GATINEAU – Quebecor Inc. complained to the CRTC in February that the Bell Fund, which gives money to digital and new media projects associated with television productions, had rejected three projects from Quebecor’s TVA network for “non-justified reasons” and that staff of the fund made disparaging remarks about Quebecor.
The Bell Fund rejected the accusations outright, arguing that evaluation criteria for projects is clearly spelled out and the projects in question, while admissible, received “average” grades and simply did not make the cut. It countered suggestions of bias by saying the majority of its administrators are…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC wants Canadians to have a better understanding of what it does (and perhaps what it doesn’t do), while encouraging greater public participation in its various activities and proceedings.
To that end, the Commission published It's Your CRTC! Your 5-minute Guide to Understanding and Participating in Our Activities on Tuesday, in an effort “aimed at trying to connect with Canadians on issues that affect their daily lives”.
“When Canadians communicate with the CRTC, they help change, adapt or develop a policy and ensure that the Commission makes decisions in the public interest”, reads the Commission’s news release. …
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians will begin to receive timely warnings of emergency situations over their radios and through their televisions starting next year.
On Friday, the CRTC made it mandatory for the broadcasting industry to participate in the National Public Alerting System to relay emergency alert messages. Emergency alert messages are issued by emergency management officials such as fire marshals, police officers and public health personnel to warn the public of dangers to life and property, like severe weather, water contamination and industrial disasters, as well as Amber Alerts.
Messages issued under the system must follow specific guidelines to ensure they…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The federal government said that it will force the communication industry to abandon paper bill charges after the country’s biggest companies failed to commit to doing so at Thursday’s CRTC review into the practice.
Industry Minister James Moore said Friday that charging extra fees to customers who receive paper copies of their bills, a practice known as pay-to-pay billing, was “unfair”, and promised that the government would introduce legislation to end it in the telecommunications sector. He did not say when such legislation would be tabled.
"More and more Canadians are finding a new charge appearing on their monthly…
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OTTAWA – On the eve of the CRTC’s review into charges for paper billing in the communications industry, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) has released a new report estimating that Canadians are paying between $495 and $734 million annually in fees for monthly bills and statements in paper formats to the banking and communications services industries (telephone, TV, home Internet and wireless).
The report How to Pay the Piper: A Primer on Additional Charges to Consumers in Canada for Paper Billing examines the conduct of Canadian service providers who charge consumers for paper copies of their bills, and the impact of…
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TORONTO – Rogers and Shaw are set to reveal their new over-the-top video portal, known as Showmi, at an event Tuesday morning in Toronto. According to our sources, the service could be ready to launch as early as November (but announcing it officially now, just prior to the CRTC television policy hearing, is no mistake).
As Cartt.ca was first report early this year, the service was conceived as the Canadian answer to Netflix or Hulu, a one-stop online space where TV and film content whose Canadian rights – owned by Rogers Media, Shaw Media, Bell Media and Cineplex – would…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is offering Canadians a final opportunity to have their say on the future of the television system.
On Thursday, the Commission launched an online discussion forum that will be open until September 19, the final day of the two week long public hearing known as Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians.
To help focus comments, the CRTC also published a working document for discussion outlining some of the issues to be considered during the public hearing. It is encouraging Canadians to post as many comments as they wish on the discussion forum, either before…
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MONTREAL – Telefilm Canada said Thursday that more than $14 million in private contributions has been raised by its Talent Fund in support of the Canadian feature film industry.
Officially recognized by the CRTC as a certified independent production fund and administered by Telefilm Canada, The Talent Fund helps to finance the production, distribution and marketing of Canadian feature films.
The majority of funds came via acquisitions made by Bell Media for Astral and Corus Entertainment for Historia, Séries+ and Teletoon. The two broadcasters contributed $8 million and $5.7 million, respectively, to the Talent Fund over the next seven years, under the CRTC’s…
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OTTAWA – While many are still digesting Industry Canada’s new spectrum proposals, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) has thrown its support behind the consultation, saying that it will help to shine the spotlight on affordable broadband access.
Quoting 2012 CRTC data that found that 75% of Canadian households had Internet access at 1.5 Mbps download speeds, 62% had Internet access at 5 Mbps download speeds, and only 72% could access LTE-speed of service, PIAC said that changes are needed to allow all Canadians access to affordable Internet service at a speed that supports functions such as video streaming and e-health.
“Deployment using in the…
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GATINEAU – A group of Canadian television viewers and consumer-oriented organizations says that it’s time for the CRTC to change the way it regulates the broadcasting system; this time, by putting Canadians, and not a specific industry, front and centre.
“The broadcasting system – and its business and regulation – must move back towards one that serves Canadians,” reads an intervention by the Groups for the Public Interest to the Commission’s Let’s Talk TV Conversation with Canadians.
The Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Consumers’ Association of Canada, Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of British Columbia, National Pensioners Federation, Option consommateurs and Canadian…
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