OTTAWA – Super Écran just may face some competition in the French pay TV genre after all.
The CRTC said Tuesday that it will now consider applications for new French-language general interest pay television services that compete with Super Écran. This is a reversal of its position last November when it said that it would only accept applications for channels that would be complementary to, rather than compete with, the 25-year old incumbent. Astral-owned Super Écran is currently the only general interest pay television service currently offered by all BDUs in the French-language market.
Applications are due…
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TORONTO – With new owner BCE expecting to take ownership of CTV come early March, personnel changes and internal restructuring is continuing.
Staff was informed this morning by new COO Kevin Crull of the departure of a number of long-time CTV staffers and the reorganization of the duties of some others.
The best known executive leaving is perhaps programming chief Susanne Boyce, who has been at CTV since 1995. “She is a champion of Canadian programming, production and talent, believing that our content can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best TV on the continent and around the world,” said Crull’s…
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GATINEAU – The winds of criticism were blowing Pelmorex Communications’ way during the first day of its licence renewal hearing in Gatineau on Tuesday as CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein and Pelmorex senior VP of regulatory and strategic affairs Paul Temple sparred over aspects of the company’s licence renewal application.
In addition to asking for a seven-year licence renewal, Pelmorex is requesting an extension to the 2009 mandatory order on 9(1)(h) that would keep the Weather Network and MétéoMédia on basic carriage until 2018. The company says that it needs the extension to help offset the costs of operating…
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GATINEAU – After a week of vitriol, legitimate consumer anger and utter political silliness, the CRTC today officially opened up a new review into wholesale broadband usage based billing
“The great concern expressed by Canadians over this issue is telling of how much the Internet has become an integral part of their lives,” said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC, in a press release.
“Our approach is based on two fundamental principles: as a general rule, ordinary consumers served by Small ISPs should not have to fund the bandwidth used by the heaviest residential Internet consumers; and it is in…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications said today that thanks to the national backlash over the concept of usage-based billing, it is asking customers to participate in consultation sessions to share their thoughts on how the big ISP should handle Internet usage allowances and billing.
That’s despite the fact the whole UBB furor has little to do with Shaw as it has just a single third party ISPs riding on its network and hadn’t yet begun charging retail customers for exceeding the gigabit download thresholds the company had set (“High Speed” has a 60 GB file transfer limit, “Extreme” has a 100…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has a new vice-chairman of broadcasting at last.
Montreal lawyer Athanasios (Tom) Pentefountas was named to the post by Heritage Minister James Moore on Friday. The position has been filled on an interim basis by Ontario commissioner Rita Cugini since Michel Arpin completed his five-year term last August.
"I am delighted that Mr. Pentefountas has agreed to join the CRTC," said Minister Moore, in the announcement. "I am certain that his leadership, extensive knowledge, and strong legal background will be great assets to the CRTC."
Pentefountas is a partner in the law firm Silver Sandiford. He has also worked…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down Corus’ request for a regional, English-language category 2 specialty television network in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Known as Local1, the network had planned to offer a local news, weather, traffic and community information service customized for each community in which it was distributed. Pelmorex, for one, opposed the application.
In its decision, the Commission said it was not convinced that the proposed service would be anything more than a weather-related service, and therefore competitive with The Weather Network, a must-carry, category A service. Corus also failed to demonstrated that Local1 would be…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has updated its action plan for reviewing certain telecom regulatory measures.
Before the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2011, the Commission pledged to initiate its reviews of the following:
Regulatory measures relating to interconnection issues– Wireless Interconnection: Bill & Keep– Review interexchange carrier interconnection– Review and streamline competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) interconnection obligations as they apply to small CLECs– Creation of CLEC-voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) category– Administration of CLEC interconnection by incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC).
Other regulatory measures– ILECs’ provision of digital maps of exchanges for…
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OTTAWA – While CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said Thursday he’d have the Commission take another look at the wholesale usage-based billing decision, he did not back down at all from the concept itself as an acceptable way for ISPs to do business.
The chair was called in Thursday to appear before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to explain the Regulator’s rationale behind its decision that caused so much ill-informed uproar. The January 25 decision confirmed that major ISPs could apply the same UBB parameters to wholesalers using its networks, and that it had to be offered…
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HOW DID A CRTC DECISION on usage-based billing that affects so few total Canadians become a national story and potentially an election issue?
It’s your fault, big ISPs.
According to recent research, most customers of the large Canadian ISPs were not even aware their Internet packages were subject to bandwidth caps and extra billing if they went over those limits. They didn’t know they were capped and sure didn’t know how much extra it could cost.
In short, the big ISPs were and are doing a poor job letting their customers know their limits and what they mean. People aren’t…
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