WELL, GIVEN THAT WE'RE celebrating media in Alberta, let's just start by saying that CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais demurred from simply mumbling "adios" and riding quietly into a western sunset.
This was his final Banff rodeo as CRTC chair and he went out with hot guns a blazing. (At right is an artist’s conception of the CRTC chair and his speechwriter leaving Banff for the Calgary airport Tuesday…)
To put it mildly, some of the delegate chattering classes were upset with the bullets, many of which – they winced – were dipped in venom.
In my view, there was nothing conceptual in…
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TORONTO—Although ISED Minister Navdeep Bains' call for lower wireless and broadband prices dominated the buzz at the Canadian Telecom Summit here last week, it was not the only hot subject on the agenda. Far from it, in fact.
During a panel discussion moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O'Brien, senior officials from Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, Telus, TekSavvy Solutions and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre scrimmaged over such other pressing subjects as software-based competition, low-income broadband subsidies, Wi-Fi-only services, unlimited broadband offerings, the future of the Broadcast and Telecom Acts and…
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THE ANNUAL CANADIAN MEDIA LEADERS panel at the 2017 Banff World Media Festival pivoted from the future of production, development, and broadcast screen-based content to the onslaught of streaming opportunities commanding the increased attention of domestic advertisers and viewers.
Those leaders included: Rick Brace, president of Rogers Media; Randy Lennox, president, Bell Media; John Brunton, chair and CEO of Insight Productions; Sally Catto, general manager, programming, CBC; and Barbara Williams, EVP and COO, Corus Entertainment.
Running throughout the discussion was a strong sentiment that non-Canadian OTT services should be paying their fair share of domestic taxes and other tithings for the…
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OTTAWA – Listeners in the southwestern Ontario region of Simcoe will soon have a new English-language, commercial FM radio station after the CRTC approved an application by My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) on Friday.
The new station will offer a Classic Hits music format, targeting adults 25 to 54 years of age, plus provide improved local service to Simcoe with additional programming diversity and local reflection, reads the decision. It will operate at 99.7 MHz (channel 259B1) with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 9,640 watts (maximum ERP of 18,000 watts with an effective height of the antenna of 26 metres), and…
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Wow Unlimited Media and Bell announce kids and youth tie-up
TORONTO and VANCOUVER – Wow Unlimited Media and Bell Media announced late Wednesday they have entered into a term sheet where Wow will buy a Category B specialty service from Bell Media in exchange for equity in Wow.
The release didn’t name the channel in question and Wow declined to say which one it will be taking when asked by Cartt.ca, but the only two English language Category B channels Bell 100% owns are Comedy Gold and Investigation Discovery. (Its other cat Bs: ESPN Classic, Animal Planet, Discovery Science, Discovery Velocity,…
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Cable Cable n’est PAS propriétaire des Raptors
IL Y EUT UN MOMENT marquant lors de l’audience du CRTC sur les services téléphoniques de base qui a bien montré comment les indépendantes gèrent leurs entreprises différemment des grosses compagnies.
Lors de la comparution de la Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), les conseillers du CRTC semblaient éprouver des difficultés à déchiffrer leur plan de déploiement de la fibre.
Établie à Fenelon Falls, en Ontario, Cable Cable a été fondée en 1983 et dessert environ 4000 clients vidéo et 6500 clients de large bande dans la municipalité de Kawartha Lakes. Ils fournissent un service de…
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TORONTO – Companies that market products and services to Canadians should establish their own internal compliance program to ensure that they abide by the country’s anti-spam legislation and the unsolicited telecommunications rules, said CRTC chief compliance and enforcement officer Steven Harroun.
Speaking Tuesday to the annual conference of the Credit Association of Greater Toronto, Harroun chatted up CASL and the Unsolicited Telemarketing Rules, reminding attendees that ignorance is not a defence.
“Every business should have a compliance program in place to help ensure each commercial message or telemarketing call is compliant”, he said. “If your practices are ever called into question,…
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TORONTO – Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai told Canadian Telecom Summit delegates that regulators have to get out of the way when it comes to innovation.
In a video presentation Wednesday, Pai praised the work the Canadian and American regulators do together, such as the uniform North American band plan for UHF TV signals and the new 600 MHz wireless band, “paving the way for cross-border interoperability of devices and networks,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to work together to craft solutions that benefit Americans and Canadians alike.”
However, with the two agencies diametrically…
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Modernized OMNI on the way, too
TORONTO – Watch this (digital) space.
That's the word from Colette Watson, senior vice president of television and broadcast operations at Rogers Media, who told Cartt.ca on Tuesday the media player isn't done with the online TV space after it and Shaw’s failed bet on former streamer Shomi.
"We know we have to deliver content where viewers are. How that's packaged, how that's priced, how that's delivered, is still part of the plan, but we should have something to announce in the next few months," she said.
Watson gave no details on its latest over-the-top live TV…
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DARMOUTH – Newfoundland Capital Corporation subsidiary Newcap Inc. is the new owner of NL Broadcasting Limited and its three radio broadcasting licences in B.C.
The company said Tuesday that it received CRTC approval for the purchase, which was first announced in May in conjunction with Newcap’s first quarter financial report. NL Broadcasting owns and operates the radio broadcasting licences CHNL-AM, CJKC-FM, and CKRV-FM in Kamloops.
Newcap added that the transaction is expected to close within 30 days.
www.ncc.ca
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