GATINEAU – It took some time, but the CRTC got into the meat of Sirius XM Canada’s licence renewal application on Thursday afternoon, quizzing the company about its proposal for a decreased Canadian talent contribution (CTD) charge and insistence that its licence be renewed for seven years.
While the company wants a 90% reduction in its CTD charge, a renewed licence with a shorter term could have potentially damaging impacts on satellite radio in Canada, Sirius XM insisted during its appearance.
“Why would choose to support the satellite radio dashboard proposition when the proponent is regulated and subject…
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TORONTO – Toronto Blue Jays owner Rogers Communications is sponsoring an application by the MLB Network that could make the baseball network available for distribution in Canada.
The U.S. cable channel has officially applied to be added to the list of list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution in Canada on a digital basis. Dedicated solely to coverage of major league baseball, MLB Network says that it covers all 30 MLB clubs through its original sports news, talk and analysis programming, and the live broadcast of up to 150 regular season and spring training games.
In its application, the channel maintains that it…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will stage a public hearing starting Tuesday morning to consider 18 renewal applications from radio stations that are in apparent non-compliance with the Commission’s radio regulations and/or certain conditions of licence.
One of the applicants, Aboriginal Voices Radio (AVR), issued a statement Monday accusing the Commission of censorship after being directed to restrict its presentation to matters pertaining to its licences for CKAV-FM Toronto, CKAV-FM-2 Vancouver, CKAV-FM-3 Calgary, CKAV-FM-4 Edmonton and CKAV-FM-9 Ottawa. AVR, in association with the National Indigenous Media Association of Canada, had proposed that the CRTC also review its native broadcasting policy at that…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has completed the first round of on-site inspections of 13 telemarketing companies in Toronto and Montreal.
These inspections come as the Commission cracks down on telemarketers who have been caught not following the rules and calling Canadians who have registered their numbers on the national Do Not Call List (DNCL). The initial inspections, which focused on telemarketers in industries chosen based on the trends in complaints, were carried out in Toronto during the week of May 14 and in Montreal the week of June 4, 2012.
CRTC officials reviewed the telemarketers’ telephone records to verify that they had registered with the national DNCL operator,…
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CALGARY – A group of Calgary-based businesses calling themselves the Calgary Local Ethnic Petitioners is challenging last month’s CRTC decision that awarded two radio licences to serve that city.
South Asian SCMO operators Unison Media and Punjabi – World Network Ltd., along with the not-for-profit organization Diversified Society of Alberta, have submitted a joint petition requesting that the Governor in Council make an order to either set aside or refer the decision back for reconsideration and hearing.
Citing CRTC Commissioner Peter Menzies’ dissenting opinion, (which Cartt.ca detailed here), the group took issue with a CRTC requirement that applicants would only be…
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TORONTO – CTAM Canada has declared its first CTAM Canada U course “a huge success”, and promises to return with another session next year.
More than 40 Canadian CTAM members packed the inaugural class last month at Corus’ Toronto headquarters to hear Harvard Business School Professors Bharat Anand and Rajiv Lal present five cases, including an analysis of the strategies used by Apple and Netflix, as a starting point to explore key issues in today’s highly competitive environment.
The students, who hailed from Astral, CCSA, Corus, Stingray Digital, WFN, the CRTC, Rogers, AOV, A&E, Hollywood Suite, Super Channel, Teletoon, TV5 Quebec, Ogilvey…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC cracked down on three more telemarketers Tuesday, levying fines of more than $30,000.
Euro-Seal Window Industries, based in Concord, ON, was charged a $1,000 penalty for each of its 29 violations of the country’s national do not call list (DNCL) rules.
The Commission found that the company made 14 telemarketing telecommunications to consumers whose telecommunications numbers were registered on the DNCL, 11 telemarketing telecommunications to consumers without being a registered subscriber of the DNCL and having paid all applicable fees to the national DNCL operator, two telemarketing telecommunications while not using a current version of the DNCL, one…
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BANFF – The questions have been delivered in almost every conference room, certainly every hallway of the Banff World Media Festival this year. It has also been postured in many forms: How will Google, Apple and Netflix influence the Canadian broadcast industry? Is the CRTC’s present policies helping or hindering the equation? What about vertical integration?
Times, They Are A-Changin’, so what should we do?
At the Canadian Media Leader session late Sunday afternoon, there was some consensus on the state of affairs in the industry and the direction of video production and development in the country.
For starters, Bell Media president…
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OTTAWA – Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser said Monday he is “extremely satisfied” with a recent Federal Court decision asking the CRTC to investigate CBC Windsor radio station CBEF.
The decision handed down on Tuesday, May 29 “puts an end to a dispute between my office and CBC/Radio-Canada that has gone on for far too long,” said Fraser in a press release issued Monday. “The Federal Court has acknowledged my authority to investigate complaints about CBC/Radio-Canada, including those regarding its national and regional programming. I expect that CBC/Radio-Canada will co-operate fully in investigations from this point forward.”
The Commissioner is…
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OTTAWA – After months of rumour and innuendo, the federal government made one of the many rumours official and appointed Jean-Pierre Blais as chairman of the CRTC, effective June 18, 2012.
“Mr. Blais is well qualified for the position of chairperson of the CRTC,” said the Prime Minister in the press release. “He brings a strong legal background and a comprehensive understanding of the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors and the role of the…
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