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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TORONTO – Add the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) to the list of stakeholders objecting to the CRTC’s recent changes to its policy framework for Certified Independent Production Funds (CIPFs).
The union of English-language professional performers is taking issue with the regulator’s decision to drop the minimum CAVCO point requirements from eight to six to fund a Canadian independent production, and criticized the Commission’s rationale that the move could “facilitate the hiring by production companies of non-Canadian actors or creators, who may increase a project's attractiveness and visibility in international markets.”
ACTRA says the ruling not…
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OTTAWA – MTS has officially asked the CRTC to transfer ownership and effective control of its licensed terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings operating in Winnipeg and surrounding areas to Bell Canada.
In application dated June 8, 2016 but made public on Tuesday, MTS said that the steps of the proposed transaction affecting the licensed broadcasting undertakings would be as follows:
– First, the parent corporation of MTS, MTS Communications Holdings Inc. (MCH), would be wound up into Manitoba Telecom;
– Second, Bell would acquire all the issued and outstanding shares in the capital of Manitoba Telecom;
– Third, BCE would incorporate a new wholly owned…
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TORONTO – SiriusXM Canada shareholders have voted in favour of a plan to recapitalize the company by way of a go-private transaction.
The deal, first announced in May, was approved Tuesday by 89.14% of the 121,792,144 votes cast by company voting shareholders, and 65.91% of the 38,781,229 votes cast by disinterested company voting shareholders, present in person or represented by proxy at the special meeting held in Toronto.
"The strong voting support in favour of the transaction clearly demonstrates that our shareholders recognize that it is an opportunity for them to best maximize the value of their current investment, be…
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STARTING SEPTEMBER 7, BROADCAST distributors (a.k.a. cable, IPTV and satellite TV providers) will go before the CRTC trying to convince the regulator they are providing consumers with the choice required under rules adopted last year and that no further regulation is necessary.
Groups representing consumers will be there too, arguing, among other things, the way BDUs are offering the new so-called skinny basic package is inadequate. The Consumers Association of Canada (CAC) and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) say the Commission needs to address the issue of unfair practices being employed by some BDUs.
The groups say that…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – The CRTC has issued 10 citation letters for alleged violations under the Voter Contact Registry during the 2015 federal election.
The registry, which came in to force in August 2015, is intended to protect Canadian voters from rogue and misleading telephone calls during federal elections, and to help to ensure that anyone who contacts voters during an election does so transparently. The CRTC can send warning letters, issue citations or impose penalties of up to $1,500 per violation per day for individuals and up to $15,000 per violation per day for a corporation.
The citations, made public Monday, are…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request from three consumer groups asking it to expand and/or revise the geographic boundaries for local number portability (LNP) to more accurately reflect the current network and marketplace structure for telephony services.
LNP allows subscribers to keep the same telephone number when changing service providers. The Commission required all wireline local exchange carriers to implement LNP as part of its framework for local competition established in May, 1997.
In an application dated June 15, 2015, the Consumers' Association of Canada, the Council of Senior Citizens' Organizations of British Columbia, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre proposed…
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OTTAWA – In what it says is an effort to provide greater flexibility in the funding of Canadian programs, the CRTC has unveiled changes to its policy framework for Certified Independent Production Funds (CIPFs).
As part of the current funding system, the Commission mandates certain indirect financial contributions by BDUs to the creative sector through production funds, including the Canada Media Fund (CMF), which receives funding from both the mandated contributions of BDUs and the federal government. A number of independent production funds, known as CIPFs, have also been certified by the CRTC to receive funding from BDUs and tangible benefits…
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