BANFF – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais told Banff World Media Fest delegates it’s time for Canada to talk TV – really talk about it – in order to figure out what we as a nation want from our television system as the global electronic media universe just keeps changing and growing.
In the fall, said the chairman, the Commission will embark on an ambitious plan to potentially remake the regulatory system so that the rules work better in the face of the rampant technological development and consumer behavioural shifts we see today.
“I am already on the record as saying we…
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TORONTO – “Ladies and gentlemen, you know better than anyone that wireless devices are at the very core of our lives – enabling us to work, engage in social media, play games, watch movies, get directions, buy products and so much more, including financial transactions,” CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said to Canadian Telecom Summit delegates Tuesday morning.
Turning to his overarching theme of making sure Canadian citizens are at the very heart of what he does, Blais added: “Your products and services have become an extension of our jobs, our families, our personalities. They have become essential to achieving our…
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TORONTO – Cell tower sharing remains a white hot topic for wireless competitors and the issue raised its head Tuesday morning during the Canadian Telecom Summit’s annual regulatory blockbuster panel, moderated again this year by Cartt.ca editor and publisher Greg O’Brien.
Although mandated tower sharing was included in the 2008 AWS spectrum auction rules – as it will be for next year’s 700MHz spectrum auction – the problems for new wireless entrants are the growing costs to share tower space and that access rules are not adhered to by the three incumbents, said Ed Antecol, vice-president of regulatory affairs and…
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TORONTO – Rogers announced today its recently acquired station The Score will be rebranded as Sportsnet 360, providing breaking news, scores, stats, highlights, analysis and live events.
Targeted to the hard core sports fans, Sportsnet 360 will launch on July 1 with a new logo, sets, animation package, and enhanced ticker that combines the look and feel of Sportsnet with familiar elements of The Score brand.
Rogers president of broadcast Scott Moore announced the launch today as…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC’s new Wireless Code issued today allows consumers to cancel their mobile wireless contracts after two years even if they have signed on for a longer term, and also places caps on data overage and roaming charges.
The code, which will apply to new wireless contracts beginning December 2, 2013, requires wireless service providers to cap data overage charges at $50 and national and international roaming charges at $100 within a single monthly billing cycle. Additional charges cannot be added without a consumer’s consent.
The Commission says capping these charges is…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadian mobile customers will be able to cancel their wireless contracts after two years without any cancellation fees under the CRTC’s new Wireless Code, which was released this morning.
The new mandatory code, which will come into effect on December 2, 2013, outlines basic rights for individual and business customers. It also requires all wireless service providers to follow consumer-friendly business practices that make it easier for individual and business customers to obtain and understand the information in their service contracts.
The wireless code will apply to all service providers in…
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MONTREAL – Surprising no one, BCE announced Friday it has extended its takeover offer of Astral Media to July 31, 2013 as it awaits regulatory approval for the transaction.
The original expiry date to close the deal was June 1.
The Competition Bureau approved Bell’s second iteration of its proposal to purchase Astral back in March, which was followed by a week-long CRTC hearing earlier this month to review the new proposal.
Bell included a number of revised provisions in its second submission regarding the Astral deal, including new regulatory safeguards and a…
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IT’S INSTRUCTIVE, TRAVELLING to a country where spectrum policy seems focused on what’s best for citizens and not what’s best for the government itself.
In her keynote to the annual CTIA Conference in Las Vegas which we attended last week, acting FCC chair Mignon Clyburn laid out just what the Federal Communications Commission has done and is doing on the wireless front, in good detail. It was a straightforward account of what is going on with the spectrum file Stateside; concrete strategy geared towards the public interest, clearly spoken by a government official in a way that I have never…
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GATINEAU – While many Canadians themselves wonder why they need a phone line attached to their home when they already carry their lives around inside the smartphones in their pockets and purses, the CRTC announced internally today that it plans to cut that old phone cord.
An initiative announced to staff this week will see the Regulator begin to move from landlines to mobile phones starting with a pilot project launching next week.
“As you know, the CRTC is committed to providing technology to support our employees to effectively perform their day-to-day work activities. Over the past few years, there has…
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GATINEAU – Canada’s public broadcaster has been given the green light to introduce advertising on its Radio 2 and Espace musique properties, but only for three years.
“The Commission considers that advertising will serve to ensure that the CBC has the resources to continue to provide high-quality diverse programming. However, the Commission is imposing conditions of licence that limit advertising to a maximum of four minutes per hour and limit the number of times that programming can be interrupted for advertising to twice per hour,” reads the May 28 decision.
The Commission also ruled that Radio 2…
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