Search Results for: crtc

Radio / Television News

Broadcasting industry must turn down loud commercials

OTTAWA – Broadcasters and television service providers must control the loudness of TV commercials by September 1st 2012, the CRTC has ruled. Tuesday’s decision comes after a public hearing in February which resulted in over 7,000 comments in which “Canadians overwhelmingly expressed the view that the excessive loudness of television commercials has been an irritant for years”, and urged the CRTC to take action. The decision means that both broadcasters and television service providers will be required to adhere to standards developed in 2009 by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) for measuring and controlling television signals… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Loud TV ads decision expected this week

OTTAWA – The CRTC’s decision on loud television commercials is expected this week. The Commission launched a public consultation earlier this year after receiving hundreds of complaints. Its decision could include technical and regulatory measures to ensure commercials are not perceived to be louder than the programs they accompany. Check back soon for our full story on the decision. Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Deadline for French-language TV regulatory framework comments pushed back

OTTAWA – The CRTC has extended the deadline for interventions related to the development of a regulatory framework for the French-language television market. Comments and interventions are now due by September 27, two business days later than its original deadline of September 23, 2011, the Commission said Wednesday. Scheduled for December 5 at the Omni Mont-Royal Hotel in Montreal, the hearing will also seek to renew the broadcast licences for Astral Media, Quebecor Media and Serdy Media, plus review of certain conditions of licence for V Interactions Inc. www.crtc.gc.ca Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Happy New Year! The top 25 stories of the 2011 broadcast year

SINCE SEPTEMBER IS OFTEN viewed as the “new year” for those in the television business, we’ve used Labour Day week each year since Cartt.ca’s launch in 2005 to look back at the top stories of the past 12 months. It’s good fun and very instructive for us at Cartt.ca to pause, study and see what resonated with readers among the approximately 2,000 stories we have published since September 1, 2010 (that’s almost eight per working day). In examining our analytics to see just what stories were most-viewed between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011,, it’s not surprising to see the… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Cogeco’s traffic radio station launches Tuesday despite “sudden and unexpected opposition”

MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion-owned CKAC will be rebranded as Radio Circulation 730 starting early Tuesday morning, with programming now dedicated to traffic, road work, and weather in the Greater Montreal area. In addition, sister station 98.5 FM will become “Montreal’s super station for opinion, news and sports”, and include select sports programming from CKAC such as Montreal Canadiens, Alouettes and Impact game broadcasts. The radio division of Cogeco Inc. said Friday that the move was made in order to honour the agreement struck in May between Cogeco Diffusion and the Ministère des Transports du Québec on a French-language and an… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CRTC maintains detailed monthly billing statements regs

OTTAWA – The CRTC has decided to uphold its existing regulatory measure associated with the provision of detailed monthly billing for small and large incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs). In addition, the Commission said Friday, market forces can continue to be relied upon with respect to the detailed monthly billing requirement in forborne markets, consistent with policy direction. Commissioners Suzanne Lamarre and Michel Morin both offered dissenting opinions which decried the decision’s lack of transparency.  Commissioner Lamarre recommended that the regulations be extended to all local exchange carriers (LECs) and other telecommunications service providers (TSPs) in both regulated… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Rogers, Astral slapped with shortened radio renewals

OTTAWA – Rogers Broadcasting and Astral Media Radio were among a handful of radio broadcasters that received only short term licence renewals after the CRTC questioned their adherence to regulatory obligations. The Commission renewed the broadcasting licence for Rogers’ CFUN-FM Chilliwack and its transmitters CFUN-FM-1 Abbotsford and CFUN-FM-2 Vancouver for only one year – from September 1, 2011 to August 31, 2012 – to allow for an earlier review of its compliance with the radio regulations and its conditions of licence. It also issued a mandatory order requiring the station to comply with its conditions of licence relating to local… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Wind wants seamless handoffs from Rogers, demanding a review and vary from CRTC

GATINEAU – As more Wind Mobile customers endure dropped calls when they get beyond the reaches of the company’s wireless network and roam onto the Rogers Wireless net, the wireless newcomer has told the CRTC it has had enough – again – and that the Commission must act and set aside its recent decision. Wind Mobile has asked the CRTC to review and vary a decision rendered on June 3 (TD CRTC 2011-360) which dismissed the Wind’s undue preference complaint against Rogers over the hard handoffs from network to network when Wind customers roam, mid-call, onto the Rogers’… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

CBSC backtracks on use of “other f-word” in Dire Straits’ song

OTTAWA – Canadian radio stations may once again play the unedited version of the Dire Straits song “Money for Nothing” after the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) relaxed its opposition to the “other f-word” contained in the song. The song, from the band’s 1985 album Brothers In Arms, includes three instances of the word “faggot”.  In January, after a listener complained to the CBSC that the word is discriminatory to gays, the CBSC’s Atlantic Regional Panel determined that the song breached broadcast codes, as did any radio station that played it.  The decision generated a wave of public criticism,… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

New area code, 10-digit dialing coming to Saskatchewan

OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Effective May 2013, 10-digit local dialing will be required for all local calls made in Saskatchewan, except for calls made from Kinoosao or Uranium City, the CRTC said Friday. It also announced that the new area code 639 would join 306 in the province. The transition to 10-digit dialing will begin on February 25, 2013, and will be gradually introduced over the following weeks before becoming mandatory by May 11, 2013. At the same time, in order to prevent a shortage of telephone numbers in the province, the CRTC will begin rolling out area code 639 as of May… Continue Reading