OTTAWA – A CRTC decision allowing Corus Entertainment’s OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network to rescind a terms of trade agreement with the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) has been allowed to stand.
An order in council dated January 26, 2016 declined to set aside or return the decision to the CRTC, as an appeal by the CMPA had requested. After considering the CMPA’s petition, the Governor in Council said in the order that it “is not satisfied that decision derogates from the attainment of the objectives of the broadcasting policy for Canada set out in subsection 3(1) of the Broadcasting…
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GATINEAU – The second day of the CRTC hearing into local and community TV delved more into the details of how alternative financing and community TV could be help fix the local TV problem. Some argued that more money is needed to fund local TV and others said that community TV has the wherewithal to take the financial reins from their broadcast distributor masters and control much more of their own content creation.
The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) noted in its opening remarks that its $150-million Community Media Access Fund (CAMF) proposal could team community…
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Vice, Eastlink, Channel Zero and Bell offer new ideas to the CRTC Monday
GATINEAU – With major and independent broadcasters cutting newsrooms because of high costs and low revenue, there can be little doubt that local news and TV programming is in trouble. This means the industry may need to rethink how local programming is made and funded, the CRTC heard during the first day of an eight-day hearing on local and community TV. (pictured is a screen cap from CPAC.ca of Bell Media chief Mary Ann Turcke.)
Lee Bragg, chief executive at Bragg Communications (Eastlink) made some pointed comments about…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – As the CRTC kicked off its public hearing on local and community programming Monday, it reiterated its call for public feedback.
The Commission encouraged Canadians to share their views through its new online discussion forum, available now through February 3, on the issues addressed in its new working document and on any other topic raised at the hearing. The working document contains proposals such as a fund to support local news and incentives to broadcast professional local news on community channels in markets where there is no over-the-air television.
The discussion forum is meant to serve as…
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MARKHAM, ON – Toronto-area telecom Iristel Inc. is crediting the CRTC and Primus Canada for helping it to restore telephone service to approximately 75,000 Canadian subscribers of American VoIP provider NetTalk.
Iristel cut off access to its network to NetTalk on January 15, alleging that the Florida-based reseller owed it more than $2 million for almost two years-worth of unpaid bills. This left thousands of Canadian NetTalk customers without full service and with questions over whether their phone numbers would be lost.
The Canadian CLEC said Thursday that NetTalks’s Canadian customers can now receive calls and port their phone numbers to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has announced plans to hold public informational sessions on telecommunication services costing principles and concepts in an effort to keep its processes transparent and allow Canadians to actively participate in them.
In a notice posted Wednesday, the Commission opened the sessions to companies that conduct their own company-specific cost studies (that are filed with the Commission), in support of proposed rates, and also rely on ILEC’s manuals for costing principles and concepts (such as SILECs and cable carriers). Individual Canadians, consumer groups and competitors that are interested in incumbent’s company-specific cost studies filed in support of proposed…
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Bell argues at Federal Court the CRTC made a jurisdictional mistake
TORONTO — Bell Mobility finally had its day in Federal Court on Tuesday, a year after the CRTC ruled the wireless provider had violated the Telecommunications Act by giving undue preference to its Bell Mobile TV subscribers when it exempted the mobile TV service from the data caps generally applied to customers of its wireless services.
Shortly after CRTC Decision 2015-26 was issued in January 2015, Bell Mobility filed for leave to appeal the decision. (In the same decision, the CRTC also found Vidéotron was in violation of…
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GATINEAU – Canadians seem to have a lot to say about their broadband service.
The CRTC said Tuesday that it has already received over 15,000 responses to its questionnaire on telecom services, including nearly 10,000 responses in the first 24 hours after making the questionnaire available five days ago.
The questionnaire is the second phase of the Commission’s review of basic telecommunications services, and asks Canadians to weigh in on the telecom services that they consider necessary, what they rely on most, and whether the cost of those services should be standardized across the country.
“The fact that many Canadians have responded…
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TORONTO — The race to deliver live 4K sports events to TV customers in Canada heated up significantly in the last week, with Rogers slightly ahead of Bell at achieving major firsts in the industry.
Thanks to an agreement with BT Sport in the UK, Rogers Sportsnet broadcast the National Basketball Association’s first-ever live NBA game in 4K, when the Toronto Raptors played against the Orlando Magic at The O2 Arena in London, England on January 14. That was six days before Bell’s TSN network is scheduled to broadcast its first NBA game in 4K (a.k.a. Ultra HD), when the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request by Bell Media seeking to convert eight of its specialty channels from Category A services into Category B services.
In its decision on Monday, the Commission reiterated that it had set out a specific timeline for the implementation of policy changes resulting from its Let’s Talk TV proceeding, and said that Bell failed to provide evidence as to how the broadcasting system would benefit by making an exception to that timeline.
As Cartt.ca reported, Bell filed Part 1 applications posted last July to change Bravo, The Comedy Network, Discovery Channel,…
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