OTTAWA – The CRTC reports that the number of National Do Not Call List complaints about telemarketers dropped by nearly 7,000 the previous month to about 11,000 complaints in September.
The CRTC also reported it started two new investigations in September, closed 22, and has 119 still active. It made 191 citations to notify telemarketers that the Commission had received consumer complaints alleging that the telemarketer has violated the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules.
The citation identifies the alleged violations and notes the specific corrective action to be taken. The citation sets out the process to be…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC’s National Do Not Call List has levied $441,000 in penalties and registered an additional 1.2 million Canadian numbers in the past reporting year. As of March 31, 2012 the total number of registered numbers was almost 10.7 million. In the past year it also reached its first cross-border agreement that helped halt two Mexican-based companies telemarketers, and co-chaired the first International Do Not Call Network meeting. The report from the CRTC covers the period of April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012.
The creation of the network brought together 13 telecommunications…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Incumbent telephone and cable companies will have to make more information public when proposing rates for wholesale services says the CRTC in a decision released on Friday. Much of the previously confidential information submitted to establish wholesale rates will now be put on the public record, but companies will retain the right to protect competitively sensitive information.
“This represents a key part of a huge shift,” says OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson. “The CRTC has been the site of some major changes—from being very industry-centric and closed-off to increasingly public-interest oriented—as the pro-Internet…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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