GATINEAU – Friends of Alain Gourd say the Canadian media industry has lost a humanist and optimist, a fierce defender of Canadian talent, as well as a persuasive debater who often earned the respect of his opponents – and a dedicated family man who made time to comfort those with cancer even as he fought the same disease.
Gourd passed away at the age of 66 this past Saturday. After battling cancer for nearly a decade, which was in remission, he died last weekend of complications due to pneumonia.
Andrée Noël, national chair of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council calls Gourd…
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OTTAWA – Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame has announced that Omer Girard, a founding father of Canadian cable television, is the 2012 recipient of the coveted Neotelis Canadian Telecom Career Service Award for material contributions to the promotion of telecommunications in Canada. Girard, soon to celebrate his 92nd birthday, was selected to receive the Canadian Telecom Career Service Award for industry leadership and vision, innovation in service and dedication and sacrifice in advancing the interests of the Canadian cable television industry.
Omer Girard's outstanding career in the Canadian telecom industry began 55 years ago…
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VANCOUVER – Telus is using intimidation and bullying to “stop Mobilicity’s conversation that you don’t need a contract to get wireless” charges Stewart Lyons, Mobilicity President and COO. He was responding to a lawsuit that Telus has filed against the new carrier for “false and misleading” TV ads.
The ads claim that “unlimited plans” offered by the incumbent carriers don’t cover all costs such as text messages, while positioning Mobilicity’s own voice and data services as truly unlimited.
Lyons told Cartt.ca the lawsuit was “bizarre” given that his company has “been repeating the same message…
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OTTAWA – On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada will release its ruling on whether or not the CRTC has the jurisdiction to let conventional, over-the-air local broadcasters pursue a fee for the carriage of their signals by subscription television providers. The appeal was heard back in April, as Cartt.ca reported.
The ability for local broadcasters to charge a cable, satellite or telco TV provider a wholesale fee (and by extension of course, Canadian subscribers) has been something TV station owners have pursued off and on for decades. The CBC asked for the ability to pursue…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has ruled that Telus has placed OUTtv at a competitive disadvantage by marketing the Category A service more like a B service, by making it an optional package on its Optik TV service. It found that Telus violated undue preference regulations related to the packaging and marketing of OUTtv Network Inc. by providing operators of other programming services a preference, contrary to section 9 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations. It has given Telus until February 8 to provide a detailed marketing plan on how it will remedy the unfair advantage.
The decision sets…
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OTTAWA – Canadian wireless subscribers want better protection from international data roaming fees, including a monthly cap, finds a report released today by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) entitled “Consumers and Wireless Data Roaming.” The report examined wireless service, billing practices and consumer experiences related to international data roaming fees, and how these fees affect the wireless device usage of consumers when outside of Canada. It also provides a comparative look at consumer protection measures implemented and considered in other countries to determine what actions, if any, are required to limit the occasions of bill…
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GATINEAU – While most agree that Canada definitely needs a national, mandatory code of conduct for wireless providers to adhere to when dealing with their customers, agreement on what this code will actually say is another matter entirely.
Submissions were due into the CRTC last week on the Commission’s proceeding to establish a mandatory code for mobile wireless services. A public hearing will start February 11th – after the Regulator itself releases a draft code for discussion next month and conducts three more days of public, online consultations.
Bell Canada says it’s been listening to what the CRTC Continue Reading
TORONTO – An improvement in how the CBC responds to Access to Information requests has bumped up its grade from an F to an A, and all it took was for senior leadership to get on board says Suzanne Legault, Information Commissioner of Canada. But at least one other major media company believes Legault is giving the CBC too much credit for just showing up.
On Thursday Legault released a special report to Parliament ranking the progress the CBC and Canada Post have made over the past two years on federal compliance with the access…
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GATINEAU – A compilation of statistics released by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association to the CRTC last week show that the number of lost or stolen wireless handsets reported to its member companies has been declining for the past two years.
Given the fact that more and more Canadians are living their lives through their phones, which are becoming laden with banking and other personal data, the CRTC earlier this year demanded more and better action from the Canadian wireless industry on tracking and permanently disabling those lost or stolen devices – and on helping consumers protect themselves.
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VANCOUVER – After apparently selling off its shares in Telus last month, Mason Capital is now “re-establishing a significant long position in common shares and shifting their short position primarily to common shares,” reports Telus.
The carrier cautions that due to the sudden increase in foreign ownership levels, Telus' transfer agent (Computershare) may not be able to approve new applications by non-Canadians to purchase Telus common shares, if that purchase would risk causing the company to exceed the federally mandated 33.3% foreign ownership level.
Telus says the re-established long common share position at November month-end…
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