CALGARY – Shaw Communications says its placing a "significant focus" on customer service and pricing as it reported that net income from continuing operations fell 20% to $133 million in the fourth quarter, from $167 million a year earlier. Revenue rose about 3% to $1.21 billion for the quarter compared to $1.81 billion year-over-year.
"We have applied more rigour and discipline to our pricing, customer acquisition strategies and marketing activities," said CEO Brad Shaw during a conference call.
The cable and media company said…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Canadians need an “enforceable, comprehensive wireless code” in light of the number and type of complaints highlighted in the Annual Report of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), according to telecommunications advocacy group Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC).
The CCTS Annual Report, released Thursday, indicated that 60% of all complaints received were from wireless service customers. The CCTS also handles internet and wireless service problems for Canadians after being given the mandate by the CRTC.
"The CCTS can only do so much: the wireless industry needs to step…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) have welcomed three new enforcement agencies to the International Do Not Call Network. Agencies from the Netherlands, Portugal and Japan attended the network's 2nd annual meeting, which was held on October 19, 2012.
Through the International Do Not Call Network, members from 15 countries are cooperating on enforcement and education activities. They are also working with the industry to find technology solutions to ensure do-not-call regimes are protecting and empowering consumers. The CRTC and ACMA serve as the network's co-chairs, and the U.S. Federal Trade…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Arguments from radio broadcasters that placing advertising on Radio 2 and Espace Musique will harm their businesses are wrong, CBC/Radio-Canada says in its licence renewal reply comments to the CRTC.
Small radio station owners and the radio council of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) had argued in their inventions filed a few weeks ago that allowing national advertising on these two radio properties would result in decreased advertising revenue for commercial operators. They also warned of the slippery slope where CBC would have to cater to its advertisers and begin playing more mainstream…
Continue Reading
DENIED. We’re still surprised (and most anyone who tells you they feel otherwise is pretty much full of it).
I mean, many of us had suggested a full-on denial could happen – and the overall tone of the public hearing last month surely had some believing it was a possibility, but it was pretty difficult to find anyone who would actually say with any certainty before Thursday afternoon this deal would be nixed. The CRTC hasn’t really fully said “No” to a significant deal since Vidéotron tried to buy CFCF in the 1990s and Power Corporation wanted to buy Quebec…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – A Canada Media Fund white paper concludes that second-screen activity (which has turned Apple into a $625 billion company) is “no marginal phenomenon.”
This “news” comes from the first of three white papers on the second screen for TV phenomenon. Entitled: The Second Screen and Television – Overview and Growth Perspectives, the document is a joint publication of The Evolumedia Group and the CMF, with the financial support of SODEC. Two additional white papers on the topic will be published in the coming months.
“The second-screen market is strategically placed for industrial,…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Consumer complaints received by the CRTC regarding bandwidth throttling by their Internet service providers (ISPs) for the last quarter dropped dramatically compared to the first quarter of this year.
The Commission reports it received a total of 13 complaints regarding Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs) from July 1 to September 30, 2012. This compares to a total of 39 complaints that were filed from January 1 to March 31, 2012.
After a steady stream of complaints from consumers over bandwidth throttling, the CRTC issued guidelines in September 2011 on how it will…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Former CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein is joining the JAMS Toronto Resolution Centre. Justice von Finckenstein will serve as an arbitrator and mediator in a wide variety of disputes including Business/Commercial, Competition Law, International and Telecommunications.
Prior to joining JAMS, Justice von Finckenstein was Chairman of the CRTC from 2007 until 2012. Before that, he served on the Federal Court of Canada for four years where he rendered more than 200 written judgments in administrative law, intellectual property and human rights. Prior to his appointment to the bench Justice von Finckenstein was Commissioner…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC’s Do Not Call List (DNCL) has been a costly success and the regulator is now calling on telemarketers to start picking up the tab. To date about 11 million Canadians have registered their telephone numbers on the DNCL and the costs associated with investigating complaints and enforcement have already amounted to some $9.6 million by the end of 2011 and continue to grow. In response the Commission is establishing a National DNCL cost-recovery regime to help recover those costs.
Under the regime the National DNCL List Operator will be authorized to recover…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Bell Canada claims the CRTC, in its decision to kill the company's $3.4 billion takeover of Astral Media, ignored its own rules, created a bunch of new ones, was based on incorrect market share calculations and because of that it has asked the federal government to directly step in.
Calling the CRTC decision “absurd,” on Monday, BCE Inc. submitted a request to the federal Cabinet that it issue a policy direction under Section 7 of the Broadcasting Act that directs the CRTC to follow its existing policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting,…
Continue Reading
