GATINEAU – While seven in ten Canadians say that they are satisfied with the speed and reliability of their home Internet service, only one in three report being happy with the cost, according to a public opinion research report unveiled Wednesday by the CRTC.
The EKOS Research Associates report, prepared for the CRTC, comes two weeks before the Commission kicks off the public hearing related to its review of basic telecommunication services. The first part of the report presents results gathered through a questionnaire that was completed by more than 30,000 Canadians, and EKOS said that it also administered the…
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GATINEAU – With some 80% of Canadians now owning a mobile device, the CRTC is asking for feedback on the participation of wireless service providers in Canada’s National Public Alerting System.
The Commission said Tuesday that its consultation builds on efforts to ensure Canadians are notified in a timely manner of emergency situations, as well as to ensure that the telecommunications system safeguards them. Comments are due by May 30, 2016.
Unlike 911 services which allow Canadians to contact emergency services, wireless public alerting would allow emergency management officials to “push” messages to Canadians through their cellular services. Issued by emergency…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has kicked off a public consultation as it seeks to establish a regulatory framework for next-generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) emergency services in Canada.
NG 9-1-1 is a term used to describe more technologically advanced 9-1-1 services, such as the ability to send text messages, photos and videos to 9-1-1 operators, as well as dialing.
The CRTC has scheduled a public meeting in Gatineau starting January 16, 2017 that will cover issues such as NG9-1-1 services; NG9-1-1 architecture and responsibilities; transition steps and timelines; funding; confidentiality; and reporting and monitoring. Canadians have until May 20, 2016 to send…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are teaming up to eradicate unsolicited telecommunications, unsolicited commercial electronic messages (spam) and other unlawful electronic threats
The new memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed by CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais and FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez, incorporates and solidifies the two Commission’s commitment to cooperate on enforcing Canadian and U.S. spam and telemarketing laws. It also details plans that will see both organizations share knowledge and expertise through research, training programs and staff exchanges, and promises to keep each other informed on developments related to the laws,…
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Dear Editor,
The headline of your March 21 story “CRTC says survey research is still telemarketing” does not correctly tell the story of what the Commission actually decided.
Although it may seem to be splitting hairs, the CRTC already provides exemptions to survey research — “the exemption of survey calls from the Telemarketing Rules is contingent upon such calls being void of solicitation” — therefore, the Commission recognizes that survey research is not a synonym for telemarketing.
Most importantly, survey research calls were exempted from the need to respect the Do Not Call list: “calls made for the sole purpose of collecting…
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Commissioner Shoan wanted a hearing
GATINEAU – After the close of trading Wednesday, the CRTC announced it has approved the $2.65 billion purchase of Shaw Media by Corus Entertainment.
In legal/regulatory speak, the Commission approved “an application by Shaw Communications on behalf of Shaw Media and its licensed subsidiaries, to effect a corporate reorganization resulting in the transfer of Shaw Communication Inc.’s shares in Shaw Media Inc. to Corus Entertainment Inc.”
Essentially, the Commission continued to treat Corus and Shaw as it always has since Corus was created in 1999 as a place to house media assets controlled by the Shaw family….
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TORONTO – Videotron’s Valérie Héroux is headed to Harvard in June as this year’s recipient of the CTAM Canada Fellowship Award, also known as CTAM U.
Héroux, pictured, holds a bachelor degree in both Civil and Common Law from McGill University. During her six-year in private legal practice, she specialized in communications law (CRTC regulatory) representing media companies such as Astral Media. She pursued her career as internal legal counsel at film distribution company Alliance Atlantis (now known as eOne Entertainment), followed by Quebecor Media, where she led the negotiation for the renewal of the artists' association collective agreement with…
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CASL needs to be fixed, or killed
LAST WEEK I RECEIVED several unsolicited emails, including the one shown below, asking for a donation to support Republican party leader hopeful John Kasich. The e-mail was sent without the remotest chance of there being an express or implied consent and without compliance with the prescribed information requirements of Canada’s much vilified anti-spam law, known as CASL.
There is no doubt that Canadians have an important interest in who wins the U.S. Presidential party nominations. Given the importance of the stakes, Canadian residents eligible to make a donation might have welcomed receiving the solicitation.
However,…
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TORONTO – Canada’s anti-spam legislation and the unsolicited telecommunications rules are here to stay, something that should be welcomed by the country’s “legitimate marketers”, CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais told the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA).
In a speech to the organization Tuesday, Blais (pictured) injected a splash of humour by equating unwanted marketing messages and calls with a stranger walking through attendees’ front door, tracking dirt across their kitchen floor, going to their fridge, grabbing a drink and then plopping themselves down in front of their TV.
“That’s pretty much how Canadians today feel about uninvited marketers who invade the private spaces…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request by Ekos Research subsidiary Probit Inc. to amend the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules to exempt survey research.
The Commission said Monday that its current regulatory framework governing unsolicited telecommunications includes a broad exemption from the National DNCL Rules and the Telemarketing Rules for unsolicited telecommunications placed for the sole purpose of conducting a survey of members of the public.
“Probit has not established that the requested relief is necessary to comply with Parliament’s intentions regarding the regulation of unsolicited telecommunications”, reads the decision. “Probit’s proposed changes would increase the potential for misuse of…
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