Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Having heard nine days of complaints, plaudits and the general direction of questions being asked by commissioners CBC/Radio-Canada committed to air more programs of national interest (PNI), regional French-language programming and children’s TV shows during the reply stage of its CRTC licence renewal hearing which wrapped up on Friday.
Some of the new proposals in French language services include 100 hours of per year of original Canadian programming, a commitment to do its best to reach 10 hours of local production in the Windsor market beginning in September 2013, and a willingness to accept a condition of licence…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – On its final day before the CRTC to consider its licence renewal, CBC/Radio-Canada once again called for a flexible regulatory framework to allow it to “evolve with the landscape.”
In concluding two weeks of public hearings the corporation used the opportunity to reiterate its commitment to the “essential and unique role that the public broadcaster plays in the Canadian broadcasting system,” the challenges it faces in fulfilling that role, and the need for regulatory flexibility and additional revenue opportunities to meet those challenges.
"We have a clear mandate from Parliament and a…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – On the second to last day of the CBC license renewal hearing, we heard perhaps the most blunt opposition yet to the public broadcaster’s request to be able to sell ad time on Radio 2 and Espace Musique, from Moses Znaimer’s company.
MZ Media, a division of Znaimer’s Zoomer Media which owns Classical 96.3 and 103.1 FM and AM 740 (as well as Vision TV and some other television assets) told CRTC commissioners Thursday that letting another station in the Toronto market sell advertising will make an already tough market, worse. And, to allow an organization already funded…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC says it will begin regulating Northwestel’s backbone connectivity V-Connect IP VPN service, and has ordered it to file a revised pricing model for what it charges competing internet service providers, along with a cost study justifying that price by year’s end.
The CRTC first directed Northwestel to file competitive rates nearly a year ago, but the company appealed the decision. The regulator this week responded by rejecting all of the carrier’s arguments in its decision.
“Commission concludes that Northwestel has market power in its operating territory with respect…
Continue Reading
SEED, THE NEW CITYV SITCOM now shooting in Halifax, will debut in Atlantic Canada, as across the country, early in 2013.
Citytv just won’t simsub the sperm donor comedy in the Maritimes, and local TV viewers will see Citytv Toronto commercials when the series bows. The broadcaster wanted to simsub it, but the CRTC said no to the company’s request last month. That’s a challenge for the braintrust at Rogers Media, where Atlantic Canada remains the one Canadian market where Citytv has no simsub privileges, and so depends on distant-signal carriage via BDUs.
To be sure, John…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Quebecor Media renewed its assault on CBC/Radio-Canada’s access to information practices during the corporation’s licence renewal hearing on Monday by requesting the CBC include access to information data in transparency and accountability reports to the Commission.
CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais, however, wondered if it’s wise to have a parallel system regarding access to information.
“We’re not asking for the CRTC to impose sanctions on CBC/Radio-Canada with respect to access to information like the Information Commissioner can. What we’re asking for is in the reports that are submitted to the CRTC, which allow the Commission to verify how…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – CBC’s call for greater regulatory flexibility to help it deal with the new realities of the broadcasting environment got some support on the fourth day of its licence renewal hearing.
Shaw Communications Inc. appearing later Thursday afternoon, said that all broadcasters should have additional room to operate in an environment that is being challenged by the emergence of non-traditional players such as Apple, Google, Netflix and Amazon.
“Regulatory micro-management is neither necessary nor efficient,” Paul Robertson, president of Shaw Media, said in his opening remarks. “All of us in the broadcasting sector require the ability to respond quickly to…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Communications said Wednesday it has signed an agreement with SamKnows Ltd., a well-trusted independent broadband performance testing company, to conduct ongoing measurement of broadband internet speed, based on customer data collected in the home.
SamKnows measures broadband performance around the globe, including measuring for the FCC in the United States, for example. The U.S.-based company also recently completed a small pilot project with the CRTC which used SamKnows to test rural broadband speeds.
"With Internet usage exploding, speed is more important than ever to the customer experience," said John Boynton, Rogers’ EVP and chief marketing officer, in the press…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The Canadian broadcast environment has changed considerably since 1999, the last time CBC/Radio-Canada appeared before the CRTC for a licence renewal hearing, and the changes in the world since requires an utterly new regulatory framework for the national public broadcaster, the corporation told the Commission on the first days of its licence renewal hearing Monday.
Direct-to-home satellite TV was only emerging, cells phones were for calling, and YouTube and Facebook were years away from even being thought up then, Hubert Lacroix, CBC president and CEO said during his opening remarks. Now, with the myriad devices and applications used…
Continue Reading
Search Results for: crtc
