OTTAWA – As the CRTC kicked off its Let’s Talk TV hearing Monday morning, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (FCB) was quick to assert that the proposed changes to the broadcasting regulations would be “bad” for both consumers and broadcasters.
The self-proclaimed independent watchdog of Canadian programming cited the results of a recent Nanos Research survey, that it commissioned along with ACTRA and Unifor, that found that more than half (54%) of the 1,000 respondents think it is unlikely that unbundling TV programming packages in favour of pick and pay will result in lower TV subscription costs. The survey also found…
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OTTAWA – The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) will webcast live coverage of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians public hearing over the next two weeks starting Monday.
Canada’s only privately-owned, commercial free, not for profit, bilingual licensed television service will present the consultations online and on the CPAC TV 2 GO app live at 9:00 AM ET/6:00 AM PT daily from September 8 – 19.
CPAC is delivered via cable, satellite and wireless distributors to over 11 million Canadian homes and worldwide via 24/7 live webstreaming at www.cpac.ca Created in 1992 by a consortium of cable…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has moved to simplify its approach to tangible benefits and determining the value of broadcast transactions.
The Commission said Friday that to ensure that future tangible benefits for television transactions are streamlined and directed mainly to the production of Canadian programming, it will generally require that at least 80% of such benefits be allocated to the Canada Media Fund (CMF) or various certified independent production funds, unless a compelling case is made that other measures could better meet the public interest. Of this amount, at least 60% shall be directed to the CMF. It also included…
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TORONTO – When the potential economics of a pick-and-pay TV world is laid out for them, the interest expressed by Canadian consumers to choose TV channels a-la-carte falls off dramatically, according to research released today by CTAM Canada.
A volunteer-based organization, CTAM (Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing) is an industry association that provides information, education and networking opportunities for cable companies, content providers, and others who supply products and services to the cable industry. The organization released the new data as part of its annual research report, just in time for the start of the CRTC’s TV Policy Review…
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SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT. Especially if I’m quoting Macbeth.
We have analyzed the hell out of the CRTC’s TV Policy Review which is set to begin Monday in Gatineau, but there’s something ungraspable about the whole thing. Is there too much on the table? Probably. Is the Regulator looking to solve problems it has no chance of fixing – or trying to solve some where none exist? Yes, and yes, certainly.
This is a hearing about all things English Television, or English language video. Yes I know it’s supposed to be about all things television in Canada, but let’s be honest here;…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians’ penchant for watching television programming across multiple platforms increased the overall average number of weekly television viewing hours, but cut into time spent on traditional TV viewing, according to the 2014 edition of the CRTC’s Communications Monitoring Report.
The report, released Thursday, provides an overview of the Canadian communication industry for the year ended August 31, 2013. This year, the CRTC will release the report in three parts, with data related to telecommunications, as well as information about consumer spending on communications services, pricing and international comparisons, to be published in the coming weeks.
Canadians had access…
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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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