OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadian telephone and mobile wireless companies must update their networks in order to provide next-generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) services by 2020, the CRTC said Thursday.
According to the new regulatory framework for NG9-1-1 emergency services, the incumbent telephone companies will be responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the NG9-1-1 networks, with CRTC oversight. The networks must be ready to provide NG9-1-1 voice services by June 30, 2020 and NG9-1-1 text messaging services by December 31, 2020. These services will be made available to Canadians as their local 9-1-1 call centres are in a position to offer…
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QUEBEC – Quebec’s culture minister Luc Fortin is calling on the federal government to review, and perhaps override, parts of the CRTC's recent licence renewals for large French language TV groups.
In a statement earlier this week, Fortin said that the Commission’s decision to remove certain conditions of license, citing the example of Corus-owned Series+, allows that broadcaster to opt out of its obligation to spend $1.5 million annually on original French-language dramas.
Fortin added that the new policies may also encourage ownership groups to simply dub English-Canadian programs for their French-language specialty channels, rather than invest in the production of original French-language Canadian…
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada raked in more than $58 million after divesting its financial stake in Sirius XM Canada as the satellite radio company prepares to go private.
The public broadcaster said that it sold 13,056,787 class A subordinate voting shares in Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. to 2517835 Ontario Inc., a corporation owned by Slaight Communications Inc., Obelysk Media Inc. and Sirius XM Radio Inc.
CBC/Radio-Canada said that it sold the shares for C$4.50 per share in cash for aggregate gross proceeds of $58,755,541.
www.cbc.radio-canada.ca
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Cable Cable doesn’t own the Raptors…
THERE WAS A TELLING MOMENT during last year’s CRTC review of basic telecommunications services which demonstrated just how differently independent network owners run their businesses compared to the big guys.
During the appearance by the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, commissioners seemed to struggle to get their heads around CCSA member company Cable Cable’s plan to expand its fibre network.
Based in Fenelon Falls, Ont., Cable Cable was launched in 1983 and serves about 4,000 video and 6,500 broadband customers in the municipality of Kawartha Lakes and is integral to delivering broadband to Canadians in a region…
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GREG O’BRIEN MAKES SEVERAL VERY valid points in his analysis earlier this week: “Why 5% PNI doesn’t matter” but I disagree with his conclusion.
Yes, the world is moving to a more transactional, ‘pick-and-pay media marketplace’ though not quite as quickly as some, including the CRTC, suggest. According to the CRTC’s own Communications Monitoring Report for 2016, the number of hours per week of traditional television watched by Canadians has dropped by only 1.3 hours in the past four years. Traditional television is still a primary source of entertainment and information. Average weekly hours of…
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OTTAWA – CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais took the rather unusual step Wednesday of issuing an open letter to the editor (to all us editors) to “set the record straight” on erroneous media coverage in the wake of the Commission’s recent licence renewals for large French language TV groups. Such as this story, we suppose.
Below is the letter in its entirety.
On May 15, following a public process, the CRTC published the decisions regarding renewal of the broadcasting licences for TVA, V, Bell and Corus. Some incorrect information from those decisions recently circulated in the…
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OTTAWA – Delinquent telecom service provider VOIS Inc. has failed to rejoin the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), contrary to a mandatory order from the CRTC last month requiring it to do so.
Participation in CCTS is a regulatory requirement imposed on telecommunications service providers by the CRTC. CCTS terminated VOIS’ participation in August 2016 for failing to co-operate with its complaint resolution process, including ignoring binding recommendations regarding six separate customer complaints.
After a public proceeding on April 27, the CRTC ordered VOIS to re-join CCTS by May 29, subject to any specific requirements imposed by…
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TORONTO – The Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) is calling for a public-private partnership to improve the reach and quality of cellular data services in Eastern Ontario.
The $213 million plan, pitched Monday to Ontario Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli and Rural Affairs Minister Jeff Leal, also includes a dedicated, public safety broadband network to seamlessly connect first responders region-wide. EORN says that building both networks together would cost about $299 million, saving about $47 million compared to building them separately.
"Too often, Eastern Ontarians find themselves with no signal or dropped cell services”, said EORN chair J. Murray Jones, in a…
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THE CANADIAN CREATIVE community (by which I mean writers, actors, directors and other makers of television) is up in arms over the CRTC’s recent decision to harmonize a floor for spending by Canadian broadcasters on programming of national interest at 5%.
Historically speaking, the guilds, unions and associations have every right to fear any reduction in the Cancon spend mandated by the CRTC. Our broadcasters do not exactly have a stellar record of treating the production and airing of Canadian content (except for news and sports) as anything but a tax on their operations that they…
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DARTMOUTH – Vancouver listeners will soon have a new sports radio station after the CRTC approved the sale of Newcap-owned CISL 650 to Rogers Media.
As Cartt.ca reported in April, Rogers said that it plans to turn the AM station into an all-sports format, under the Sportsnet brand, as early as this fall.
The deal is expected to close within 90 days.
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