fight against spammers and telemarketing pests with the announcement the Commission has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office to combat commercial electronic messages and unwanted telemarketing calls.
The partnership between the two countries will promote close cooperation and a coordinated approach to enforcing spam and telemarketing laws in both jurisdictions to limit the amount of unsolicited emails and nuisance calls received by Canadian and U.K. residents, the CRTC said in a news release on Thursday.
As part of the agreement, both agencies agree to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — The Writers Guild of Canada has joined the ongoing debate regarding the funding of programs of national interest (PNI) that has Canada’s creative community pitted against the country’s three largest broadcasters ever since the CRTC reduced minimum PNI spending requirements in its May broadcasting decision on group licence renewals.
Following on the heels of the Canadian Media Producers Association’s (CMPA) response earlier today to yesterday’s open letter to the CRTC by Bell Media, Corus Entertainment and Rogers Media, the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) released its own press release regarding PNI funding this afternoon.
Saying that…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA — The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) shot back at Canada’s English-language private broadcasters today after Bell Media, Corus Entertainment and Rogers Media released an open letter to the CRTC yesterday in which they asked the Commission to maintain status quo on recent broadcasting decisions.
In their letter, the big three broadcasters urged the Commission to stand firm on its recent decisions regarding reduced minimum spending requirements on programs of national interest (PNI) as part of the CRTC’s group licence renewal decision in May.
Bell, Corus and Rogers were responding yesterday to a joint open letter released…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – While not mentioning the CRTC’s decision on programs of national interest (PNI) specifically, the three largest Canadian broadcasters have sent a letter to Canadian MPs (also printing it as a full page ad in the Parliament Hill newspaper The Hill Times), asking them to ignore the complaints of the creative community and let recent CRTC decisions stand.
The letter, signed by Bell Media president Randy Lennox, Corus Entertainment EVP and chief operating officer Barbara Williams and Rogers Media president Rick Brace says the CRTC undertook a years-long process to overhaul its TV regulations to try and prepare for…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL — As Bell Canada continues its appeal of the CRTC’s simultaneous substitution (simsub) ban for Super Bowl games, its chorus of supporters is growing even louder.
In a press release issued August 1, The National Football League, national union Unifor, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA) and the Canadian Media Directors’ Council (CMDC) all reaffirmed their support of Bell’s new application to the CRTC to suspend its simsub ban for Super Bowl LII in 2018 and permanently rescind the ban going forward.
As the new NFL season approaches, Bell…
Continue Reading
THE CORD-CUTTING ANALYSIS in Friday’s Summer Numbers: CRTC TV data dump highlights, lowlights says that 11.12 million households subscribed to cable, satellite or IPTV service in Canada in 2016, down only slightly – 3.5% – from 11.5 million in 2016.
I agree this doesn’t seem like a big drop over four years especially given the market changes in that period.
But when we look at the numbers relative to the total number of households in Canada, we see a different story emerge.
In 2011, there were 13.32 million occupied households in Canada per the census and 11.5 million…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA — The St. John’s radio market cannot sustain an additional radio station at the present time, the CRTC announced in a decision on July 31. As a result, the Commission will not issue a call for applications for new radio stations to serve that market, the CRTC said.
In its Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2017-272, the Commission said it will return the application originally filed by Andrew Green and Jordan Elliott, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, for a broadcasting licence to operate a commercial FM radio station in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The St. John’s radio…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Maybe it’s not so bad yet, after all…
The CRTC on Thursday released three different documents breaking down the 2016 results from conventional broadcast, discretionary and on demand, and broadcast distribution undertaking sectors of the Canadian TV business.
The numbers are all almost a year old (filed by the regulated companies at the end of the regulatory broadcast year, August 31, 2016) – so bear that in mind when perusing these highlights. Also, these figures do not include any revenue from broadband, telephony or wireless streams. (As well, the Commission told us the breakdown for…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Canadian Media Producers Association, Film Ontario, the Directors Guild of Canada, the Writers Guild of Canada, Unifor and 14 other trade groups and unions have banded together to continue to push Heritage Minster Mélanie Joly to overturn a recent CRTC decision which set spending on programs of national interest (PNI) at 5% of broadcaster revenues.
In an open letter to the minister printed this morning in The Hill Times newspaper, the creative groups and unions (some of which have already officially appealed to cabinet) amped up the pressure on the minster using the same…
Continue Reading
