OTTAWA – The CTRC is helping Bell Canada and the City of Hamilton to kiss and makeup.
As Cartt.ca reported last January, the two had been at a standoff over a new municipal access agreement (MAA) and asked the CRTC to step in.
On Wednesday, the Commission approved, with some revisions, the rates, terms, and conditions of a new MAA proposed by the Ontario city. The MAA will govern Bell’s access to highways and other public places in the municipality, allowing it to provide its services throughout the municipality “therefore maximizing the choice of telecommunications service providers for residents and businesses”,…
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THE MILLIONS OF dollars collected from cable/satellite/ IPTV customers’ subscription TV fees for the production of local Canadian content seems certain to be reallocated when the CRTC announces its decision on how to prop up traditional television stations.
When one independent station is making ends meet thanks to the payout of a life insurance policy on its recently deceased founder (as Thunder Bay's Dougall Media told the hearing), another just fired half of its staff (CHCH prior to Christmas) and dozens of others – whether independent or owned by vertically integrated companies…
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Hearing starts Monday
TORONTO — CRTC commissioners have a lot of reading ahead of them, judging by the hundreds of submissions already made to the Commission’s review of basic telecommunications services, from industry players, consumer organizations, end-user businesses, and local and provincial governments. Then there are the thousands of individual consumers who have submitted questionnaires related to their usage of telecom services.
(Ed note: This is a re-post of a story we ran in February previewing the 14-day hearing that begins Monday. Cartt.ca will have daily coverage of the hearing, which will be available to hear…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for broadcast licence renewal applications from the country’s big English- and French-language ownership groups for their services that have licences set to expire in 2017.
The Commission said Monday that it has sent customized letters to Bell, Corus, Quebecor, Rogers, Shaw and Remstar, given that there is no licence renewal application form for television services owned by large ownership groups. Licensees are required to respond to questions set out in the letter, and the questions and responses provided will comprise the application.
The renewal applications must be submitted prior April 4 unless otherwise required or authorized. …
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada has tweaked its mission statement and membership rules to open the door to employees of satellite and IPTV companies operating in the CRTC-regulated television environment.
The organization, which was geared to cable companies, content providers, and others who supply products and services to the cable industry, said that the changes “will provide increased focus to the industry organization's education and research initiatives and result in a more inclusive space in the advancement of industry solutions and best practices”.
It’s new mission statement reads:
CTAM Canada is the television industry association focusing on the advancement of content distribution across…
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OTTAWA – French-language public safety channel Avis de recherche has lost a bid to continue to be distributed by Bell in Quebec.
On Thursday, the CRTC dismissed the channel’s complaint alleging that Bell’s decision to cease distributing Avis de Recherche while continuing to carry its affiliated service Canal D/Investigation constituted a prima facie case of undue preference.
“The Commission finds that Bell has not conferred a preference upon itself and has not subjected ADR to a disadvantage by ceasing the distribution of Avis de Recherche”, reads the decision. “Moreover, Bell has fulfilled its obligations under the Commission’s dispute resolution regime and has…
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OTTAWA – With just days until Super Bowl 50 kicks off, the CRTC has tabled a distribution order that would implement its decision to prohibit simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl starting next year.
The order seeks to apply a Commission policy decision resulting from the Let's Talk TV proceeding banning simultaneous substitution (simsub) for the big game starting with Super Bowl 51, scheduled for February 5, 2017.
Simsub occurs when a distributor temporarily replaces the signal of one TV channel with that of another channel showing the same program at the same time. According to the CRTC, during the Let’s Talk TV…
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GATINEAU – Access Communications Co-operative told the CRTC Wednesday while it’s not opposed to the establishment of a local news fund, it shouldn’t mean cuts to community channel funding.
Speaking at the commission’s local and community TV hearing on Wednesday, Carmela Haines, VP of finance and administration for the cableco co-op which serves Regina and many other small communities in Saskatchewan, noted funding reductions to its community channels “would have a serious impact” to the communities it serves. Besides, Access shouldn’t be providing funds to the vertically integrated (VI) broadcasters.
“A not-for-profit, community-owned co-operative should not be giving a subsidy to…
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GATINEAU – A new fund or reallocated money dedicated to supporting local news, would do little to provide a long-term solution to the financial situation facing local TV, Shaw Communications and Telus told the CRTC on Tuesday.
Telus noted in its opening remarks that any funding for local conventional stations to subsidize their news productions shouldn’t come at the expense of community TV and the diversity it provides to the system. As well, “subsidizing the commercial business models of traditional television stations will not incent the innovation required of these stations to provide sustainable programming opportunities in the long run,”…
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GATINEAU – The industry needs increased levels of funding for access programming said executives from MTS, who appeared before the CRTC’s local and community TV hearing on Monday. The company has proposed that the more access programming BDUs carry on their community TV channels, the more money they should get.
In opening remarks, Paul Norris, VP of residential solutions at MTS, noted viewers want to see local programming that goes beyond news and that access programming is important for locally reflective expression.
“Access programming fulfills a unique role that is not available from conventional broadcasters or from social media…
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