The CRTC announced Monday it has approved separate broadcasting licence applications for a French-language community FM radio station and a French-language commercial FM station in Joliette, Quebec.
In its March 2023 application, Radio Nord-Joli Inc. had said it wanted to operate a community FM station in Joliette to replace its existing French-language community station CFNJ-FM in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon (a town located roughly 35 kilometres north of Joliette). Radio Nord-Joli also requested to transfer its existing rebroadcasting transmitter in Saint-Zénon to the new licence and to revoke CFNJ-FM’s licence. The CRTC has approved these…
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By Connie Thiessen
The CRTC is proposing cost recovery regulations that would apply to the largest online platforms that distribute news content as it continues to set up a framework around implementation of the Online News Act.
With the vast majority of the commission’s operations funded by fees charged to companies it regulates, it’s now proposing additional cost recovery rules in light of work required under the new Act. In a call for comments on the suggested measure, published Thursday, the CRTC proposes charging the largest digital operators to fund that new work, stipulating it will not collect from news businesses.
Cost recovery…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has ordered Bell’s Northwestel to stop adding a $20 surcharge for DSL internet services that don’t bundle the telecom’s home phone service.
The surcharge was approved by the commission in 2016 for the purpose of providing the telecom with enough revenue to complete by the end of 2017 DSL network upgrades in 45 communities in the Far North, which are considered high-cost serving areas outside of Whitehorse, Yukon, and Yellowknife.
“With the completion of these upgrades, the surcharge’s purpose has been fulfilled and it should no longer be added to customers’ bills,” the CRTC…
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The CRTC will decide how much it will cost Bell and Quebecor to broadcast each other’s sports channels, it said this month.
The two companies agreed that they could not hash out commercial terms to distribute Bell’s RDS and Videotron’s TVA Sports and filed in November a request for the regulator to make that decision.
The commission agreed in a letter dated May 15, saying the request met all the required criteria for a final offer arbitration hearing: the dispute is shared between the two; it concerns only monetary issues; the parties exhausted all methods to come to an agreement; the…
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Canadian Heritage has announced the appointment of Sylvain Lafrance as chairperson of Telefilm Canada. In addition, Deborah MacPherson and Claude Doucet have been appointed as members of Telefilm’s board of directors.
The five-year terms of all three appointees began May 9.
An expert in the fields of media management and communications, Lafrance worked at CBC/Radio-Canada for more than three decades. Before leaving the national public broadcaster in 2011, he held the position of executive vice president of French services, where he led the integration of the Crown corporation’s radio,…
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By Oliver Kane, a media consultant based in Toronto, who was a former Corus employee for a little more than eight years before leaving in September 2023
On May 6, the CRTC published an update on the phased implementation of bill C-11. While I can appreciate that, in their words, “the changes needed to implement the modernized Broadcasting Act are substantial and complex, with many interconnected issues to be addressed,” this glacial roll out is completely out of touch with the current challenges affecting the industry.
Phase 2 includes an update of no less than 10 consultations expected to take place…
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The percentage of telecom and TV service providers who are compliant with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) rules for providing information about the CCTS on their websites has increased over the last few years, according to the organization’s 2023 Compliance Report Cards, published early Thursday morning.
Internet, phone and licensed TV service providers in Canada are required by the CRTC to participate in the CCTS and its ombudsman complaint-resolution program.
In 2023, 35 per cent of 51 audited participating service providers (PSPs) were fully compliant with the requirements to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is asking the CRTC to allow it the flexibility to serve certain communities in western Canada with broader, but still locally relevant programming so that it doesn’t rely on repeat programming to meet its Canadian content obligations in the face of a tough financial environment.
The cable giant, which now has on its hands Shaw’s broadcasting assets, filed a Part 1 application made public this week asking for a modification to its condition of licence to be able to show what it calls Spotlight Channels based, not on a standalone basis but in four larger zones housing…
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Telus announced Wednesday it will invest more than $10 billion to expand and improve its network infrastructure and operations across Quebec over the next five years.
This follows similar Telus announcements on Monday about its planned investments in British Columbia and Alberta through 2028.
As part of its investment in Quebec, Telus said in a press release it is collaborating with the government of Quebec and the CRTC through two separate grant programs to expand its 5G network to isolated and rural communities and road sections in the regions of Eastern…
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Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Incorporated (APTN) has been given the green light from the CRTC to launch a new APTN Indigenous-language channel.
The CRTC on Tuesday approved a June 2023 application by APTN to amend its conditions of service so that its four distinct programming feeds — APTN West, APTN East, APTN North and the national APTN HD feed — could be consolidated into two high-definition channels — APTN and APTN Languages.
As a result of the CRTC’s decision, the APTN channel will soon operate on a unified broadcast schedule featuring programming in…
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