TORONTO – Almost eight in 10 Canadians think it’s a good, even excellent, idea to be able to choose TV channels a-la-carte, according to a recent survey by Toronto firm Solutions Research Group.
Not only do Canadians want more choice and control in what they watch on television, they say they’re willing to pay more on a per-channel basis to get it, says the company’s recent Digital Life Canada Quarterly Study, which followed the federal government’s request that the CRTC study ways to have TV providers provide more options (something the CRTC had already started to do).
SRG’s survey shows that…
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DARTMOUTH, NS – Newfoundland Capital Corporation subsidiary Newcap Inc. received CRTC approval Friday to proceed with its purchase of CHNI-FM in Saint John, NB from Rogers Broadcasting.
The Commission also approved Newcap’s request to delete conditions of licence relating to the station’s programming, allowing it to move from a News/Talk to a music format, and approved changes to the authorized contours of CHNI-FM.
"This licence is a great fit for our company as it expands our presence in New Brunswick and represents our entry into the Saint John market”, said president and CEO Rob Steele, in a statement. “We are…
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MOST AGREE THE PRIMARY reasons why Netflix – and for that matter all web-based media – has a growing advantage over traditional media are the streams of data they gather and use to make real-time decisions. It’s the so-called Big Data that web-based companies gather to make magic and produce profits.
At Thursday’s Content Industry Connect event hosted by the Banff Media Festival organizers, one attendee (we’re told it was a fellow named Ahmad Iqbal from a company called Atendy) asked what is the best question I’ve heard put to a panel of broadcasters in a very long time, saying:…
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TORONTO – Many folks love to tell Canadian TV executives what they should – or should not – be doing. Really, anyone with a TV set does that regularly.
But when it comes to those with a keyboard and a national platform, or with a famous name or job, their gripes often offend and are taken to heart. At Thursday’s Content Industry Connect day put on by the Banff Media Festival, broadcast executive, investor and producer Peter Sussman kicked off the industry leaders panel by quoting noted thorn-in-the-Canadian-TV-industry’s-side, Globe and Mail TV critic John Doyle. In a fall 2013 column…
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OTTAWA – More than 20,000 new numbers were added to Canada’s national do not call list (DNCL) registry between January 31 and February 28, 2014, the CRTC revealed Monday.
According to the Commission’s latest status report, the official number of telephone and fax numbers on the list stands at 12,181,253.
The number of telemarketing complaints increased to 12,442. Since the DNCL’s 2008 launch, 781,008 telemarketing complaints have been logged.
Six new investigations were opened in February, bringing the number of active investigations to 172. No new notices of violation were issued during this period, so the total issued to date remains at…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s public broadcaster is not immune to the impacts of new viewing habits and Internet-based platforms, but rather than trying to turn back the clock, CBC/Radio-Canada is embracing new devices and technologies to remain relevant to Canadians, according to the CRTC.
Scott Hutton, executive director of broadcasting at the Regulator, noted during an appearance before the Senate Standing Committee on Transportation and Communications that one only needs to look at CBC’s coverage of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics (and its multi-platform efforts), its content licensing agreements with Netflix and its Tou.tv French-language online video on-demand…
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TORONTO – Calling 2013 “a pretty good year”, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Styles said this week that the provincial Crown corporation will come close to its financial targets ($1.2 billion in revenue, $93 million in net income) when it announces its annual results in April.
Styles was in Toronto on Monday and sat down with Cartt.ca to discuss the year past, the year ahead and some of the challenges posed by current regulatory uncertainty in Canada’s telecom industry.
The past year saw SaskTel continually add capacity to its wired and wireless network, continue to grow its fibre to the premises…
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NORWICH, ON – Glenn Baxter, a founding member of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) and the founder of Nor-Del Cablevision, was laid to rest Wednesday in Norwich, ON. He died in hospital on February 28 in his 80th year.
Baxter graduated from the Ryerson Institute of Technology as an engineering technologist in 1956 and carried his love of electronics and system design with him his entire life. His early career included positions at Group Northern Electric, (eventually part of Nortel), where he designed and installed television studios and master control video/audio switching systems for television stations.
At Delta Electronics, he…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has scheduled a hearing next month which will hear a corporate reorganization request from Channel Zero, but it said Wednesday in announcing the hearing, that it will also determine whether four television services operated by the independent broadcaster have failed to comply with their conditions of licence or the specialty services regulations.
The Commission said Wednesday that it “calls the licensees to this public hearing, given the severity and frequency of the instances of apparent non-compliance observed and given the relationship between these licensees." For example, some of the adult services in question may not have shown…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has shot down a request by DiversityCanada Foundation to amend a section of its three-month old wireless code of conduct.
In an application last September, DiversityCanada Foundation, on its own behalf and on behalf of the National Pensioners and Senior Citizens Federation, asked the Commission to review and vary Section J of the Wireless Code regarding prepaid cards.
DiversityCanada submitted that the Commission erred in fact and in law when it determined that prepaid card services provide access to a wireless service provider’s network, subject to both time and usage limitations, and that it would not be…
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