MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion Inc. (CDI) has agreed to comply with CRTC requirements around the use of musical montages in the programming of its French-language radio stations and take part in discussions about French-language vocal music requirements.
The Commission said Thursday that CDI-owned CKOI-FM and Astral’s CKTF-FM were found to be airing up to 18% of long montages composed almost exclusively of popular English-language and non-Canadian music, contrary to regulations, and imposed conditions of licence.
While pledging to adhere to the CRTC’s new requirement, CDI pointed out that CKOI-FM was still owned by Corus during the period in question, and…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Industry Minister Christian Paradis has been added to the slate of speakers at the International Institute of Communications (IIC) Canada 2011 conference.
Minister Paradis will provide a keynote address at the event, and join other luminaries such as Heritage Minister James Moore, CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, and CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein.
In addition, on the heels of the CRTC's recent decision on usage based billing, Bryan Tramont, managing partner at Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer LLP and former chief of staff for the Federal Communications Commission, and John Lawford, Counsel for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, will engage…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Bell Media won its desired 690 kHz spot on the dial in the Montreal radio market, while Cogeco Diffusion was shut out by a newcomer for the 940 kHz location.
The CRTC issued its decision Monday, granting Bell Media’s request for a frequency change for its TSN radio station from 990 kHz to 690 kHz. As Cartt.ca reported, Cogeco had applied for an English-language all-traffic station on AM 940 to accompany its French-language service Radio Circulation 730 that launched this fall.
The Commission also awarded two new AM radio licences for the market, which is currently served by 34 stations, 21…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The now defunct over-the-air station Toronto One/Sun TV had its licence officially withdrawn by the CRTC.
The Commission said Friday that the move comes in response to a request by owner TVA Group Inc. for the revocation of its broadcasting licence for CKXT-TV Toronto and its related rebroadcasting transmitters CKXT-TV-1 Hamilton, CKXT-TV-2 London and CKXT-TV-3 Ottawa.
The channel has since been rebranded as the category two specialty channel Sun News.
www.crtc.gc.ca
Continue Reading
THE REACTION TO THE CRTC’s decision to quash usage-based Internet billing in favour of a couple of other options (complete with set rates) has been all over the map, with several hailing it as a win for consumers while others predict broadband rates will only rise because of it. Then again, there are also some in the middle taking a wait and see approach.
Dennis Beland, senior director regulatory affairs, Quebecor:
“The decision is a victory for artificial competition. We’ve always been defenders of facilities-based competition and if you take a step back and look at the…
Continue Reading
LAST YEAR AT THIS time, Kevin Crull was into week three of his transition from long-time telecom executive to the leader of the largest Canadian broadcasting company.
Now president of Bell Media, the company which owns the CTV and CTV2 conventional TV networks, 29 specialty channels including market leader TSN, 33 radio stations and the Sympatico.ca portal, Crull came over from Bell Canada’s telco side, having run Bell Residential Services for five years. For a decade prior to that he was a senior executive with AT&T and US West.
One of his final projects at Bell Canada was writing the business…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Cartt.ca reporter Perry Hoffman will be in the media lockup this afternoon at 2:30 prior to the CRTC release of its latest decision on wholesale Internet usage-based billing.
Whatever the decision, brace yourselves for waves of misinformation on what the decision means, especially since the decision will likely take time and a lot of number crunching to figure out what it all means. The decision is the result of a re-think of the Commission’s prior wholesale UBB decision, which federal cabinet made many noises about forcing the Regulator to re-visit after enduring a substantial public outcry.
However, in the end, the…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Some of the country’s biggest broadcasters must pay out a combined $618 million in tangible public benefits by August 31, 2017 associated with their recent acquisitions of English-language television assets, according to new research by Boon Dog Professional Services Inc.
The Ottawa-based research and consulting firm released a new annual syndicated research study on Monday called the ‘Canadian Television Benefits Monitor: Tracking Spending on English-Language Television Benefits Packages’.
The report, which uses 2010 data, tracks spending for 15 current English-language TV benefits packages using data contained in reports filed with the CRTC. The CRTC generally requires broadcasters to pay…
Continue Reading
READERS MIGHT HAVE sensed with my column Thursday that I am taking the issue of getting broadband to low-income families very seriously. I called the fact that we have nothing in Canada to help the poor get broadband in their homes embarrassing, especially when compared to the ambitious and comprehensive Connect 2 Compete program that was launched in the United States this week by the Federal Communications Commission, numerous cable companies and other firms.
Then, reporter Peter Nowak reports today that Canada is the ONLY country in the G8 with no assistance…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC is considering granting an exception to its common ownership policy in the Calgary radio market.
The Commission said Wednesday that it has received a request from Corus Entertainment on behalf of its wholly owned subsidiary CKIK-FM Limited, to amend the broadcasting licence for its AM radio station CHQR Calgary in order to add an FM rebroadcasting transmitter in Calgary.
Corus currently owns two FM radio stations in Calgary, CFGQ-FM (through CKIK-FM Limited) and CKRY-FM through Corus Radio Company. According to the CRTC’s common ownership policy, in markets with eight commercial stations or more operating in a given…
Continue Reading
