GATINEAU – The CRTC has banned locked devices and subsequent unlocking fees charged by wireless service providers as part of its review of Canada’s Wireless Code of Conduct.
The Commission said Thursday that effective December 1, 2017, all individual and small business wireless service customers will have the right to have their devices unlocked free of charge upon request, and that all newly purchased devices must be provided unlocked from that day forward. This will apply to all new, amended, or extended contracts.
As part of its planned three-year review of the Code, which included public opinion surveys and a four-day…
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AS OF THIS WRITING, it appears the next CRTC chair will be an interim one – someone who will keep the lights on and the bills paid through the summer, at least.
It could be vice-chair telecom Peter Menzies (although according to sources he’s made it known to associates and others he does not want the job), one of the other four remaining commissioners (Yves Dupras, Stephen Simpson, Chris MacDonald and Linda Vennard) or perhaps the recently departed interim vice-chair broadcasting Judith LaRocque will be asked to return for another six-month stint, except this time as interim chair.
This was not…
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OTTAWA – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said something Tuesday that caught the eye of many in the telecom business – that he believes the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister is beginning to move away from a commitment to facilities’-based competition when it comes to the telecom and wireless industries.
In his speech to the Banff World Media Fest, a gathering of North American TV types, chairman Blais offered three ways to improve wireless competition in Canada after he departs his position on June 17. His second idea was “to mandate wholesale access for mobile virtual…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has awarded five new Type B Native FM radio station licences to three broadcasters seeking to serve the Indigenous communities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto.
The Commission said Wednesday that Northern Native Broadcasting will broadcast in Vancouver at 106.3 FM; Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta will operate a station in Edmonton at 89.3 FM and in Calgary at 88.1 FM; and that First Peoples Radio Inc. will operate a station in Ottawa at 95.7 FM and in Toronto at 106.5 FM.
These five new stations’ programming must reflect the communities they serve, include a large portion…
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TORONTO – ACTRA wasted no time in sending the next CRTC chair the message that it expects more love for Canadian performers.
Responding to media reports that Jean-Pierre Blais did not apply for a renewed term as chair of the Commission, ACTRA said that “it is time for change and a new direction at the CRTC.”
“The Commission was envisioned to regulate broadcast and telecommunications under their respective Acts as well as to protect Canadian culture”, reads a statement from ACTRA National executive director Stephen Waddell. “Under Blais’s leadership, the CRTC embraced an approach that undermined Canadian storytellers instead of protecting…
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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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