OTTAWA – A Canadian and U.S. lawyer squared off on billing for bandwidth at the International Institute of Communications Canada conference yesterday with the American lawyer arguing that while wholesale access is a good thing, a government mandated regime may not be.
Bryan Tramont, managing partner at Washington D.C.-based Wilkenson Barker Knauer, pointed to a 2010 study of 16 European countries and their efforts with respect to network unbundling and the impact on broadband penetration rates. “ found no correlation between the aggressiveness of unbundling and the broadband penetration rates when you control for other variables…like computer adoption and…
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OTTAWA – Over the past number of weeks, Canada’s independent broadcasters have been alerting CRTC staff and commissioners that the big, vertically integrated BDUs are all but ignoring the Commission’s brand new Code of Conduct, which was released with its new policy on Vertical Integration on September 21.
Ignoring that code is a big mistake, CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein told Cartt.ca during an interview Tuesday.
Even though on October 14th, with the ink still drying on the original, the Regulator modified it (changing the instances where it said “shall” to “should”),…
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OTTAWA – So much for all the speculation on who will replace CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein when his term expires on January 24, 2012.
While many have guessed (including us) at who it may be, and many in power have some ideas on who would make a good chair, the federal government has not yet officially begun to look, said Heritage Minister James Moore Tuesday in Ottawa.
Speaking to reporters after his speech at the 2011 International Institute of Communications Canadian conference, Moore didn’t have much to say on who might be appointed chair, or when….
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TORONTO – Media Access Canada (MAC) is gathering support from the country’s disability organizations to head up the newly established broadcasting accessibility fund (BAF).
The CRTC mandated the $5.7 million fund earlier this year as part of BCE’s tangible benefits when it purchased CTV. The Commission directed that the fund’s control be in the hands of the accessibility community with two third voting and board positions, and that the remaining third be filled by members of the broadcast industry.
MAC said that both it and the members of the Access 2020 Coalition have sent submissions to the CRTC stressing that voting…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has resumed its review of the regulatory framework for the small incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs).
There are currently 35 small ILECs in Canada. These companies operate in limited areas of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia, and include municipally owned and publicly and privately held carriers.
The Commission originally began this procedure back in May but suspended it pending its determinations on an application by l’Association des Compagnies de Téléphone du Québec inc., the Ontario Telecommunications Association, and CityWest Telephone Corporation to review and vary its obligation to serve decision.
On Monday, the CRTC said…
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OTTAWA – Despite its popularity with consumers, Canada’s national do not call list could be in jeopardy by next spring unless the CRTC can find funding to continue investigating telemarketing complaints and enforcing compliance.
The Commission listed this somewhat startling matter as a ‘risk and uncertainty’ in its quarterly financial report for the period ended September 30, 2011 released Monday.
Despite being granted power five years ago under the Telecommunications Act to create and administer the national DNCL, the Commission said that it did not receive incremental on-going funding “to perform these non-discretionary, statutory responsibilities”. To date, the CRTC said its investigation and enforcement…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion Inc. (CDI) has agreed to comply with CRTC requirements around the use of musical montages in the programming of its French-language radio stations and take part in discussions about French-language vocal music requirements.
The Commission said Thursday that CDI-owned CKOI-FM and Astral’s CKTF-FM were found to be airing up to 18% of long montages composed almost exclusively of popular English-language and non-Canadian music, contrary to regulations, and imposed conditions of licence.
While pledging to adhere to the CRTC’s new requirement, CDI pointed out that CKOI-FM was still owned by Corus during the period in question, and…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC is restricting the use of musical montages by two Francophone commercial radio stations, and has kicked off a learning exercise on the French-language private radio industry and the Francophone music industry “in order to more fully understand the problem”.
The Commission said Thursday that it has imposed a condition of licence on Astral’s station CKTF-FM and Cogeco’s station CKOI-FM limiting their broadcasting of montages to no more than 10% of total programming per week after the two stations were found to be airing up to 18% of long montages composed almost exclusively of popular…
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OTTAWA – Canadians registered 1.2 million numbers on the national do not call list last year, and 80% say that they are now receiving fewer telemarketing calls.
According to a CRTC report for the period of April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011, the Commission imposed administrative monetary penalties and other payments worth $2.66 million for violations of the unsolicited telecommunications rules – $1.8 million of these fines were paid to the Receiver General for Canada and $741,000 to educational institutions.
The CRTC received 115,113 complaints during that time, a 30% decrease over the previous period, bringing its total number of complaints to…
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OTTAWA – Industry Minister Christian Paradis has been added to the slate of speakers at the International Institute of Communications (IIC) Canada 2011 conference.
Minister Paradis will provide a keynote address at the event, and join other luminaries such as Heritage Minister James Moore, CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, and CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein.
In addition, on the heels of the CRTC's recent decision on usage based billing, Bryan Tramont, managing partner at Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer LLP and former chief of staff for the Federal Communications Commission, and John Lawford, Counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, will engage…
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