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,…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Freshly minted Canadian citizen Kevin Crull said Wednesday that without some regulatory change, he fears for the future of the Canadian television system.
Perhaps newly emboldened after becoming a Canadian citizen just last week, the Bell Media president used his luncheon keynote at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday to heap criticism on the way the regulations governing the Canadian TV industry have mutated over the past couple of years, and to wonder why our knee-jerk reaction as Canadians always seems to fear the big company and how badly it could act, even in the face of the…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – It might be a sign of the ingrained competitive spirit of the telecom industry in Canada that even when wireless carriers manage to agree on a vital issue – the need for a national code to protect wireless consumers’ interests – they still manage to bicker with one another.
During the Canadian Telecom Summit’s “regulatory blockbuster” panel discussion on Tuesday morning, moderated by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien, regulatory experts from the big three incumbents – Rogers, Bell and Telus – along with MTS Allstream, Wind Mobile Canada and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), appeared to…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The cost of telecom regulation in Canada is estimated at just over $26 million this year, a slight drop from $27.26 million last year.
The CRTC said Wednesday that it expects that its total telecommunications regulatory costs for the 2012-2013 fiscal year to total $26.421 million. After taking in to account a $0.078 million credit from last year, the amount will equal $26.343 million.
www.crtc.gc.ca
Continue Reading