OTTAWA – The CRTC has caught and fined another telemarketer for violating the country’s national do not call list (DNCL) rules.
Between October 10, 2010 and June 21, 2011, the Commission said that it received “numerous complaints” in relation to telemarketing telecommunications made by Ed Barna, carrying on business as Byo Steem, a steam cleaning company based in London, ON.
After an investigation, it levied an $8,0000 administrative monetary penalty against the company for initiating four telemarketing calls to consumers whose numbers were registered on the DNCL, and for initiating these telecommunications without having paid all applicable fees to the national…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC has resumed its proceeding to establish a model municipal access agreement (MAA), albeit with a slight change.
MAAs are negotiated between municipalities and telecommunication providers for access to municipal rights-of-way, such as street crossings and other municipal property, for the purposes of installing, operating, and maintaining transmission facilities.
After kicking off the process last September, the Commission said Tuesday that it is amending the process to begin with the establishment of an ad-hoc CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC) working group to develop the access terms and conditions to be included in the model MAA, and not with a…
Continue Reading
MICHAEL MACMILLAN HAS timed things pretty well in his career.
A film and TV producer whose former company has an Academy Award to its credit (short film Boys and Girls, in 1984), MacMillan saw a law change Stateside that he knew would hurt Atlantis Films, so he got into broadcasting (with Life Network) as specialty channels were growing in number and popularity. Later, knowing that bigger would be better thanks to cross-promotional and content sharing possibilities, among other things, his Atlantis Broadcasting took over Alliance Communications in the 1990s to become a Canadian powerhouse in Alliance Atlantis.
Not long after that,…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear the fee-for-carriage (or value for signal) appeal on April 19, 2012.
As Cartt.ca readers will recall, the CRTC referred the issue’s jurisdictional question to the Federal Court who determined that the Commission does have jurisdiction and can let broadcasters demand a fee from satellite, cable and telco TV carriers for the broadcasters’ off-air signals.
www.scc-csc.gc.ca
Continue Reading
CALGARY – A CRTC hearing into new radio stations in Calgary kicked off on Monday with the first few operators stating their case for the 95.3 MHz frequency as the new home of an ethnic service.
Diversified Society of Alberta, Unison Media Inc. and Alberta Mosaic Radio Broadcasting Inc. each took their turn Monday morning explaining to the Commission why they should be granted the license for the frequency.
Diversified Society, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving South Asian communities, in essence plans to operate a community radio station run largely by volunteers. The radio station would serve “the larger populace…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Shaw Communications filed an appeal to the CRTC on Friday regarding last October’s policy decision to quash usage-based billing in favour of incumbents charging independent internet service providers either a flat rate, or a rate based on capacity and the number of users.
Under the new regulatory regime, ISPs can now sell smaller providers a set capacity per month, or a simple flat fee for a set level of speed – and was officially instituted February 1st. The new policy also means smaller ISPs will have to pay more to…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Rogers will follow the lead of rival Bell Canada and abandon its Internet traffic management practices (ITMP) starting next month.
The communications giant made the announcement on Friday in a letter to the CRTC’s Chief Compliance and Enforcement Officer Andrea Rosen. That letter was filed in response to one from her dated January 23 that asked Rogers to respond to evidence that its Internet throttling practices breached the net neutrality rules within the Telecommunications Act, as Cartt.ca reported.
Signed by SVP of Regulatory Ken Engelhart, the letter said that Rogers has been reviewing its traffic shaping policy…
Continue Reading
WHEN IT COMES TO the introduction of local competition in areas served by Canada’s independent phone companies, the CRTC is doing it all wrong and needs to be stopped, say those companies.
In fact, those telcos are so sure the Commission’s recent moves to introduce competition for local phone and broadband customers are so far off base that they will file an appeal with federal cabinet tomorrow (Friday) over it as well as seek a stay of the CRTC’s recent rulings on the matter.
“We’ve known for a long time that the Commission is keen on getting…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – The CRTC has approved an application for a new, national, English-language Category B specialty television programming service called The Philanthropy Channel.
The independent channel aims to introduce Canadians to inspiring people and organizations whose philanthropic work makes Canada and the world a better place. It will also offer programming about the philanthropic interests of private individuals, foundations, and pop-culture icons such as Bill Gates, Bono and Oprah Winfrey.
"The Philanthropy Channel is where like-minded people will be able to share their stories and passion for giving and helping at all levels," said founder and president Peter Clarke, in the announcement. "As an independent…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – As the CBC awaits to hear how much of a budget cut it will have to take, the CRTC is not going to try and put the Corp. through a licensing hearing just now.
Last summer the Commission postponed the CBC’s license hearing until June 2012, citing a couple of reasons, the primary one being that the public broadcaster does not yet know what its future operating budget will be. Fast-forward to now and the situation is no clearer. While the federal government has let it be known the CBC will not be left…
Continue Reading
