ON APRIL 5, 2012 COGECO FILED its comments on the Association des Compagnies de Téléphone du Québec Inc. and the Ontario Telecommunications Association (the ACTQ/OTA) petition addressing the three reliefs requested by the ACTQ/OTA, as well as addressing the propaganda campaign being spearheaded by the ACTQ against Cogeco since January 2012 in Quebec.
Cogeco cannot ignore the misinformation and propaganda campaign directed against it. The David and Goliath scenario advanced by the ACTQ, where Cogeco will come into a small incumbent local exchange carrier (SILEC) territory causing its inevitable bankruptcy, is highly exaggerated and without any…
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OTTAWA – Rogers Broadcasting’s request for a new entertainment channel called The Entertainment Desk is among 12 new broadcasting applications that the CRTC will consider at a hearing set for June 7 in Gatineau.
The Commission made the new applications public on Tuesday. Other applications of interest include one from MOTV Média Inc. for an English-language category B service to be known as PIN – Positive Insight Network, and three from Colba.Net Telecom Inc. for regional broadcasting licences to operate terrestrial BDUs in areas of Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
The deadline for…
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OTTAWA – True to its word, the CRTC was quick to release its determinations from last month’s expedited hearing into dispute resolution between the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG) and Bell Media.
As Cartt.ca has reported, independent distributors Cogeco Cable, Telus, EastLink, MTS and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, collectively the CIDG, object to packaging, penetration, and other terms offered to them by Bell Media for its 30-some specialty channels. Bell says that its wholesale costing model, a penetration based rate card that has already been signed by a number of other distributors, rewards stable packaging with stable long-term rates for…
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GATINEAU – Do customers want more choice or more channels? Are the two questions mutually exclusive?
If that sounds like an odd pair of questions because choice and channels can’t be unlinked like that, hear us out, because those two queries are what repeatedly sprung to mind reading the progress reports submitted to the CRTC by Bell Canada, Shaw Communications, Rogers Communications and Vidéotron on the vertically integrated companies’ moves to allow more programming choice and flexibility for their customers.
When it released its new policy on vertically integrated media and distribution companies last fall, the CRTC gave the big four…
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TORONTO – The CBC’s plan to generate revenue by adding advertising to its national radio networks CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique received a warm response by the Association of Canadian Advertisers (ACA). (The proposal has yet to receive CRTC approval.)
The industry organization, which has long advocated for advertising access to CBC/Radio-Canada, said Thursday that the move “allows government to be fiscally prudent while still advancing public policy goals”.
“Advertisers are seeking evermore narrowly-defined target audiences to promote their products and services”, said Bob Reaume, VP of policy and research, in a statement. “They require a depth and breadth of…
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GATINEAU – Revenues for cable and satellite companies increased by more than $1 billion last year but profit margins continue to decline according to financial information released on Wednesday by the CRTC for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2011.
Cable companies reported revenues of $11 billion in 2011 (an 8.2% increase from the previous year’s total of $10.1 billion), for their basic/non-basic television services as well as Internet and telephone services. They however also reported higher operating expenses of 10.7% during the same period which hit $6.1 billion compared to $5.5 billion in 2010.
The CRTC says…
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GATINEAU – Profits of private conventional broadcasters have risen to pre-recession levels mainly due to cuts in overall program expenses says the CRTC in financial information it released Wednesday for the broadcast year ending August 31, 2011.
While revenues for private conventional television stations remained nearly frozen from 2010 to 2011 ($2.147 billion to $2.153 billion), broadcasters managed to cut 7.2% from their operating expenses, reducing them to $1.9 billion from $2.05 billion. The result is that operating profits rose from $11.5 million in 2010 to $160.6 million last year. Including contributions from the Local Programming…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s wireless providers may soon have to adhere to a new code of conduct.
The CRTC said Wednesday that it is seeking comments on whether the wireless market has changed enough to warrant its intervention in the development of a national retail wireless services consumer code, after receiving “several applications” recommending that one be established. (Cartt.ca first reported back in February on Telus's demand for such a process.) A number of provinces have recently introduced amendments to consumer protection legislation that directly or indirectly impact wireless services.
In 1994, the CRTC decided against regulating the wireless…
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OTTAWA – The Toronto radio market is gaining a new station after the CRTC approved an application for an English-language commercial FM radio station in Uxbridge, ON.
Controlled by Frank Torres, on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated, the new station has proposed a classic hits format targeting adults aged of 25 and 54 with a heavy dose of local programming including sports, weather forecasts, traffic reports, an events calendar, business reports and special features.
The new station will be a first radio service for the community of Uxbridge. Its licence will expire August 31, 2018.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CBC will eliminate 650 jobs, including 475 this fiscal year, as it struggles to swallow the $115 million in budget cuts announced as part of last week’s federal budget.
President and CEO Hubert Lacroix told staff Wednesday afternoon that it will seek to increase self-generated revenues by adding advertising and sponsorship to its national radio networks CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique (assuming it can get CRTC approval on that), while CBC Radio One and Premiere Chaine will stay ad-free for now, leasing existing real estate, and by divesting of non-core assets, including digital specialty…
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