TORONTO – Media Access Canada (MAC) has asked Industry Canada to use the pending 700 MHz spectrum auction to top-up its accessibility fund initiative.
MAC, on behalf of the Access 2020 Coalition, MAC is urging Industry Canada to include a 10% buyer’s premium on successful bids for the 700 spectrum, and apply a portion of the funds collected to the accessibility fund. MAC and Access 2020 are committed to financing a business model to achieve 100% captioning and description by 2020. Currently at $5.7 million, the fund’s establishment is conditional on the CRTC approval of BCE’s acquisition of CTV.
“The Accessibility…
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TORONTO – The value-for-signal issue may not be a fait accompli just yet.
Cartt.ca has learned that Rogers plans to appeal Monday’s Federal Court decision which confirmed that the CRTC does have the authority to permit broadcasters to negotiate a fee from BDUs for their off-air signals.
The appeal would head to to the Supreme Court, if the court chooses to hear it. No word yet if any other BDUs will jump on board, but stay tuned.
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CHATHAM, ON – TekSavvy Solutions said that it is “encouraged” by Industry Minister Tony Clement’s opposition to usage based billing (UBB), and cheered his stance on the need for competition in Canada.
The independent ISP applauded the Minister’s comments made earlier this week that described UBB as “inconsistent with good public policy”, and agreed that the best way to provide consumer choice is through “vigorous competition”.
“Minister Clement has a deep understanding of the complex issues that need to be addressed to ensure Canadians have the benefit of robust competition in Internet service,” said TekSavvy CEO Rocky Gaudrault, in a…
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OTTAWA – Usage-based billing (UBB) threatens to limit the benefits that innovative and creative businesses such as those involved in cloud computing could bring to the Canadian economy, Industry Minister Tony Clement told a Parliamentary committee Tuesday.
Speaking to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on Tuesday, Clement argued that the CRTC’s UBB decision is not consistent with good public policy and “is quite simply the wrong way to proceed.”
“Independent ISPs must not be forced to adopt the same retail pricing strategy as the incumbents. To do so is to limit consumer choice and…
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OTTAWA – While the massively confused usage-based billing issue gets all the attention these days, another media issue that will affect tens of thousands more Canadians than UBB is still receiving scant notice: the transition from analog over-the-air TV to digital.
Granted, most Canadians won’t notice a thing come September 1 of this year as most of us are plugged into a cable, satellite or telco TV subscription. When the analog TV transmitters are turned off in the mandatory markets, it will be a non-issue as our carriers will continue carrying and distributing as before.
But for the 900,000 estimated households…
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OTTAWA – In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Court of Canada said the CRTC does, in fact, have jurisdiction and can let broadcasters demand a fee from satellite, cable and telco TV carriers for the broadcasters’ off-air signals.
Given that the big Canadian broadcasters are now all owned by large distributors (we’re assuming Bell will soon get approval for its CTV purchase), this seems a pyrrhic victory. During the often nasty debate throughout the second half of 2009 (Stop the TV Tax vs. Local TV Matters), broadcasters and carriers lobbed verbal and digital grenades, each accusing the other of trying…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has added another matter for consideration to its widely anticipated hearing into vertical integration.
On Tuesday, the Commission asked for comments on whether benefits tests in the case of transfers of ownership or changes in control of distribution undertakings should be upheld.
Comments are due by April 27, and the hearing is set for June 20, 2011.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has crushed George Burger’s plans for his own TV network for the second time after denying his application for a new service to be known as Crush.
The former Alliance Communications Corp. executive was also behind a failed attempt a few years ago for a national English-language pay television licence called Spotlight. The Commission awarded the license to Allarco Entertainment for Super Channel, as Cartt.ca reported.
In his latest application, Burger asked for a license for a national, English-language Category 2 network targeting males aged 18 to 34, that would air a mix of theatrical…
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OTTAWA – TV and film production stakeholders are urging the CRTC to not lose sight of its Canadian programming expenditure (CPE) benchmarks when considering the group-based licence renewals of the large, vertically integrated, broadcasters.
The Canadian Media Production Association tells the Commission that it shouldn’t acquiesce to any demands to deviate from its proposed 30% CPE requirement and argues that the CRTC should reject outright broadcasters’ demands to have CPE requirements lower than 30%.
“Since the broadcaster groups all compete for the same types of programming (both Canadian and foreign) and for the same advertisers, they should all be…
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TORONTO – The merger of XM Canada and Sirius Canada is one step closer to fruition after the Competition Bureau proffered its blessing to the proposed union this week.
Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings (CSR), the parent company of XM Canada, said that it was “pleased” by the Competition Bureau’s announcement that it does not intend to make an application to the Competition Tribunal to challenge the proposed acquisition of Sirius Canada by CSR.
"Coming on the heels of last week’s CSR shareholder approval, (the Bureau’s) announcement is another exciting step forward in the process towards the proposed merger”, said CSR executive…
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