GATINEAU – After nearly a full day Monday examining corporate aspects of CBC/Radio-Canada’s licence renewal, the CRTC began a thorough study of the specifics of the broadcaster’s proposals late that day and through Tuesday.
Commission chair Jean-Pierre Blais brought up CBC’s commitment to seven hours of programs of national interest (PNI) per week. He wondered how the corporation decided on the number particularly since some interveners believe the corporation should be committing a greater amount each week to PNI.
Christine Wilson, executive director of content planning for English Language Services at CBC, said the corporation wanted to come up with a…
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GATINEAU – The industry finally has a date (albeit a tentative one) for when the CRTC will hear a number of TV channel applications asking for must-carry status.
Several broadcasters have said they filed applications for licenses (for existing or new channels) years ago seeking 9(1)(h), or must-carry status, on licensed Canadian TV distributors. They have complained often, and loudly, about the many delays to get to this hearing. The CRTC announced this week that it has tentatively scheduled a hearing to begin April 23.
Among those will be…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC told Rogers Communications on Tuesday that it won’t have to appear at a hearing in December to explain the apparent non-compliance with the conditions of license of its specialty channel G4TechTV.
Last month, as reported by Cartt.ca, the Regulator called both it and Corus Entertainment’s Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) to a December 11th hearing to explain why the channels are still not complying with their conditions of license.
Thanks to recent action taken by Rogers, however, the Commission has decided G4 can avoid the hearing. In its release Tuesday the Continue Reading
MONTREAL – There are few details at this time other than the fact Bell will ask for an exception to keep TSN Radio 690 in Montreal, but Monday morning Astral Media and BCE announced they’ve amended their sale agreement and have submitted a new proposal to the CRTC for approval of Bell's acquisition of Astral. The $3.38 billion purchase price remains unchanged.
Bell also announced that it has formally withdrawn its request to the federal Cabinet for a policy direction to the CRTC which was made in the wake last month’s Commission denial of the first…
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TORONTO – It would seem Bell Canada and Astral Media are figuring out how they can get back to the altar and tie the knot after all, perhaps with a third party in tow.
The Globe and Mail broke a story this morning saying a new purchase arrangement between the two would be announced soon, but this one would likely involve the spinoff of some English language TV assets – something we said could happen here.
In fact, since Bell and Astral executives are obviously committed to this deal and to do what…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC knocked one item off the docket for the next couple of weeks with the approval of Blue Ant Media’s purchase of specialty service Bold from the CBC for $10 million.
Bold’s license renewal (and the CBC’s oft-told problems with the channel’s conditions of license) were to be examined beginning next week during the two-week long hearing into the Corp.’s license renewal but with the sale, that has been removed from the procedure.
Bold, a category A channel formerly called Country Canada, has about 2.6 million subscribers and conditions of license which say it is to focus on…
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GATINEAU – The small incumbent local telephone companies (SILECs) are urging the CRTC to reject proposals calling for changes to the local subsidy regime for lost telephony customers (lost NAS). They also say a regime that will force them to raise local rates to make up for a shortfall in toll interconnection revenue won’t work.
The large incumbents, as well as Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, want the Commission to only allow the 50% subsidy rule to apply to lost customers who port their number to a competing carrier. The SILECs counter that this is not what the CRTC had…
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MONTREAL – Colba.Net Telecom is expanding its new Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service. The move follows CRTC approval of its the application for a broadcasting regional licence to operate a Class 1 terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertaking in Montreal, Drummondville, Trois-Rivières, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, and in the surrounding areas of Quebec.
The Commission has also recently approved its licences to operate terrestrial broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) in Ontario, BC, the Maritimes and across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
It says its new IPTV service will offer several high definition (HD) channels, including…
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TORONTO – The new Board of the Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) said it’s moving to address the need for new funding so that it can continue. CCF provides the definitive history of broadcasting in Canada on its website and was originally funded by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, and later supported through CRTC-approved Benefits Package grants from BCE and Astral. A registered non-profit charitable organization, CCF has also benefitted from private donors in the past.
This past Thursday the CCF elected its 2012-2013 Board at the Foundation’s Annual General Meeting at Ryerson University in Toronto.
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DARTMOUTH – Newfoundland Capital Corporation recorded a loss of $1.1 million in the third quarter compared to a profit of $4.3 million in 2011. The company attributed the decrease in profit primarily to a $7.5 million non-cash impairment charge resulting from the CRTC’s decision to end the Local Programming Improvement Fund.
Year-to-date profit of $3.5 million was down 74% from $9.6 million in the same period in 2011. It blamed the decline on the impairment charge combined with unrealized mark-to-market investment portfolio losses this year of $2.3 million.
"We are very pleased that positive…
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