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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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Book and DVD retailer Québec Loisirs has paid $200,000 as part of a settlement over violations to the country’s telemarketing rules, plus agreed to end its previous telemarketing practices and help promote awareness of the rules, the CRTC said Wednesday.
Acting on complaints, the Commission investigated Québec Loisirs for alleged violations of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules and found that it made unsolicited telemarketing calls advertising its products to consumers whose numbers were registered on the National Do Not Call List (DNCL). These calls also resulted in violations of the rules because the company failed to subscribe to the national…
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TORONTO – Bell, Rogers and Videotron have some explaining to do over the way that they charge customers for live and on-demand television programming on mobile applications.
According to a Globe and Mail report, the CRTC has asked the three big providers a series of questions about their respective apps, such as how many subscribers the services have, how much data they tend to use, and how exactly the content is delivered.
The report raises the issue of net neutrality, noting that the apps allow viewers to use their smartphone or tablet to watch up to 10 hours per month of…
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TORONTO – The Ontario Court of Justice is allowing a potential multi-million-dollar class action lawsuit against Bell Mobility to proceed.
According to a Toronto Star report Monday, the lawsuit stems from the expiry of a Bell-owned Virgin Mobile prepaid card with a balance of about $58.60 belonging to Celia Sankar. Sankar alleges Bell “seized” money remaining on her card after its expiry date, arguing that prepaid phone cards are “gift cards” under the Consumer Protection Act and therefore not subject to expiry dates.
She is seeking $100 million in general damages for herself and some one million fellow complainants, $10…
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OTTAWA – In move that could have implications for a number of cross-border broadcasters, the CRTC has summoned three B.C.-based radio companies to a hearing in October for allegedly broadcasting in Canada without a licence.
According to the Commission, Radio India, which is owned and controlled by Baljit Kaur Bains; Radio Punjab, owned and controlled by Gurpal S. Garcha; and Sher-E-Punjab, owned and controlled by Surinder Kaur Badh are all producing programming for broadcast on the radio and over the Internet without licences to carry on a radio programming undertaking in Canada, contrary to the Broadcasting Act. Their primarily South…
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