Canadian Heritage has announced the appointment of Sylvain Lafrance as chairperson of Telefilm Canada. In addition, Deborah MacPherson and Claude Doucet have been appointed as members of Telefilm’s board of directors.
The five-year terms of all three appointees began May 9.
An expert in the fields of media management and communications, Lafrance worked at CBC/Radio-Canada for more than three decades. Before leaving the national public broadcaster in 2011, he held the position of executive vice president of French services, where he led the integration of the Crown corporation’s radio,…
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By Oliver Kane, a media consultant based in Toronto, who was a former Corus employee for a little more than eight years before leaving in September 2023
On May 6, the CRTC published an update on the phased implementation of bill C-11. While I can appreciate that, in their words, “the changes needed to implement the modernized Broadcasting Act are substantial and complex, with many interconnected issues to be addressed,” this glacial roll out is completely out of touch with the current challenges affecting the industry.
Phase 2 includes an update of no less than 10 consultations expected to take place…
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The percentage of telecom and TV service providers who are compliant with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) rules for providing information about the CCTS on their websites has increased over the last few years, according to the organization’s 2023 Compliance Report Cards, published early Thursday morning.
Internet, phone and licensed TV service providers in Canada are required by the CRTC to participate in the CCTS and its ombudsman complaint-resolution program.
In 2023, 35 per cent of 51 audited participating service providers (PSPs) were fully compliant with the requirements to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is asking the CRTC to allow it the flexibility to serve certain communities in western Canada with broader, but still locally relevant programming so that it doesn’t rely on repeat programming to meet its Canadian content obligations in the face of a tough financial environment.
The cable giant, which now has on its hands Shaw’s broadcasting assets, filed a Part 1 application made public this week asking for a modification to its condition of licence to be able to show what it calls Spotlight Channels based, not on a standalone basis but in four larger zones housing…
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Telus announced Wednesday it will invest more than $10 billion to expand and improve its network infrastructure and operations across Quebec over the next five years.
This follows similar Telus announcements on Monday about its planned investments in British Columbia and Alberta through 2028.
As part of its investment in Quebec, Telus said in a press release it is collaborating with the government of Quebec and the CRTC through two separate grant programs to expand its 5G network to isolated and rural communities and road sections in the regions of Eastern…
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Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Incorporated (APTN) has been given the green light from the CRTC to launch a new APTN Indigenous-language channel.
The CRTC on Tuesday approved a June 2023 application by APTN to amend its conditions of service so that its four distinct programming feeds — APTN West, APTN East, APTN North and the national APTN HD feed — could be consolidated into two high-definition channels — APTN and APTN Languages.
As a result of the CRTC’s decision, the APTN channel will soon operate on a unified broadcast schedule featuring programming in…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The city of Ottawa is arguing before the CRTC that Videotron is relying on the wrong agreement in its request for the regulator to force the city to reimburse the carrier for having to move its transmission lines for the construction of city projects.
Videotron filed a Part 1 application last month alleging the city has refused to compensate it $300,000 for the move to make way for projects at Montreal Road and Woodroffe Avenue because it was made at the request of its subsidiary Hydro Ottawa, which the telecom argued doesn’t make sense because…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TVA Group will be able to broadcast fewer newscasts and hours of local programming to allow it to be nimbler in a rough financial environment, the CRTC ruled Monday.
TVA parent company Quebecor a year ago filed to the CRTC the request to ease the regulatory obligations on CFCM-DT in Quebec City, saying it would need some relief from the need to broadcast two newscasts every weekend and reduce by two hours the requirement to maintain 18 hours of local programming per week. The alternative to that, it warned, is that it would have to make “difficult…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has on Monday finally decided to ease Corus’s financial obligations and delay the payback period to certain Canadian content funds, more than six months after it requested said relief.
That means Corus will see its obligations to programs of national interest (PNI) reduced from 8.5 per cent of previous year’s revenues to 5 per cent and extend beyond the current licence term the repayment period of certain amounts owed to its Canadian programming expenditure (CPE) that were deferred from the pandemic.
“The evidence on the record of this proceeding demonstrates that Corus is under considerable financial strain,”…
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Telus announced Monday it will invest $17 billion in British Columbia and more than $16 billion in Alberta to significantly expand and improve its network infrastructure and operations across those two provinces over the next five years.
These investments are part of the Vancouver-based telecom’s larger commitment to deploy $73 billion across Canada by 2028 to develop infrastructure, improve sustainability and advance its network technology, it said.
Part of its investment in the two provinces through 2028 will go toward enhancing its 5G network with open radio access network (ORAN)…
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