READERS MIGHT HAVE sensed with my column Thursday that I am taking the issue of getting broadband to low-income families very seriously. I called the fact that we have nothing in Canada to help the poor get broadband in their homes embarrassing, especially when compared to the ambitious and comprehensive Connect 2 Compete program that was launched in the United States this week by the Federal Communications Commission, numerous cable companies and other firms.
Then, reporter Peter Nowak reports today that Canada is the ONLY country in the G8 with no assistance…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is considering granting an exception to its common ownership policy in the Calgary radio market.
The Commission said Wednesday that it has received a request from Corus Entertainment on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary CKIK-FM Limited, to amend the broadcasting licence for its AM radio station CHQR Calgary in order to add an FM rebroadcasting transmitter in Calgary.
Corus currently owns two FM radio stations in Calgary, CFGQ-FM (through CKIK-FM Limited) and CKRY-FM through Corus Radio Company. According to the CRTC’s common ownership policy, in markets with eight commercial stations or more operating in a given…
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THIS SHOULD BE EMBARASSING. For all of us. The announcement Stateside that the Federal Communications Commission is teaming up with the cable industry and many others down south to offer low-income households access to computers, training and cheaper broadband ($9.95 a month), shows the Americans have it right.
The digital divide is not a rural-urban gap but a cost/knowledge/education chasm, regardless of where you live.
Many Americans can’t afford the $40-or-more per month it costs to get broadband at home, can’t afford a computer in the first place, and without broadband – as we all have come to realize – those families…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is taking its show on the road to Calgary early next year to consider a dozen new radio applications vying to serve that market.
The Commission said Wednesday that it has scheduled a hearing on February 6, 2012 beginning at 9:00 am at The Coast Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre located at 1316-33rd Street N. E. in Calgary. Among the new radio proposals for consideration include applications from the likes of Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Bell Media and Harvard Broadcasting.
In addition, the CRTC will review applications from GlassBox Television for a new television service to…
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OTTAWA – Parties to telecommunications proceedings may now coordinate and organize interventions in support of their position into a joint supporting intervention.
After changing its practice to allow joint supporting interventions in the context of broadcasting proceedings in January 2010, the Commission said Tuesday that joint submissions should also be allowed in telecommunication proceedings, noting the process’ improved efficiencies.
The joint supporting intervention must include the following:
– the supporting interventions;
– a list setting out the names of persons filing the supporting interventions;
– a statement by the person filing the joint interventions that the persons on the list have requested…
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OTTAWA – With more Canadians than ever connected to all manner of devices in so many ways, complaints about wireless services, Internet access and VoIP providers more than doubled in the past year, according to the 2010-2011 annual report for the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).
The CCTS said that it received 8,007 complaints, up 114% over last year, which Commissioner Howard Maker noted was the largest year-over-year increase in complaints in the organization’s four year history.
Wireless complaints accounted for 62.3% of all complaints, up from 51.7% last year, which Maker said reflected the increasing availability of…
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OTTAWA – Astral-owned Super Écran will remain alone in the French pay TV genre, at least for the time being.
The CRTC called for new applications for French-language general interest pay television services that would compete with Super Écran back in February, but said Friday that it had not received any applications.
The Commission said that it would stick with its original position to not to open up the French-language general interest pay television service genre to competition, and closed its consideration of this file.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC awarded broadcasting licences for three new Hindi movie services and a Teletoon-affiliated service on Friday.
Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) received approval to operate ATN Hindi Movie Channel 3, ATN Hindi Movie Channel 4, and ATN Hindi Movie Channel 5, three national, niche third-language ethnic Category 2 specialty services that will show movies in the Hindi language and additional programming linked to the movies.
The Commission also approved a channel known as Teletoon Kapow! a national, English-language Category 2 specialty channel devoted to programming from international markets, featuring the latest trends in non-violent action, adventure, superheroes, comedy…
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GATINEAU – The chairmanship of the CRTC is often said to be a thankless job, so, many of the leading regulatory folks in Canadian telecom set about to change that this week, getting together to thank outgoing CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein for his yeoman’s work these past five years.
When he came on board as chair in 2007, von Finckenstein promised an open, accountable and transparent Commission. With dozens of public proceedings and many new ways to include the public in the debate launched under his watch, we got that in spades under von Finckenstein, who oversaw his final…
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix used the public broadcaster’s third annual public meeting and 75th anniversary to hammer home its commitment to accountability and transparency.
Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Lacroix highlighted the Corp’s newly created website that details its executive expenses, information about audits and Board meetings, and includes a monthly bulletin reporting on its “progress” on Access to Information requests. He also stressed its accountability to Canadians through Parliament, the CRTC, the Auditor General and its government-appointed Board of Directors.
“We take accountability and transparency very seriously”, he said…
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