OTTAWA – A number of Canada’s independent cable operators have balked at signing a new omnibus carriage agreement for the up-to 30 specialty channels owned by Bell Media and instead are demanding the CRTC step in and decide who’s right.
According to sources with direct knowledge of the agreement and the ongoing battle, both Cogeco Cable and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance have been through a few rounds of official CRTC staff mediation, which hasn’t yielded much in the way of results. It now looks like the disputes are headed towards binding, final offer arbitration in front of a CRTC…
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OTTAWA – In an effort to lessen the administrative paperwork, the CRTC has simplified some of its requirements for BDUs.
On Wednesday, the Commission said that it is eliminating the requirements for BDUs to seek regulatory approval for amendments to their service areas and to file service area maps as part of an application for a new BDU licence, for a licence renewal, or for an extension to their licensed service area.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has amended the exemption order for terrestrial BDUs serving fewer than 20,000 subscribers.
The Commission said Wednesday that starting April 1, 2012, exempt BDUs will be required to make a contribution to Canadian programming of 5% of gross revenues from broadcasting activities. For the 2011-2012 broadcast year, this contribution will be payable on gross revenues from broadcasting activities earned between April 1 and August 31, 2012, and for subsequent broadcast years, the contribution will be payable on gross revenues from broadcasting activities earned over the entire broadcast year.
In addition, exempt BDUs are authorized to…
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OTTAWA – A new channel called SuperHero plus a new Canadian pay-per-view service received CRTC approval Wednesday.
Owned by Bell Media, SuperHero is a national, English-language specialty Category B service that would offer programming from international markets featuring the latest trends in non-violent action, adventure, superheroes, comedy and interactivity. The service would reach an interactive level with programs on the games associated with action series as well as magazine shows to cover current comic book trends and the classics, according to its application.
Canyon.TV Inc. was given the go-ahead for a broadcasting licence to operate a national, English-language terrestrial pay-per-view programming…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion shut down its Sherbrooke-based radio station CJTS-FM Tuesday at noon after failing to find a buyer. The move puts a dozen employees out of work, the company confirmed to Cartt.ca.
After approving its acquisition of Corus’ Quebec radio stations last April, the CRTC told Cogeco to divest of three of the stations in keeping with its common ownership policy which limits the number of stations in one market owned by the same company. Cogeco sold off two of its four Quebec City area stations last week to Leclerc Communication Inc., as Cartt.ca reported.
Cogeco said…
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OTTAWA – Manitoba and Saskatchewan regional CRTC Commissioner Candice Molnar has been reappointed for another five-year term, it was announced today.
In a short note to staff, CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein congratulated her for the renewal which will take her service until 2017. Her term was due to come to an end on January 6th.
Molnar spent over 20 years at SaskTel, as general manager of customer service and GM of the Crown Corporation’s regulatory department. (Ed note: And regularly asks tough, intelligent questions during Commission hearings. She clearly does her homework.)
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has approved the mandatory standards for French-language closed captioning submitted by the French-language Closed Captioning Working Group (FL-CCWG).
The closed captioning quality standards are sets of standards that address the quality of closed captioning provided by Canadian television broadcasters. Once approved by the Commission, all TV licensees will be required to adhere to the closed captioning standards through conditions of licence that will be applied at the time of licence renewal or approval of a new licence.
On Thursday, the Commission also directed FL-CCWG to submit an updated version of the standards by January 7, 2012…
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OTTAWA – Just a few days ago, so many were so hopeful that the federal government would finally have something to say Tuesday on one of three issues: the oft-mentioned but never announced digital economy strategy; foreign investment in the communications sector; or the rules for the 700 MHz spectrum auction.
No such luck. Industry Minister Christian Paradis, in his speech closing the International Institute of Communications Canadian conference, agreed all those issues are important, but that he had nothing further to add.
“I know there has been a lot of interest and speculation about what I may have to say…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion said Wednesday that it has sold two of its four Québec City region FM radio stations to Leclerc Communication Inc. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The sale of CJEC-FM and CFEL-FM comes at the behest of the CRTC which required Cogeco to sell off some of the stations that it acquired from Corus in order to comply with the common ownership policy in the Québec City and Sherbrooke markets.
The company said in a statement that proceedings for the sale of CJTS-FM in Sherbrooke are continuing.
In other company news, Cogeco Inc. has renewed its…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said Wednesday it has been alerted some people claiming to represent the CRTC are making telephone calls to Canadians and informing them that their computers are potentially at risk.
The caller then asks to remotely connect to the computer to scan for and remove any viruses.
These callers are not CRTC employees, says the Commission, which has placed a new page on its web site to warn people. “Canadians should never grant remote access to their computers or give their passwords to someone who has called them claiming to represent a government organization,”…
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