OTTAWA – The CRTC knows all its needs to know about over-the-top online and mobile broadcasting, at least for now.
In a letter to industry stakeholders this week, the Commission said that it has scrapped plans to hold another OTT fact-finding exercise this May. Since last year’s investigation and subsequent report, the Regulator said that it has continued to study trends related to over-the-top programming services and their impact on the Canadian system, which has included monitoring consumer behaviour, technology and financial trends, as well as reviewing third-party expert analysis.
“Based on this monitoring and expert analysis, the Commission considers that over-the-top programming services have…
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OTTAWA – Winnipeg may be the home to a new radio station after the CRTC issued a call for new applications to serve that market.
The Commission said Wednesday that it issued the call after receiving an application for a new station by Nostalgia Broadcasting Cooperative Inc. According to its website, Nostalgia Broadcasting (CJNU) is a non-profit community service radio currently operating on 107.9 FM under a temporary licence, and specializes in playing “a wide variety of nostalgia music that was first heard anywhere from the 1940s through the ’70s”.
Applications are due by July 9 and must include evidence giving…
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OTTAWA – The Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) must not only be preserved, it must be strengthened, according to CBC/Radio-Canada.
Appearing Tuesday at the hearing into the future of the fund, the national broadcaster called the LPIF a “tremendous success” that has helped to stabilize local television stations as well as boost local programming in the country’s smaller markets.
"We've increased the local news in our LPIF-eligible markets by almost 30 percent”, said Kirstine Stewart, VP of English Services. “Our supper hour news shows have been bumped up from one to one and a half hours in seven of eight eligible…
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OTTAWA – Lawyers for the broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) told the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday that the CRTC’s regulations can’t trump retransmission provisions within the Copyright Act.
Jay Kerr-Wilson, a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP who was representing Rogers Communications, said the CRTC stepped into copyright law when it established its value-for-signal (VFS) regime (also known as fee-for-carriage) and argued that the CRTC doesn’t have the authority to set new copyright, since only Parliament has that right.
“The CRTC cannot have the jurisdiction to do what it proposed since its proposed scheme creates a new copyright in television…
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GATINEAU – Bell Canada is now prepared to allow the Canadian Broadcast Corp. to receive money from the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) as long as the pubcaster is the sole provider of local TV services in a particular small market.
The media and communications giant had argued in comments that since the CBC receives approximately $1 billion from the federal government it shouldn’t qualify for funds from LPIF. But during opening remarks, Mirko Bibic, executive VP and chief legal and regulatory officer at BCE, said private local TV remains in a difficult financial situation and could see station closures,…
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MONTREAL – An informal group of radio broadcasters are banding together in the hopes of pulling the plug on CBC’s nascent digital music service CBC Music.
The coalition, which includes Quebecor Media, Cogeco Inc., Newcap Radio, Golden West Radio, RNC Media and Stingray Digital, objects to the ad-supported service which it says contributes to the inaccurate perception that music is free, plus competes with their own radio stations and subscription-based websites, counter to the CBC’s mandate.
In a letter to Heritage Minister James Moore on Friday, the broadcasters questioned whether the CBC is using “the preferential royalty rates it receives from the…
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In its comments on the petition filed by the Association des Compagnies Telephone du Quebec and Ontario Telecommunications Association (the petitioners) earlier this month, EastLink stated that the petitioners’ three recommendations to the Governor in Council would harm rural consumers by restricting competition plus establish an unnecessary degree of government intervention in the telecommunications market.
In its filing dated April 5, 2012, EastLink noted that the ACTQ/OTA has proven, by their aggressive competition, expansion of multiple services, fibre to the home builds (for some SILECs), and in some cases, below-market rates, that they do not require the same substantial government…
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GATINEAU – Len Katz picked up another job title this week. To go along with his original position as vice-chair, telecom at the CRTC – as well as acting chair of the Commission since former chairman Konrad von Finckenstein’s departure in January – Katz is also now the Ontario regional commissioner.
Former Ontario regional commissioner Rita Cugini’s term expired on Wednesday and with no other commissioner from the country’s most populous province on the panel, the regional job falls to Katz as there has been no word on a replacement for Cugini, who has been a…
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THERE HAS BEEN LITTLE we at Cartt.ca have written about over the years that has garnered the volume of feedback as our series about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which we’ve published over the past six weeks through our Cartt.ca INVESTIGATES portal.
Unsurprisingly, most of that feedback has been sent to us tagged “not for publication” or “not for attribution.” However, while we’d like to publish, verbatim, some of the responses we’ve fielded, we don’t mind unpublished chit-chat. It’s informative, helpful and often entertaining. We note at the bottom of many of our stories that if you…
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OTTAWA – Bell ExpressVu and Shaw Satellite Services have both applied to the CRTC to renew their respective satellite relay distribution undertaking (SRDU) licences which expire August 31, 2012.
Bell ExpressVu has proposed an amendment to the wording of a condition of licence authorizing the distribution of U.S. over-the-air television programming undertakings, while Shaw has proposed amendments to its conditions of licence relating to the distribution of Canadian and non-Canadian television and radio services, plus asked to delete conditions relating to the requirement to contribute to Canadian programming and to the filing of reports.
On Wednesday, the CRTC reminded both companies…
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