OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Eight CRTC employees were honoured at a ceremony Thursday in Ottawa for the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV initiative.
The Commission staffers received an award in the category of Excellence in Policy for their leadership and dedication in engaging and consulting more than 13,000 citizens and stakeholders in a number of innovative ways, including flash conferences, social media, an interactive Choicebook questionnaire and online discussion forums.
Launched in October 2013, the CRTC said that Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians was one of its most comprehensive and complex public consultations and broadcasting policy reviews to date. The decisions flowing…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC cracked down on three Vancouver-area radio broadcasters Thursday after determining that they operated radio stations without a broadcast licence and contrary to an exemption.
Surrey Myfm Inc. and 89.3 Surrey City FM Ltd. operate low-power tourist information stations in the Surrey market, while Sur Sagar Radio Inc. operates a low-power house of worship station. All three were called to the Commission’s Vancouver radio hearing in May to defend their current operations and to prove that they were still eligible for exemptions.
The CRTC issued four mandatory orders to Surrey Myfm (Myfm) and Ravinder Singh Pannu,…
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Radio legend Alan Cross to be creative director
TORONTO – Vintage TV announced this morning its entrance to the Canadian market.
Launching today, Vintage TV Canada is available exclusively on Shaw Cable on channel 178 (channel 140 in Winnipeg), Shaw Direct Classic on channel 519, and Shaw Direct Advanced on channel 219.
Vintage TV, which has been a successful brand for six years in the U.K., offers “multiple touch points across a variety of platforms built around strategic partnerships,” says the company’s press release.
“Vintage TV Canada is forging these relationships across different industries in Canada, from music labels, music awards and satellite…
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MONTREAL – There may yet be hope that a group of Montreal-based entrepreneurs will launch a pair of news-talk AM radio stations in Montreal almost five years after the first was approved for a licence by the CRTC. Cartt.ca covered this back in July, saying then a launch looked unlikely.
Nicolas Tétrault, one of the partners in 7954689 Canada Inc. (known as TTP Media), posted (and then deleted) a video to YouTube last week announcing that the company has acquired dormant transmission equipment on the Kahnawake native reserve south of Montreal from Cogeco Media, and that…
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CHATHAM, ON – Canadian consumers understand and support the CRTC’s recent decision to cut wholesale Internet prices in Canada, says a new survey commissioned by independent telecom provider TekSavvy Solutions.
TekSavvy, who along with other independent broadband operators have long said the wholesale rates set by incumbent telco and cablecos are too high, said that it undertook the survey to get a better sense of whether consumers understood that the Commission’s changes to wholesale high-speed access rates would benefit them, too.
The company tapped Twentify Inc. to collect 420 responses in Ontario and Quebec, between October 10 – 12, 2016,…
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OTTAWA – Sudbury, ON won’t have a new radio station anytime soon after the CRTC determined that the market cannot sustain any additional new commercial radio stations at this time.
The Commission said Friday that it will therefore return the application from Larche Communications for a new English-language commercial radio station to serve that market, and will not issue a call for new applications.
Located 65 kilometres north of Lake Huron and 115 kilometres west of North Bay, the city of Sudbury is currently served by six commercial radio stations.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – In seeming response to backlash over its revised policy framework for Certified Independent Production Funds (CIPFs), the CRTC is offering a detailed explanation on how TV programs and films are recognized as “Canadian”.
In a notice updated Thursday, the Commission elaborated on the points system, whereby points are awarded for productions based on the key creative functions being performed by Canadians.
“After a further extensive consultation, Canadian Certified Independent Funds can now have the flexibility to support all productions that earn the Canadian standard 6/10 points (instead of the previous 8/10)”, the CRTC detailed. “This standardization will enable…
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HALIFAX and TORONTO – Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly hosted the second and third of six in-person discussions on Canada’s cultural and creative industries this week in Halifax on Tuesday and in Toronto Wednesday.
Dozens of professionals from the TV, radio, film, art and printed word industries gathered to talk about Canadian Content in a Digital World, as the federal government seeks input on how best to strengthen Canadian content creation, discovery and export in a digital world and to examine our current cultural policies and laws
Canadians are encouraged to join the conversation and take part in the discussions at any…
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TORONTO – When Guy Laurence came to Canada nearly three years ago to take the helm at Rogers Communications, he was not shy about telling people his first goal was to tackle a mountain of customer service problems.
It was a widely acknowledged failing.
Even the fellow who stamped Laurence’s Canadian work visa back then wasn’t shy about telling him “Your service sucks,” the CEO recalled when he met with members of the media last Thursday to launch the company’s new self-service wireless bandwidth management tool.
Laurence set to work when he was…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC took matters in to its own hands Thursday, throwing out the wholesale high-speed access rates proposed by the country’s large cable and telephone companies in favour of its own.
In its decision, the Commission said that the proposed rates from incumbent carriers “were not just and reasonable” and that they were therefore revised downwards. It also expressed “significant concern” that that some of the companies have not conducted their cost studies in accordance with well-established costing principles and methodologies, and disregarded the CRTC provided Regulatory Economic Studies Manuals .
“Competitors that provide retail Internet services to Canadians using…
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