MONTREAL – Six years ago, in the summer of 2011, a pair of Montreal businessmen went public with a project to revitalize the radio market in Montreal. Using two clear-channel AM frequencies, one for each language, they would provide a new kind of talk radio that wouldn’t be afraid to invest in content and would provide a much needed alternative to the cost-cutting machines at Bell Media and Cogeco.
Six years later, after going through several bumps in the road, the company finally has two AM stations on the air, though we’re still waiting for them to broadcast the high-quality…
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OTTAWA and TORONTO – Members of Canada’s screen-based media industries expressed cautious optimism towards this week’s three new CRTC appointments, though reiterated their call for Commissioners with backgrounds in film and television production.
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) described new CRTC chair Ian Scott, broadcasting VP Caroline Simard, and interim telecom vice-chair Christianne Laizner as “amply qualified individuals who will bring considerable experience and expertise to bear on the complex issues facing the CRTC and our industry.”
“With two vacancies remaining open, (regional members for Manitoba/Saskatchewan and Ontario), we encourage the Minister to round out this deep…
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KANATA, ON – The existing CRTC should be split into separate broadcasting and telecommunications regulators to help alleviate any perception of bias on the part of the Regulator, says a proposal by Internet Society Canada Chapter (ISOC Canada).
This was just one of eight recommendations made by the Ottawa-area organization, chaired by former CRTC commissioner Timothy Denton, in a proposal addressed to Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and ISED Minister Navdeep Bains as part of the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act review.
“The Internet has separated content and carriage and it is time for the regulation of same to follow”, reads the…
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OTTAWA – On Tuesday morning, the federal government will name former Telesat and Telus executive Ian Scott as chairman of the CRTC, Cartt.ca has learned. (Scott is pictured in a screen cap from cpac.ca during 2016's basic services objective hearing.)
As well, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada legal counsel Caroline Simard will be named vice-chair, broadcasting. Both will assume their new duties and begin their five-year terms in September.
CRTC senior legal counsel Christianne Laizner will also be named interim vice-chair telecom, effective immediately, filling the slot left open by Peter Menzies’ departure last week to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has approved some, but not all, of Telus’ ideas on how the telco should use the remaining $1.34 million of its deferral account funds to improve access to mobile wireless telecommunications services for persons with disabilities.
The Commission said Monday in Telecom Decision 2017-252 that Telus' initiatives will increase access to accessible wireless handsets for Canadians with disabilities, as well as provide them with the product information necessary to make informed selections of wireless products and services.
The decision comes after a proceeding last year when Telus was asked to show cause why it should not be…
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JAMAIS DEPUIS 50 ANS, les décisions du CRTC furent aussi âprement contestées. Au cours des deux derniers mois, pas moins de cinq appels devant le Cabinet fédéral ont été déposées, demandant l’annulation de décisions prises par le président sortant, Jean‑Pierre Blais. Il n’y a aucun précédent dans l’histoire pour une telle avalanche d’appels devant le Cabinet et d’un tel degré d’exaspération.
Au cours des derniers jours, Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), et Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) ont conjointement présenté un appel de la décision sur le renouvellement des licences des…
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NEVER OVER THE LAST 50 years have the CRTC’s decisions been as hotly contested. Over the last two months, no fewer than five appeals to federal Cabinet have been launched, requesting the cancellation of decisions made by the departed chair of the Commission, Jean-Pierre Blais. There is no precedent in the history of the CRTC for such an avalanche of Cabinet appeals and such a degree of general exasperation.
Over the last few days, the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), and the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) have jointly appealed…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has tweaked the disconnection practices between telecommunications service providers (TSPs) in an effort to mitigate the impact of potential disconnections on Canadian end-customers.
The Commission said Thursday that TSPs must, as a condition of offering and providing any telecommunications services, notify both it and end-customers at least four business days in advance of any disconnection of services by an underlying Canadian carrier or a non-carrier that the service provider relies on to provide services to end-customers.
In addition, TRP CRTC 2017-235 directed service providers to use the CRTC’s informal and formal dispute resolution services, as appropriate,…
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GATINEAU – Some of the project evaluation and eligibility criteria proposed by the CRTC for its new broadband deployment fund must be altered or it risks repeating the deferral account fiasco, according to comments on a new broadband funding regime.
Introduced as part of the Basic Service Objective decision last year, the proposed funding model would provide much needed capital to broadband deployment projects in unserved and underserved communities across the country. It also set a new standard called the Universal Service Objective (USO) with a minimum requirement of 50/10 Mbps.
In comments to Telecom Notice of…
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TORONTO – TNW Wireless is asking the CRTC to compel Bell and Telus to provide it with wholesale roaming agreements in order to further the rollout of its proprietary iPCS technology that it says will offer Canadians a new low cost mobile service.
The company says that Bell and Telus have refused to sign roaming agreements with it, contrary to the Commission’s regulatory framework for wholesale mobile wireless services, because the two big incumbents “believe TNW will allow permanent roaming on their respective networks”. But that is not the case, continued TNW, which has also asked the CRTC to rule…
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