OTTAWA – The CRTC should either reconsider its recent community TV policy decision or hold a new hearing that focuses exclusively on community TV and media, says the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
In a lengthy letter to the CRTC made public Tuesday, the organization cites “the lack of information placed on the public record by the Commission; the number of false, selective, and erroneous statements in its analysis and decision; and the number of internal contradictions in the decision”, as its reasons for the request.
“Our comments include concerns about the paucity of information on…
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Chaiman Blais should not have been witness and adjudicator
TORONTO – Former Ontario CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan won his first day in court over CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais.
Federal Court justice Russell Zinn on Friday said in a 50-page ruling that having chairman Blais as both witness and adjudicator was unfair and because of that, set aside the finding of workplace harassment found against Shoan. The case was heard in June.
Shoan was originally accused of workplace harassment by former executive director of communications Amanda Cliff in 2014. The case against Shoan was over seven different email threads…
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Bill would force ISPs to censor the Internet
IN A LETTER WHICH suspends a CRTC application made by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre which said Quebec’s new web-blocking legislation, Bill 74, is not only unconstitutional, but directly conflicts with the Telecommunications Act, the Commission made it known that it more or less agrees with PIAC.
(Ed note: So do we.)
Bill 74 requires Quebec-based Internet service providers to block certain gambling websites when told to do so by the province. The Quebec government created the new law because it wants to keep as much gambling as possible with the province’s…
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THE CRTC ISSUED a decision ACTRA didn’t like and criticized it in a press release last week. CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais didn’t much care for that press release and on Wednesday sent the actor’s union a letter saying so.
Now, today we have a letter sent back to the chair from ACTRA president Ferne Downey (right) defending its position.
In his letter to ACTRA yesterday, Blais defended how the Commission reached its decision on a new policy for Certified Independent Production Funds (CIPFs), noting that the public proceedings held over the past two years made for a…
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TORONTO – The CRTC has corrected a portion of its controversial Certified Independent Production Funds (CIPFs) policy framework decision after being called out on a misattributed quote by the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) early Thursday.
In a statement entitled “CRTC Gets the Facts Wrong”, WGC publicly questioned “the rigour” of the CRTC process that erroneously claimed that the Canadian Media Fund (CMF) argued in favour of reducing the points needed for Canadian productions to receive funding from the CIPFs to six.
“In fact, the CMF didn’t say any of that”, said the WGC. “Documents on the public record…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – Kellogg Canada Inc. has served up $60,000 as part of a settlement over alleged violations to Canada's anti-spam legislation, plus agreed to improve its spam compliance program, the CRTC said Thursday.
The food manufacturing giant, or a third-party service acting on its behalf, allegedly sent electronic messages to recipients without consent between October 1, 2014 and December 16, 2014, just months after Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) kicked in on July 1st, reads an enforcement activity on the CRTC’s site. In addition to the monetary penalty, Kellogg’s also agreed to update and implement various components of their CASL compliance…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC’s decision to revoke paid advertising on Radio 2 and ICI Musique “shows a lack of understanding about the reality of public broadcasting”, says CBC/Radio-Canada.
Responding to the Commission’s decision Wednesday to rescind ads on the two music services, the public broadcaster said that it that the regulator got it wrong when it said that the federal government’s commitment to increase funding over the next five years makes additional revenue from radio advertising unnecessary.
“The Government's reinvestment ($75M this year, rising to $150M in following years) is vital to stabilizing the Corporation so it can implement its…
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This is not another new policy review
GATINEAU – Canada’s major broadcasters say that a time when consumers have more TV viewing choices resulting from new flexible channel packaging rules and the continued inroads from exempt (often foreign) platforms, the CRTC must resist adding to the regulatory restrictions already imposed on their programming services.
The comments come as the Commission wraps up the written phase for this fall’s licence renewal hearing for the country’s major English- and French-language broadcasting groups.
Many interveners have called for more stringent regulation of the large broadcasters. They relate to a number of…
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GATINEAU – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais took an unusual step Wednesday in publicly batting back a press release issued by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) over the Commission’s new rules surrounding Certified Independent Production Funds.
In a letter to ACTRA president Ferne Downey, Blais was primarily upset that ACTRA characterized the decision as one which was made without any public process. “You mention that Canadians deserve open hearings on important decisions. I agree. This is why we held the Let’s Talk TV conversation that garnered more than 13 000 comments from…
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GATINEAU – As of yesterday, CBC is no longer allowed to air advertising on Radio 2 and ICI Musique.
The CRTC granted the CBC’s request back in 2013 to sell national advertising on the services until August 31, 2016. The Corp. complained at the time its parliamentary appropriation had been shrinking every year, and it needed a financial boost to make certain ends meet.
Advertisers, however, did not exactly beat down the CBC sales doors to buy ad time. According to the CBC’s Commission filing earlier this year to extend the permission to…
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