TORONTO – A new program at Toronto’s public libraries is allowing residents to check out home Internet service in addition to their books.
Thanks to a partnership with the City and Google, the Toronto Public Library (TPL) has launched a WiFi hotspot lending pilot program at six branches located in neighbourhoods with large numbers of low income households. Participants can borrow the hotspots for up to six months at a time and can use 10GB of data per month, though TPL said that it’s “actively investigating if vendors are willing to provide more flexible data services as this is critical to…
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BANFF – Okay, how do you know you've got a great tax accountant? Well, it's obvious – she's got a loophole named after her!
Yup, the title "Digital Content Taxation: Levelling the Playing Field with Foreign Competition" didn't announce well as a barn-burning session. However, I wasn't expecting jokes about tax lawyers deducting ExLax as a moving expense either.
There was a principle involved.
Bernard Lord, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (and former Premier of New Brunswick), has a bee in his bonnet: Foreign digital content providers are not required to register and collect Canadian GST/HST, and thus…
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CRTC addresses financial viability of news in local and community TV decision
GATINEAU – The CRTC is redrawing the local news and community TV landscape, however, it stopped short of creating a new funding mechanism for all local news operations.
Rather, the Commission is giving vertically integrated entities added flexibility in how they allocate money, while independent broadcasters will get access to a new fund and some immediate financial help (however, the full, new funding mechanisms don’t start until September 2017).
The Commission argued in Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2016-224 that the VI companies (Rogers, Bell, Quebecor, Corus) have the wherewithal to…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Underscoring its support of local content, the CRTC has set new minimum thresholds for local news on the country’s private TV broadcasters plus will establish a new fund for independent stations.
Announced Wednesday, the Commission’s new policy framework for local and community television offers the big private broadcasters flexibility to keep local stations open and fund the production of local news programming, a “rebalancing” that it says could make up to $67 million available for local news.
In addition, the CRTC will create the Independent Local News Fund, providing independent stations in Victoria, Prince George, Kamloops, Medicine Hat, Lloydminster,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will consider broadcast licence renewal applications from Canada’s big English- and French-language ownership groups at two public hearings this November.
The Commission said Wednesday that it will review applications from French-language ownership groups Bell, Corus, Quebecor and Groupe V starting November 22 in Laval.
The public hearing to review the applications from the English-language ownership groups Bell, Corus and Rogers, plus Shaw Communications and Telelatino Network, will begin on November 28 at the CRTC’s headquarters in Gatineau.
The deadline for the submission of interventions/comments/answers is August 2, 2016.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will be recognized with a 2016 Public Service Award of Excellence this fall for its Let’s Talk TV initiative aimed at modernizing the Canadian television system.
The Public Service Award of Excellence recognizes employees who have demonstrated excellence in achieving results for Canadians and who reflect the priorities of the public service, while demonstrating key leadership competencies.
Commission employees will receive 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…
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TORONTO – Rogers-owned OMNI Television has filed an application with the CRTC for a new must-carry, multilingual and multicultural channel to be known as OMNI Regional.
The proposed national channel would be comprised of four feeds: Pacific, Prairies, and East, mirroring OMNI’s local stations in those regions, plus ICI Quebec via a strategic partnership with Montreal ethnic television station International Channel/Canal International (ICI) aimed at French-language ethnic communities in that province.
As part of its proposal, OMNI Television is asking for inclusion in basic TV packages (pursuant to section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act). Current local OMNI stations in Toronto, Edmonton,…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is continuing its crackdown on telemarketers making robocalls, announcing Tuesday that it has dinged nine individuals and companies in several countries for calling Canadians whose numbers are registered on the National Do Not Call List.
The Commission said that its recent enforcement action has resulted in over $490,000 in penalties and one citation. A citation is a procedural administrative action that alleges violation(s) and notes the specific corrective action to be taken within a certain time frame.
Since January 2015, the CRTC, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission and the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office have been…
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Cord cutting intent strengthening, as is skinny basic awareness
TORONTO – According to new research from Toronto’s Solutions Research Group, Netflix now counts more than 5 million subscribing households in Canada, while nascent Canadian efforts CraveTV (owned by Bell Media) and Shomi (owned by Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications) together is estimated to have about one-seventh the number of subscribers.
The figures come from SRG’s ongoing Digital Life Canada syndicated research. For this edition, SRG interviewed 1,000 Canadians online in April 2016 using a professionally managed national online panel, says the release. The company has run Digital Life Canada each quarter…
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TORONTO – Carriers, broadcasters, content providers and media companies wonder about what viewers want to consume these days as the digital world expands. So it was appropriate that a Canadian executive of one used food to talk about the future of traditional TV and new media.
“I think there's a lot of 'empty calories' in the televison space right now (with content) that people aren’t passionate about,” David Purdy, chief international growth officer at Vice Media, told the Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday (pictured with Corus Entertainment's Maria Hale).
“Ad dollars are going to shift to where people are passionate about…
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