OTTAWA – The CBC is asking the CRTC to tweak its broadcasting licences for its Espace Musique and Radio 2 networks and stations across Canada.
In an application made public on Wednesday, CBC is proposing to amend the conditions related to sponsored programming and embedded advertising. As Cartt.ca reported, CBC was given the green light to introduce advertising on its Radio 2 and Espace musique properties last May, but only for three years.
The deadline for comments or interventions is November 19, 2013.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments on a targeted review of its policies for commercial radio.
The Commission said Wednesday that a comprehensive review is not necessary at this time, noting that the sector has remained relatively stable, both financially and in terms of tuning, since the last policy review in 2006. Nevertheless, the CRTC continued, the commercial radio sector would benefit from an update of certain regulatory and policy elements.
The regulator requested comments on the following topics:
– the Commission’s approach to calls for applications and to small markets;
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – To keep up with the growing demand for new phone numbers, the CRTC said Wednesday that it will add new area codes to Alberta and southwestern Ontario within the next three years.
Starting April 9, 2016, the area code 825 will join current area codes 403, 587, and 780 in serving Alberta.
Effective June 4, 2015, new telephone numbers assigned in the 226 and 519 regions of southwestern Ontario may be given area code 548.
Existing customers will keep their current area codes and phone numbers.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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TORONTO – The Canadian wireless market is a competitive success story that doesn’t require micro-managing from any level of government, the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association president Bernard Lord told the Toronto Board of Trade on Monday.
Saying “we need to be mindful of the risk of economic engineering experiments that could change that value for our country and for Canadians,” the text of Lord’s speech noted that the Canadian market is growing well and serving Canadians nicely as “smartphone adoption continues at a very rapid pace. We’ve gone from a penetration of just 36% two years ago to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is heading to Surrey early next year to consider more than a dozen new radio applications vying to serve the Vancouver market.
The Commission said Tuesday that it has scheduled a hearing on January 27, 2014 beginning at 9:00 AM at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel in Surrey. Among the new radio proposals for consideration include applications from the likes of Newcap, Sky Radio and Channel Zero.
The deadline for interventions is November 28.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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THURSDAY WAS DARN BUSY (in fact, as we write this, it’s Friday morning). The CRTC launched its national conversation with Canadians on our TV system and each of Rogers Communications, Corus Entertainment and Shaw Communications released their latest quarterly results.
A common theme among the public appearances by CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais in Laval and Toronto, as well as the conference calls led by Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed, Corus CEO John Cassaday and Shaw CEO Brad Shaw was how providing more choice for consumers when it comes to…
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OTTAWA – With the Throne Speech still ringing in our ears, the Feds were quick to applaud the CRTC’s ‘Let’s Talk TV’ discussion which kicked off this week.
Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, issued a statement Thursday reiterating the government’s pledge to unbundle TV channels while also protecting Canadian jobs.
“Consistent with that commitment, the Canadian Radio-television Communications Commission has today launched a dialogue with Canadians on the future of television”, the statement reads. “The dialogue launched today will play a part in fulfilling our Speech from the Throne…
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GATINEAU – “Canadians have an unprecedented choice of television programs that includes the best of what Canada, and the world, has to offer,” said Jean-Pierre Blais, chairman of the CRTC this morning in kicking off “Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians,” which is to be a month-long discussion about the future of Canada’s television system.
“Many still enjoy network-scheduled programming on their TV sets, but the viewing habits of many others are changing. Let’s Talk TV: A Conversation with Canadians is an opportunity for all Canadians to tell us what they think of their television system and…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC should prohibit telecommunications companies from charging for paper bills and order refunds for fees already charged to regulated phone customers, says the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC).
In an application filed with the Commission Wednesday, PIAC, in conjunction with the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC), argued that fees charged to receive bills in paper format are an “unauthorized rate increase” for regulated landline customers, and "unjustly discriminatory" towards all telecommunications customers.
“By charging a paper bill fee, telecommunications service providers assume that all Canadians are comfortable with, or have access to, electronic…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has updated its regulatory framework for pay-per-view services.
The revised framework, released Wednesday, simplifies its policy and makes it more consistent with the regulatory framework for video-on-demand services, with which PPV services compete, the Commission said.
In determining the most appropriate approach for PPV services, the CRTC said that it considered a number of issues, including:
– licensing criteria;
– Canadian content exhibition requirements;
– the promotion of Canadian programs;
– support for Canadian feature films;
– programming packaging;
– the broadcast of…
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