TORONTO – At 5 a.m. this morning, Sun News was closed by Quebecor Media.
“After attempting to establish Sun News as a viable news channel in the Canadian broadcasting landscape and encountering a series of barriers to carriage, Sun Media Corporation regrets to announce today that it is closing the station. At the time of this release, Sun News Network is already off the air,” reads a release issued right after a repeat showing of Byline with Brian Lilley was the final program to air.
Cartt.ca was the first to report the station would close today after…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC announced Thursday it is closing the file on a complaint from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) regarding various cable carriers’ wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services, and directed CNOC and the cable carriers to address outstanding issues through bilateral discussions or the CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC).
In Telecom Decision CRTC 2015-40, the CRTC further directed CNOC and the cable carriers in question to submit a report, within 90 days, on the state of progress in resolving these issues. The cable carriers who were specifically included in CNOC’s original complaint, first submitted to the CRTC…
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OTTAWA – A number of independent ISPs are telling the CRTC that Shaw Communications’ proposed wholesale broadband rate increases are out of whack with economic reality. They say if the Commission adopts these rates, they may in fact have to choose not to compete in Shaw territory.
In its January 6 Tariff Notice 22 filing, the Calgary-based media and communications giant is seeking approval for new Third Party Internet Access (TPIA) service speeds and rates. The increases in TPIA rates range from a low of 21.8% to a high of 127.7%. For example, the 7.5 Mbps service…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC’s decision last week that Vidéotron’s Montreal MAtv community channel is in violation of community television policy and thus must rectify the situation before its cable licence renewal in August 2015 does not go far enough, according to the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).
As reported last week, after a complaint was filed in January 2014 by Independent Community TV (ICTV) of Montreal, the CRTC reviewed program logs submitted by Vidéotron for MAtv. In its Broadcasting Decision 2015-31, the CRTC concluded Vidéotron’s operation of MAtv “is in non-compliance with the requirements…
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LAST WEEK WE SPECULATED that the big, vertically integrated Canadian telecom, cable, wireless and media companies could get out of media.
We talked to a few broadcasters who spoke on condition of anonymity who angrily wondered – with the CRTC apparently not listening to their concerns about costs, nor about being able to use their content as a point of differentiation with wireless or broadband customers while also taking simsub away, at least for the Super Bowl – why should carriers continue to own broadcasters?
The answer is cash flow, capex and a lack of available suitors.
Bell…
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OTTAWA — Consumers who want to sign up for CraveTV or shomi without first being Bell or Rogers/Shaw customers could be the potential beneficiaries of applications filed with the CRTC on Friday by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC).
PIAC-CAC submitted two applications to the CRTC, challenging the tied selling of the two online streaming services linked to the consumption of the service providers’ other telecom or broadcasting services.
In the application regarding CraveTV, PIAC-CAC are challenging whether Bell can restrict access to its subscription video-on-demand service to customers who already have a TV…
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OTTAWA — Drumheller, Alta.’s CHOO-FM must continue to include folk and folk-oriented music in its weekly playlist rotation after the CRTC denied the radio station’s application to amend its broadcasting licence.
Announcing its decision on Friday, the CRTC had determined previously that CHOO-FM (operated by Golden West Broadcasting Ltd.) was in non-compliance with the condition of its licence requiring the radio station to devote 10% of its musical selections each broadcast week to music content subcategory 32 (folk and folk-oriented).
Golden West submitted an application in September 2014 to the CRTC, requesting the broadcasting licence for CHOO-FM Drumheller be amended…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU — Hamel Système d’Information 2000 Inc., also known as Telelisting, has been ordered by the CRTC to pay a $260,000 fine for violating the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules.
Acting on information received from Canadians, the CRTC investigated Telelisting and concluded the company had divulged contents of the National Do Not Call List (DNCL) to its clients in violation of the Rules. Telelisting provides telephone directory services for online lead generation.
According to a CRTC news release, during the period from July 10, 2012 to July 10, 2014, Telelisting shared contents of the DNCL with clients who had not…
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THERE WAS TOO MUCH symbolism to ignore with the choice of London, Ont., as the place where CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais chose to begin dismantling simultaneous substitution and to shift the ground under Canadian TV companies, forcing the vertically integrated behemoths to ask themselves this question: “Why do we need to own media companies?”
Blais spoke in London a week ago to make three announcements, two of which were decisions from the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV hearing held in September 2014.
London is generally acknowledged as the first city in Canada to get cable over 60 years…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Videotron’s French-language community channel MAtv is not serving the diverse cultural communities in Greater Montreal, the CRTC told the Quebec broadcaster Wednesday, before approving its request for an English community channel.
MAtv is available to approximately 1.8 million homes in Montreal, Québec-Lévis, Sherbrooke, Cap-de -la- Madeleine, Sorel-Tracy, Granby, Netherlands St. Lawrence, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Ottawa. After a complaint in January 2014 by a group calling itself Independent Community TV, the Commission reviewed program logs submitted by Videotron for MAtv. Its investigation concluded that during the week in question, the channel devoted only 30.2% to access programming (the required…
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