OTTAWA – CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan this week filed a Federal Court Application seeking a judicial review of CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais over an internal investigation of allegations of harassment made against Shoan.
The investigation, done by an outside third party, found that Ontario regional commissioner Shoan did commit harassment and so chairman Blais imposed five corrective measures which placed limits on how Shoan can communicate with staff. According to the court application, Shoan wants the decision Blais made on the harassment complaints to be cancelled, or that it be remitted to the Governor-in-Council (which appoints CRTC commissioners)…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – The CRTC has released its new three-year plan that lists its priorities as introducing the revised framework established with the Let's Talk TV initiative, including a draft code of conduct to help viewers resolve disputes with their television service providers; a review of Canada’s basic telecommunications services; and a review of the country’s 9-1-1network and the next generation of 9-1-1 services.
Other planned activities include an assessment of the accessibility of mobile wireless handsets for Canadians with disabilities; continued joint efforts with domestic and international partners to shield Canadians from unsolicited communications by telephone and email; and the…
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OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is once again asking the CRTC to prevent streaming service shomi from being offered only to Rogers or Shaw internet customers.
The consumer group filed a new application with the Commission on Monday, after having its previous complaint returned by the Regulator last month in the wake of BRP 2015-86 that proposed establishing a new service category for hybrid VoD services. While PIAC said that it will file comments on that matter, it added that it “had to address lingering problems with the shomi service that likely would not be addressed in the…
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TORONTO – Toronto listeners will soon be able to dial up more ‘Zoomer Radio’ after the CRTC gave MZ Media the go-ahead for a nested FM transmitter in the city’s downtown to rebroadcast English-language commercial AM radio station CFZM Toronto.
Owned by Moses Znaimer, The New AM 740 (aka Zoomer Radio) caters to the 45+ age group, a demographic that Znaimer has coined “Zoomers” (Boomers with Zip).
The Commission said Monday that it agreed with MZ Media’s application that the proposed transmitter is necessary to improve the reception quality of CFZM’s signal in downtown Toronto. The transmitter would operate at 96.7 MHz (channel…
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GATINEAU – Earlier this month, a group of 14 broadcasters met for the first time to begin figuring out how to develop a subscription television set top box data measurement system.
In its TV Policy Review decision, the CRTC said building such a system would be a very good thing and set a deadline of April 13th for an industry-wide working group to start moving. Representatives from Bell Canada, Blue Ant Media, CBC, Cogeco, Corus, Eastlink, the Independent Broadcasters Group, MTS, Pelmorex, Quebecor, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw and Telus met on April 8th saying in its first…
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MONTREAL – Videotron has decided against launching a separate English-language community channel, opting instead to add English-language content to its MAtv channel starting this fall.
The Quebec broadcaster said that MAtv will air a minimum 20% English content starting in September, with five new English shows added to the schedule as "MYtv goes on the air as part of MAtv". The community channel will also offer “programs that reflect the diversity of the city’s communities”, with local content making up 80% of its schedule, and 54% of that being public access programs created by the community.
MAtv is working with partners such as the English-Language Arts…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications saw overall revenue improve in the first quarter by 5% to $3.175 billion while cable, wireless and media expenditures drove down profits.
"We continued to see steady revenue growth this quarter along with strong growth in Wireless ARPA," said Guy Laurence, president and CEI, in the press release. "We made planned strategic investments to retain high-value customers ahead of the conclusion of the industry-wide shift to two-year contracts this summer – our underlying adjusted operating profit growth was otherwise solid. At the same time, we moved full steam ahead with our Rogers 3.0 program…
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BANFF – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais will deliver a keynote address on Sunday June 7, 2015 to open the 36th annual Banff World Media Festival.
In the wake of the Commission’s decisions from its Let's Talk TV hearing, Blais will speak about where the CRTC is heading next, and, why the recently launched review of basic telecommunications services is important – not only for the Canadian content industry, but also for all sectors of the Canadian economy.
Banff organizers also announced the return of the ‘Media Leaders’ series, offering delegates the unparalleled opportunity to listen in on exclusive conversations between top media leaders…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Community newspaper publisher Metroland Media Group Ltd. has paid $240,000 as part of a settlement over violations to Canada's telemarketing rules, plus agreed to correct its telemarketing practices, the CRTC said Thursday.
Acting on complaints, the Commission investigated Metroland for unsolicited calls made via an automatic dialing-announcing device. The CRTC concluded that during the period from January 4, 2012, to July 31, 2013, Metroland’s identification message was not compliant because it did not include a local or a toll-free number and a mailing address at the beginning of the telecommunication.
In addition to paying the $240,000 penalty, Metroland…
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LAS VEGAS – With the digital, global, avalanche of content ever growing and never slowing, discoverability will be the number one challenge in the video industry’s future, according to panellists on a forward-looking TV panel at the National Association of Broadcasters conference here in Las Vegas.
Entitled “TV 2020 in the networked society” the panellists noted the deluge of content consumers face now (let alone in five years) and the crippling inability of user interfaces so far to properly sort and organize content in a way that is satisfying to consumers seeking good content and producers who want those viewers…
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