IT’S ALL ABOUT ENSURING Canadians have access to an open and affordable Internet. This is how Steve Anderson, founder and executive director of OpenMedia.ca, describes the mission of the consumer advocacy organization with respect to the ongoing battle over usage-based billing.
He spoke at length with Cartt.ca last week about UBB, the organization, its creation, its financial backing and other issues.
He says he got involved in Internet policy matters when net neutrality sparked considerable debate in the United States. It was for purely personal reasons at first, but once he realized that this issue would rear its head north of…
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GATINEAU – The definition of just what a new Canadian artist can be defined as was adopted by the CRTC today at the same time the Commission made public two studies that said those developing musicians are getting enough air time.
This took a while though as the proceeding dates back to the 2006 commercial radio policy which spawned a call for comments on an emerging artist definition in 2008.
“The Canadian radio industry is actively supporting new emerging artists, who promise to contribute to a vibrant music industry in the coming years,” said Konrad von Finckenstein,…
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OTTAWA – Canadian television audiences could soon be enjoying two more ethnic services.
The CRTC said Wednesday that it has approved an application by Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. for a broadcasting licence to operate Greek TV, a national, general interest third-language ethnic Category 2 specialty channel devoted to the Greek-speaking communities in Canada.
The Commission also issued a call for comments on the addition of RAINews to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis after receiving a request from Rogers in March. Rogers’ application describes RAINews as the all-news broadcasting service of Italy’s…
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OTTAWA – VOIP provider Primus Telecommunications has told the CRTC that it could lose market share if a Commission decision granting retroactive rate increases for Bell Canada’s and Bell Aliant’s unbundled local loops (ULL) is allowed to stand.
The competitive telecom and broadband provider says it will have to raise local telephony prices to pay for the higher ULL rates which could result in the loss of customers.
“This type of an increase would significantly harm Primus’ competitive position in the market and, indeed, would simply not be feasible or practical, because the current pricing in the market (and in particular,…
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OTTAWA – The rules around the broadcast of false and misleading news will not be broadened, the CRTC confirmed in a decision on Wednesday.
The Commission initially called for comments last January after the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations – a joint Commons and Senate committee that studies government regulations – determined that the CRTC’s rules regarding false and misleading news ran counter to the Charter of Rights.
The proposed amendments led to a public outcry in the media and on-line, resulting in the Commission receiving approximately 3,300 comments with all but 8 criticizing the…
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OTTAWA – Direct to Home Groceries has been fined $10,000 for violating the country’s national do not call list (DNCL), the CRTC announced Tuesday.
The Commission said that it received “numerous complaints” between March 5, 2009 and August 11, 2010 about the company for calling consumers whose telephone numbers were registered on DNCL. After receiving a notice of violation dated October 4, 2010, the Burlington, ON-based company said that it had experienced a computer glitch which resulted in it not knowingly contacting consumers registered on the national DNCL. It also claimed to be “in severe financial distress”, and said that a…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is hoping to simplify the number portability process by expanding access to the Canadian Number Portability Administration Centre Service Management System to third parties.
Number portability enables a customer to keep the same telephone number when changing telecommunications service providers within the same exchange. The NPAC/SMS is used by local exchange carriers (LECs) and wireless carriers to conduct the number portability process. The Commission initially limited access to the NPAC/SMS for the purpose of porting telephone numbers between LECs and subsequently expanded this access to include wireless carriers.
After receiving a request to expand access by from the Canadian…
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CAMBRIDGE, ON – CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein is suggesting “a conceptual rethink” of communications regulation in Canada, perhaps with all policy united under one government department.
In a speech at the annual Broadcasting Invitational Summit in Cambridge late last week, von Finckenstein expressed frustration (as he’s done with other speeches during his tenure) with the country’s legislation, regulation and institutions that he says has failed to keep pace with “digital technology, the Internet and vertical integration”.
“Currently, we are operating under three separate and very different Acts”, he said, in reference to the Broadcasting Act, the Radiocommunication Act and the…
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OTTAWA – The CBC has finally convinced the CRTC to accept a new programming proposal for its category 1 specialty service bold, sparking sharply worded dissents from two of its commissioners.
As Cartt.ca has reported, the Commission directed CBC to come up with another programming strategy in line with the channel’s original nature of service, (programming reflective of the living realities of rural Canadians), after rejecting the CBC’s first attempt last April. CBC re-branded the channel as bold from Country Canada in March, 2008 claiming challenges in sourcing programming, and limited financial resources to produce original content consistent with…
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ONE THING BECAME CLEAR pretty quick when I sat down to with Phil Lind a not long ago. He wanted to talk about fee-for-carriage.
The vice-chairman and executive vice-president, regulatory, at Rogers Communications gets a little animated and agitated when it comes to fee-for-carriage(or the renamed value-for-signal). Over four years ago, when we said (wrongly at the time) that it seemed inevitable the CRTC would grant OTA broadcasters the right to charge a fee for their signal, he called me up out of the blue to tell me in no uncertain terms how wrong I was.
For that particular proceeding,…
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