OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments on amendments to its regulations around standard non-disclosure clauses and the auditing of subscriber information.
The Commission said Tuesday that the amendments would require licensed broadcasting undertakings engaged in a distribution arrangement or entering into carriage negotiations to sign agreements that include safeguards against the misuse of competitively sensitive information, thus providing a conducive environment for the negotiation of reasonable terms for the distribution, packaging and retailing of programming services.
A further amendment would introduce changes to the Commission’s audit requirements to clarify how audits of subscriber information held by broadcasting distribution undertakings…
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OTTAWA – The second phase of the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV process kicked off last week, and chairman Jean-Pierre Blais expects to see a more comprehensive conversation happen with Canadians on want they want from their television.
In an interview with Cartt.ca at the CMPA’s annual Prime Time event in Ottawa, he described this next stage as “a reconcile phase” where Canadians will be able to square their comments in the initial phase with a broader view on the television system. Blais expressed hope that the vignettes in the Choicebook launched Tuesday “will trigger a broader…
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OTTAWA – Integrating digital and traditional television platforms, leveraging international financing, and giving consumers choice in their TV services. These were some of the major themes explored during the first panel session at the Canadian Media Production Association’s annual Prime Time event in Ottawa which featured executives from the production, distribution, and programming sectors, all of whom have their own, often differing, views on what needs to be done to the system.
It was agreed, though, that the broadcasting sector must take a longer term view and decide where it wants to be in three to five years, rather than…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC wants to hear from Canadians on the state of competition in the wholesale mobile wireless services market.
The Commission kicked off a public consultation Thursday to review whether the wholesale mobile wireless services market is sufficiently competitive, both now and in the future. The Regulator also said that it will hold a public hearing on the matter beginning on September 29, 2014, in Gatineau.
Specifically, the CRTC is inviting comments on:
the state of the market for wholesale mobile wireless services, including wholesale roaming and wholesale tower sharing in Canada;
the impact that the wholesale mobile wireless services…
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OTTAWA – Quebecor doesn't mince words in its complaint against the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund: "The decisions made by the board of directors of the Bell Fund in regard to three projects submitted in 2013 and set to be broadcast on TVA channels were not made in an objective manner and were discriminatory against TVA."
In a letter to the CRTC dated February 5 and made public on Monday, Quebecor's regulatory affairs director Peggy Tabet argues that the fund's decisions to refuse the three projects were made for "non-justified reasons" and concludes that they were made in a…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC launched an interactive questionnaire Tuesday to poll Canadians’ thoughts on issues affecting the country’s television systems in the newest phase of its Let’s Talk TV campaign.
Let’s Talk TV: Choicebook follows the first phase of Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians, which began in October 2013. The Commission said it used the comments submitted by Canadians during Phase One to prepare Choicebook.
The interactive questionnaire contains a series of scenarios that reflect the realities Canadians face daily with respect to the television system.
While the purpose of Phase One was to collect more personal comments on what Canadians think of…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Communications refuted accusations of charging unjust wholesale rates for Canadian wireless carriers and denied undue preference for U.S. Wireless carriers in its 32-page reply to the CRTC’s proceeding investigating domestic wholesale wireless roaming rates.
The Commission is investigating whether there has been discrimination in higher wholesale rates charged to domestic wireless companies while American carriers receive preferential deals.
The CRTC received interventions and replies over the past two weeks from Bell Canada, Quebecor Media, Telus, EastLink, Wind, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), Benjamin Klass, Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC), Commissioner of Competition, Fibernetics, Lynx Mobility Inc., MTS…
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GATINEAU – We're about a month away from all Canadian television distributors being required to make all Canadian national news channels available to all of their subscribers, but one seemingly basic question remains unanswered: Will Sun News Network be made available on analog cable?
Two months after the CRTC issued an order requiring that Sun News and the four other Category C national news channels be made available to subscribers of "all licensed distribution undertakings", there doesn't seem to be a consensus on this question.
The order and accompanying decision don't include the word "analog" at…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s national do not call list (DNCL) registry now contains more than 12.1 million phone numbers, as 109,333 phone were added to that figure between November 1, 2013, and January 31, 2014.
The official number of telephone or fax numbers stands at 12,118,658, according to the CRTC’s most recent status report. Approximately 40,000 numbers were added in November, with another estimated 31,000 in December, and approximately 37,000 more in January.
The number of telemarketing complaints filed between November and January was 25, 426. Since the DNCL’s launch in 2008, 781,008 telemarketing complaints have been logged.
Five new investigations were…
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MONTREAL – SourceKnowledge, a Canadian video advertising exchange company, today announced it has partnered with San Francisco-based adRise, considered one of the largest video ad distributors on connected TV.
The partnership means that brands and agencies represented by SK can now run their online video campaigns across 16 connected TV devices including all gaming consoles such as Xbox, streaming boxes such as Roku, smart TVs, Blu-ray players and tablets.
As TV consumption habits change, so do the flow of ad dollars. Canadian viewing habits are changing the landscape considerably. The CRTC reported in 2013 that one-third of Canadians watch TV online…
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