OTTAWA – The CRTC today told Alberta-based VOIS Inc. it must show cause why it should not be found in violation of its requirement to participate in the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).
The Regulator also said it is considering an administrative monetary penalty (an AMP, or a fine) for VOIS’ actions. According to its web site, independent network operator VOIS provides TV, Internet and phone to subscribers in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Regina, Red Deer, Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Abbotsford, and Vancouver.
On August 5, 2016, CCTS terminated VOIS’…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC kicked off its hearing on Internet differential pricing practices (DPP) on Monday and heard that while they have a place in the provision of data services, vertically integrated (VI) companies should be banned from using them to promote their own content.
The Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) were the first of the service providers to appear Monday afternoon and it noted DPPs can help ISPs differentiate service offerings. However, if VI companies use them to promote their own affiliated services at the expense of others, this raises concerns about anti-competitive behaviour.
Matt Stein, vice-chair of CNOC and…
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Two cabinet ministers, CRTC chairman, headline event
OTTAWA – After a year interrupted and a year off, the International Institute of Communications Canadian chapter conference is back in November with a fascinating-looking conference agenda.
The headline speakers for the conference being held November 16 and 17 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa will be CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, who opens the conference Wednesday afternoon, Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly, who will speak at breakfast on the Thursday, and Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains, who will speak at lunch the same day.
The…
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OTTAWA – Complaints over the National Do Not Call List spiked 13% as DNCL registrations hit 13,186,585, says the CRTC’s annual report released Friday.
During the 2015-2016 reporting period, from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016, Canadians registered 294,115 numbers for their landlines, mobile phones, and fax machines, an average of over 805 numbers per day. That’s down from the same period in 2014-15 when Canadians registered 589,286 numbers, averaging 1,600 new numbers every day.
In addition to registering their numbers on the National DNCL, Canadians filed complaints with the National DNCL operator by phone or an online form on the…
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OTTAWA – Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, will join Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais at next month’s International Institute of Communication – Canadian chapter conference.
Scheduled for November 16 -17 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, IIC Canada 2016 will bring together business and government leaders in media, communications and technology to engage on key issues affecting the future of the Canadian communications sector.
Registration is well underway and space is limited. Click here for the program agenda.
www.iic-canada.ca
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MARKHAM, ON – The Ontario Association of Broadcasters will present the 2016 Ontario Hall of Fame Award to both Richard Costley-White and Chuck McCoy at the organization’s fall conference.
A Board nominated honour, the OAB's Ontario Hall of Fame is presented to individuals who have spent most of their careers working for private broadcasters and demonstrated a commitment to the highest standards of broadcast excellence.
Before his passing in 2015, Richard Costley-White (pictured left) was chairman and president of Blackburn Radio Inc., a small and mid-market broadcaster with 13 stations serving Southwestern and Midwestern Ontario. He was the 5th generation of the Blackburn…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments on amendments to exemption orders for various types of radio programming undertakings.
The Commission said Wednesday that the proposed amendments relate to registering certain such undertakings with the CRTC prior to their launch, and to the eligibility to operate under certain exemption orders for persons found to have been carrying on a broadcasting undertaking in whole or in part in Canada without a licence or without authorization pursuant to an exemption.
Citing last week’s crack down on three Vancouver-area radio broadcasters, the Commission said that it is concerned that some broadcasters may seek to…
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OTTAWA – Add the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to the list of those calling for Netflix to pay tax in Canada.
In a recent post on its website, the union took issue with the streamer's Canadian tax exemptions despite “generating upwards of $620 million dollars in revenues in Canada alone” and called on the federal government and the CRTC to “address the lack of regulation of global digital players like Netflix”.
“It is unfair that everyday Canadians go about paying their taxes while big companies are getting let off the hook,” said CUPE national president Mark Hancock, in…
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OTTAWA – Blackstone Learning Corp. is on the hook for $50,000 after the CRTC found that it committed nine violations of Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL).
The Commission conducted an investigation after the Spam Reporting Centre received numerous complaints about emails advertising educational and training services offered by the company, primarily targeting government employees.
The initial notice of violation identified nine messaging campaigns totalling 385,668 commercial electronic messages sent by Blackstone between July 9 and September 18, 2014, without the consent of the recipients. It also set out an administrative monetary penalty (AMP) of $640,000.
Blackstone appealed, and the CRTC said Wednesday…
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GATINEAU – Day two of the CRTC’s 2016 Communications Monitoring Report release shows that in 2015, Canadians data usage on various devices skyrocketed – and that those under the age of 30 are dramatically outspending their older counterparts on mobile.
(As shown by yesterday’s report, the older folks are still spending on regular TV.)
Canadians’ appetite for mobile applications, multimedia services, social networks, and other data-intensive activities like music, video and TV streaming to personal electronic devices increased rapidly in 2015, according to the report.
Last year, more than two-thirds of all wireless subscribers had…
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