OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has created a special committee to address the predicted telephone number shortage for areas of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island served by area code 902.
According to the Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA), which administers the distribution of phone numbers in Canada on behalf of the CRTC, the region is expected to run out of telephone numbers by April 2015.
The Commission said Thursday that it will set up a relief planning committee to evaluate various options and make recommendations. As some options could require customers to change their telephone numbers, members of the public and the telecommunications…
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BOSTON – A large contingent of Canadian cable delegates who journeyed to Boston rose to lead a standing ovation for Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind as he was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame Monday night.
Lind and five others, Ann Rallis Carlsen, CEO of Carlsen Resources; legendary CNN broadcaster Larry King; BET Networks chair and CEO Debra Lee; Lenfest Group president and CEO Gerry Lenfest; and Leo Hindery Jr., managing partner of InterMedia Partners (but best known as the CEO who turned around TCI and the fortunes of U.S. cable in the late 1990s leading the so-called “Summer…
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I DARE ANYONE TO disagree with this statement: “A child without access to the Internet will find life increasingly difficult in the information age.”
National Cable and Telecommunications Association president and CEO Michael Powell said it Monday morning during his keynote speech to delegates in the standing-room-only opening general session at the 2012 Cable Show here in Boston. He was singing the praises of the U.S. industry’s Connect to Compete initiative where all of the major American cable companies have teamed up with the Federal Communications Commission and a large number of other corporations to push…
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DARTMOUTH – Newcap Inc. has received CRTC approval to launch a new English-language commercial FM radio station in Miramichi, NB.
The proposed new station will be a country music format targeted to listeners between the ages of 24 and 54 years, with a core audience skewed slightly to women aged 35 to 45 years. The station would broadcast 126 hours of local programming each broadcast week, including 13 hours and 7 minutes of spoken word programming, of which 3 hours would be dedicated to pure news, according to the Commission’s decision.
"We are extremely pleased that our application to…
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OTTAWA – The CBC’s oft-postponed licence renewal hearing will begin November 19, the CRTC confirmed Friday.
In a letter to CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, the Commission directed the Corp. to file updates to its renewal applications by July 16, 2012.
“In recognition of your desire for a timely ruling on the amendments the Commission is scheduling the public hearing to consider the renewals as soon as its agenda permits”, reads the letter, signed by secretary general John Traversy. “The hearing will commence on November 19, 2012.”
CBC/Radio-Canada’s licences were last renewed 12 years ago. Since then, the licence hearing has…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC renewed a number of national and regional video-on-demand licences Thursday.
Bell ExpressVu, Cogeco Cable, Rogers Communications, Telus Communications, and Videon Cablesystems had their licences extended through August 31, 2016, while MTS and SaskTel had theirs renewed through August 31, 2015.
Videotron received a short term renewal to August 31, 2014. In addition, it must provide the Commission with proof that it is in compliance with its requirements relating to its English-language feature film inventory by July 16, 2012, and file quarterly compliance reports going forward.
SaskTel and MTS were directed to inform the Commission that they are…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is calling for comments on Rogers and BCE's plan to take control of sports channels Leafs TV, NBA TV Canada and Gol TV Canada from Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
The application, made public on Thursday, proposes a two-step transaction that would see control of the channels switched to a corporation jointly controlled by Rogers and BCE. The move comes as part of the two communications giants planned purchase of a majority stake in MLSE for $1.32 billion, as announced last December.
An independent report dated December 31, 2011 values Leafs TV, NBA TV Canada and 80.1%…
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TORONTO – The Bell Fund invested $12.8 million in 148 cross-platform television, web and mobile projects last year, according to its annual report released this week.
The 2011 Annual Report detailed that $9.7 million went towards 62 digital media productions, nearly $1 million was invested in 17 low budget digital media projects (under $100K), and $1.2 million funded concept development of 35 digital media projects.
The Bell Fund is a not-for-profit organization certified by the CRTC as an independent production fund eligible to receive and administer contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings.
www.bellfund.ca
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MUCH HAS BEEN SAID and written over the last few weeks on the new CBC Music service, which has generated quite a bit of interest from the industry, and from the population in general for Stingray’s Part 1 application with the CRTC regarding the newly launched service (and letter to the Minister of Heritage).
Founded in 2007, Stingray’s various services, including Galaxie, the Karaoke Channel and Concert TV, are now available to over 70 million households in 48 countries around the world. With over 200 employees, a good portion of which are here in Canada, Stingray…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is seeking feedback on proposed amendments to BDU regulations relating to local expression.
The Commission said Monday that the revisions are necessary in order to implement amendments that it made back in March.
Comments are due by June 11, 2012.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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