OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC on Friday fined four telemarketers a total of $38,000 for various violations to the country’s telemarketing rules.
Lev Olevson, carrying on business as Capital Windows and Doors and Advantage Pro, was fined $8,000 for initiating telemarketing telecommunications to consumers whose numbers were registered on the national do not call list (DNCL), for doing so when he was not a registered subscriber of the national DNCL, and had not paid all applicable fees to the national DNCL operator.
Advantage Pro Portes et Fenêtres was fined $6,000 for initiating telemarketing telecommunications to consumers whose telecommunications numbers were…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments on amendments to certain rules pertaining to the implementation of the national emergency alerting system.
The Commission said Thursday that the rules in question relate to the Radio Regulations, 1986, the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, the standard conditions of licence for video-on-demand undertakings, and exemption orders governing the operation of certain types of undertakings.
The proposed amendments would implement the mandatory distribution of emergency alert messages by December 31, 2014, thereby ensuring that Canadians receive timely warnings of imminent perils. The Commission also wants input on certain policy considerations…
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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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