GATINEAU – Consumer representatives say the CRTC’s proposed TV Service Provider (TVSP) Code of Conduct should mirror many aspects and be “as consistent with the Wireless Code as possible.” The broadcast distributors, on the other hand, say that while having a standard set of practices for all TV providers is a worthwhile initiative, using the wireless code as a template just won’t work.
The TV providers Code of Conduct idea is something that came out of the CRTC's Let's Talk TV, TV Policy Review.
In a joint submission, the National Pensioners Federation (NPF) and Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) argue that…
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GATINEAU – Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2015-96 ushered in sweeping changes to the Canadian broadcast system, namely a skinny basic and an a la carte channel regime. But the Let’s Talk TV decision also modified rules and provisions governing exempt broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs).
Now the CRTC wants to hear from industry about those specific changes.
The new rules are designed to not only give exempt BDUs more flexibility to operate and seek new customers, but also bring them in line with regulations that the larger broadcast distributors have to follow.
The CRTC is proposing, as was indicated in 2015-96, that exempt…
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TORONTO – As both a broadcaster and a premium content producer with a 4500-episode library of kids shows, Corus Entertainment, while facing many challenges, is still poised to flourish in an ever-changing media landscape, according to CEO Doug Murphy.
“Premium branded content has never been more valuable than it is today,” he said, speaking to the CTAM Canada leadership conference on Thursday in Toronto at Corus’ Queen’s Quay headquarters, and with so many more ways to monetize content, “we’re beginning to get feedback loops in ways that we’ve never had before,” leading to more TV show popularity and increasing international…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Despite competition from satellite, online and mobile services, revenues at Canada’s 695 commercial radio stations held firm for the 2014 broadcast year, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial results for this sector released Monday.
Commercial Radio 2010–2014: National Statistics, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Radio Markets said that total revenues for AM and FM stations dipped 0.52%, from $1.623 billion in 2013 to $1.614 billion for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2014. These revenues enable commercial radio stations to offer a variety of programming to Canadians, to support established and emerging Canadian talent, and to provide employment to…
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OTTAWA – The ongoing rift between CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais and Ontario regional commissioner Raj Shoan appears to have deepened, after Blais allegedly refused to approve Shoan's proposed travel for 2015-16.
According to a Canadian Press report this week, Blais nixed Shoan’s potential trips to Las Vegas, Amsterdam, New York City and Mont Tremblant, travel that totaled $78,000. Shoan later reduced the amount to $48,000 "under protest," describing it instead as a wish list of conferences and meetings from which he invited Blais to pick and choose which ones to approve.
"Given that you have refused to provide me with…
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OTTAWA – Despite a drop in prices for many high-volume talk, text and data plans, Canada’s mobile wireless prices once again rank among the highest when compared to other G7 countries and Australia, according to an annual report commissioned by Industry Canada and the CRTC.
Prepared by Ottawa’s Wall Communications, the 2015 edition of Price Comparisons of Wireline, Wireless and Internet Services in Canada and with Foreign Jurisdictions is an annual telecom services price comparison study that combines and averages wireline, mobile wireless, broadband Internet, and mobile Internet service rates, as well as bundles of these services along with basic digital TV…
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TORONTO – Dance station bpm:tv has taken its final bow.
Parent-company Stornoway Communications applied to the CRTC to revoke the broadcasting licence for the specialty Category B service, a request that was granted last month. The channel went off the air June 1st, according to a statement on its website.
Bpm:tv launched on September 7, 2001 as the “destination for cutting-edge music videos, exclusive interviews with the world’s top DJs, and an all-access pass to the hottest events in the world of electronic dance music.”
Stornoway continues to operate The Pet Network and iChannel.
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OTTAWA – Rogers Media resolutely defended its decision to cut all news programming from its ethnic OMNI stations and replace it with current affairs shows before a Parliamentary committee on Wednesday.
Speaking before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley (pictured on CPAC.ca, which streamed the meeting) said the company really had no choice but to make changes to its programming. With viewer consumption patterns moving to digital platforms, the ongoing piracy problem, the significant drop in advertising revenue, as well as a plethora of ethnic specialty channels launched in recent…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will be recognized with a 2015 Public Service Award of Excellence this fall for its work on modernizing northern telecommunications.
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 the first time in its history, the CRTC travelled north of the Arctic Circle to hold a public hearing in Inuvik. The CRTC said that the regulatory policy that resulted…
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PETER MILLER'S ARTICLE last week seeks to make it look reasonable that the government should regulate the right of people to upload video to the Internet. His proposal – or more like, his unstated assumption – is that people should need to be licensed under the Broadcasting Act in order to post video to the net.
It is not a reasonable, practical or sensible idea.
Since he knows this as well as I do, his article seeks to confuse the issue at many levels.
The Internet is regulated as speech or printing, and is subject to all the…
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