OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has agreed for the first time to allowed limited advertising on CBC’s Radio 2 and Espace Musique networks.
The Commission allowed the change as part of its decision, released this morning, to renew CBC’s English- and French-language television and radio licenses until August 31, 2018.
The CRTC says it will allow the radio networks to include up to four minutes of advertising per broadcast hour within a maximum of two blocks. The CBC will also have to submit a new application at the end of the three-year period…
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OTTAWA – Approximately 90,000 new phone and fax numbers have been registered with the country’s national do not call list (DNCL) since February, spurring a proportional increase in the number of complaints filed with the CRTC against telemarketers in April.
According to the Commission’s most recent status report as of April 30, the national do not call list (DNCL) now contains 11,657,261 telephone or fax numbers. Approximately 16,000 telemarketing complaints were filed in April, up from just over 10,000 in March. Since its launch in 2008, 695,692 complaints have been logged.
Seventeen new investigations…
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GATINEAU – In its final reply to the CRTC last week on the proposed purchase of Astral Media by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications informed the Commission that, if Montreal’s CKGM-AM (now TSN690) came on the market, it would be prepared to purchase the station and keep it sports talk. This was first reported by Cartt.ca.
In their last written reply to the Commission on the proposed $3.2 billion deal, filed today, Bell and Astral, put plainly, didn’t buy Rogers’ assertion. Not one bit.
As many readers will already know, in order to keep TSN690, Bell has asked…
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GATINEAU – Bell Canada and Astral Media say the list of new regulatory safeguards it has agreed to should allay any fears the CRTC has of a combined company – and that the deal should be approved.
In its final written submission to the CRTC filed late Tuesday, the companies say they have agreed to “an unprecedented package of regulatory safeguards relating to terms of trade with all independent producers, the negotiation of affiliation agreements (including tied selling, packaging flexibility, and other terms), the no head start rule, the availability of non-linear content, the timing of the Commission’s dispute resolution…
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VANCOUVER – Telus announced Thursday that, pending some government and debtholder approvals, it will acquire Mobilicity for $380 million.
If the deal receives the required approvals, it would ensure continued service to Mobilicity’s 250,000 customers without the risk of disruption, says the press release the companies issued.
Without this deal, Mobilicity would likely end up seeking bankruptcy protection in short order. Of course, it remains to be seen what government thinks of this and whether or not it will grant the request to shift Mobilicity’s spectrum to Telus immediately. DAVE, Mobilicity’s parent company, purchased the spectrum for $240 million in 2008…
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GATINEAU – Much was made last week during the hearing into Bell Canada buying Astral Media about the combined company needing an exemption from the CRTC’s radio station ownership policy in order to keep TSN690 (CKGM) open – and an English language all-sports radio station.
Bell Media executives said it had not yet tried to find any buyers for it and that it doubted any that came forward would be able or interested in keeping it as a sports station, since it owns the rights to important Montreal sports content. It said the station might have…
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MONTREAL – IDNR-TV (Natural Resources TV) is hoping a new survey that shows six in ten Canadians would support free access to the channel devoted to the nation’s natural resources industry will provide sufficient proof to the CRTC that it deserves to be given mandatory carriage status.
According to the Harris Decima survey commissioned by IDNR-TV, 60% of respondents said they are in favour of having free access to the natural resources channel. Broken down by province, respondents in British Columbia (64%), Ontario (63%), Quebec (51%), and the Maritime Provinces (67%) showed interest in IDNR-TV’s programming,…
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KAMLOOPS, B.C. – The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group announced today it has acquired three FM radio stations owned by Bell Media and Astral located in Calgary and Winnipeg.
Pattison will purchase Bell Media’s Kool FM 101.5 (CKCE-FM) in Calgary, FAB 94.3 (CHIQ-FM) in Winnipeg, as well as Astral’s QX 104 (CFQX-FM) in Winnipeg, pending CRTC approvals.
“With the pending launch of our newest station CHPK-FM (95.3 The Peak) in Calgary, combining forces with KooL FM (Today & Back in the Day) and its great team will allow our group to have a very strong competitive…
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GATINEAU – In their final written submissions to the CRTC on the proposed purchase of Astral Media by Bell Canada, various interveners say there are no words, no new rules the Commission can write which will sufficiently protect the Canadian TV system from the market power of a combined Bell/Astral.
That, tied to the fact Bell has told the Commission in no uncertain terms it will not proceed with the merger should it be required to divest any other assets, means the whole deal should be denied, just like the first one was rejected last fall. ( Continue Reading
WHILE DROPPING IN ON the CRTC’s two-week hearing into new and renewed mandatory carriage requests (on cpac.ca) – and poring over some of the transcripts since its conclusion, two thoughts bubbled up above all the facts, self-serving opinion and pure BS that is a Commission hearing: The CRTC should impose some sort of mandatory penetration based rate card, a-la Bell Media’s, upon the entire regulated TV industry – or just deregulate the whole damn thing (which is not actually an option).
Independent broadcasters (those not owned by a vertically integrated entity) have little, if any, leverage when it comes to…
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