GATINEAU – They’re confused, angry and just won`t take it anymore. So, as first reported by Cartt.ca yesterday morning, the CRTC has taken the unprecedented action of calling on the public to help it create a comprehensive code of conduct for wireless service providers.
Input will be accepted until November 20, 2012 and the public consultation process will begin on January 28, 2013, in Gatineau, Quebec. The Commission will also be announcing shortly details regarding an online consultation to further promote discussion among Canadians on the issues and questions raised by its proceeding.
"Our…
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OTTAWA – Allarco Entertainment, owner of SuperChannel, has lost its bid to have Shaw Communications’ Movie Club and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central banned by the CRTC. At the heart of the complaint was a dispute over whether on-demand programming offered by Shaw Movie Club can be considered an on-demand extension of its linear service if it does not duplicate all of its linear programming.
The CRTC decision is a welcome one for Shaw which launched its Movie Club service last year in direct response to the increasing competition from…
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MY FIRST MEETING WITH SHAW Communications president Peter Bissonnette in the winter of 1998 seems like a lifetime ago. It was in Richmond Hill, then the home base of Shaw’s substantial Ontario cable operations. I think it was February.
This was before Bissonnette was even president of the company. Before Shaw and Rogers traded their Ontario and British Columbia cable systems to each other. Before Izzy Asper and JR Shaw split up WIC (Western International Communications). Before the Shaw family spun its media assets into Corus Entertainment. Before a Jean Monty-led BCE bought CTV the first time, claiming – a…
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GATINEAU – A monthly per subscriber compensation regime proposed by CBC/Radio-Canada is being panned by its private sector opponents while the corporation’s foray into the digital arena is also being questioned by interveners to its licence renewal.
In its application, CBC said that it needs to be compensated for its signals because the broadcast distribution undertakings (cable, satellite and telco TV companies) are free riding and making money off the back of the corporation’s content. In essence, the public broadcaster is seeking a value for signal, or fee-for-carriage, regime. (The CRTC’s authority to implement such a model was Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Spam, spam, spam, and deceptive toggling strategies used to be a wonderfully effective combination for businesses to flood unsuspecting consumers with their ads, but not anymore warns the CRTC. It issued two bulletins today (Guidelines on the interpretation of the Electronic Commerce Protection Regulations) and (Guidelines on the use of toggling to obtaining consent) that detail how the use of deceptive “toggling strategies” will be banned. Toggling strategies describe the deceptive practice of sending consumers a consent form that has a check-mark already ticked that confirms the recipient agrees to receive communications unless…
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OTTAWA – Rogers Communications bid to extend Citytv into the Maritimes through simultaneous substitution of the broadcast feeds from bordering U.S. stations has been denied by the CRTC.
Bell Media, the CBC and several individuals argued that the proposal does not adhere to the simultaneous substitution policy, which grants simultaneous substitution privileges to only local and regional stations. The group also contended approval of the application would grant Rogers the benefits of having a local station in Atlantic Canada without investments in service to the region. The CBC added that Rogers had not substantiated its claim…
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GATINEAU – CBC/Radio-Canada is hearing static over plans for additional revenue generation on two of its radio properties. Interveners to the corporation’s licence renewal are telling the CRTC that it must deny a proposal from the public broadcaster to have national advertising on Radio 2 and Espace Musique.
In its licence renewal application, CBC says that because it received fewer federal dollars under its Parliamentary appropriation it needs to bolster revenue on the radio side so it can maintain existing levels of service. Several interveners argue that’s simply not true with Corus Entertainment saying it’s “a self-made problem.” Corus and…
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GATINEAU – Watch the CRTC’s web site today as the Commission plans to open a new public process aimed at creating a code of conduct to govern the contracts consumers sign for various wireless devices and services, Cartt.ca has learned.
Urged on by many inside the industry (led by Telus) and outside of it, the CRTC in April asked for comments on whether the wireless market in Canada warranted its intervention in the development of a national retail wireless services consumer code.
Fuelled by voter backlash, a number of provinces have introduced their own…
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TORONTO – Returning to Toronto next month is the 2nd Annual Canadian ISP Summit presented by the Canadian Network Operator’s Consortium (CNOC).
Designed for ISPs large and small across the country and open to participants in the industry, the conference from November 4-6 at the Toronto Hilton will tackle both challenges and opportunities in the sector.
The summit attracts the best and brightest from…
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CANNES – Pierre Karl Péladeau went off script on Monday at MIPCOM to urge Ottawa and the CRTC to curb online regulations for broadcasters up against competition from Netflix and others like it.
As Canadian media leaders grabbed the spotlight in Cannes to forge stronger links with foreign partners and markets, the Quebecor president and CEO delivered a keynote address in which he bemoaned the failure of Canada to export its TV product to the world. “We can sell singing talents like Celine Dionne and Arcade Fire and Justin Bieber to the world,” Péladeau said during his media mastermind keynote…
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