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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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…
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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…
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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,…
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MONTREAL – Bell has confirmed it will ask the federal Cabinet to intervene regarding the CRTC's “shocking decision to completely ignore its own rules and policies in rejecting in its entirety Bell's acquisition of Astral Media.”
The telecom will file a request that Cabinet issue a policy direction to the CRTC under Section 7 of the Broadcasting Act, requiring the Commission to “follow its already in-place policies when reviewing change of control transactions in broadcasting.”
"The Broadcasting Act explicitly empowers the Cabinet to issue directions to the CRTC on broad policy matters," said Mirko…
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GATINEAU – Saying it is “shocked” and “appalled” at the CRTC’s decision to deny its $3.4 billion purchase of Astral Media, Bell Canada says it isn’t through with this fight yet.
"This is a decision that should not stand. Canadian consumers were told today by the CRTC that they don't deserve more – more choice, more competition, more Canadian content funding – all of which Bell and Astral committed to with this transaction," said George Cope, president and CEO of Bell Canada and BCE Inc. in a sharply worded statement released hours after the Commission decision was made public at…
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IN ITS FULL DECISION to deny Bell Canada’s request to purchase Astral Media, the CRTC addressed a number of the issues which arose over the months-long process and public hearing held in Montreal during the week of September 10th.
The rest of the industry would probably do well to heed the advice doled out in this decision.
THE CRTC WON’T COUNT THE YANKS: “For clarity, the Commission considers that ‘total television share’ is based on viewing to Canadian commercial television services, consistent with the Commission’s Communications Monitoring Report (CMR) and past practice. While the Commission recognizes that…
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