THIS SHOULD BE EMBARASSING. For all of us. The announcement Stateside that the Federal Communications Commission is teaming up with the cable industry and many others down south to offer low-income households access to computers, training and cheaper broadband ($9.95 a month), shows the Americans have it right.
The digital divide is not a rural-urban gap but a cost/knowledge/education chasm, regardless of where you live.
Many Americans can’t afford the $40-or-more per month it costs to get broadband at home, can’t afford a computer in the first place, and without broadband – as we all have come to realize – those families…
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OTTAWA – With more Canadians than ever connected to all manner of devices in so many ways, complaints about wireless services, Internet access and VoIP providers more than doubled in the past year, according to the 2010-2011 annual report for the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS).
The CCTS said that it received 8,007 complaints, up 114% over last year, which Commissioner Howard Maker noted was the largest year-over-year increase in complaints in the organization’s four year history.
Wireless complaints accounted for 62.3% of all complaints, up from 51.7% last year, which Maker said reflected the increasing availability of…
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GATINEAU – The chairmanship of the CRTC is often said to be a thankless job, so, many of the leading regulatory folks in Canadian telecom set about to change that this week, getting together to thank outgoing CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein for his yeoman’s work these past five years.
When he came on board as chair in 2007, von Finckenstein promised an open, accountable and transparent Commission. With dozens of public proceedings and many new ways to include the public in the debate launched under his watch, we got that in spades under von Finckenstein, who oversaw his final…
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix used the public broadcaster’s third annual public meeting and 75th anniversary to hammer home its commitment to accountability and transparency.
Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Lacroix highlighted the Corp’s newly created website that details its executive expenses, information about audits and Board meetings, and includes a monthly bulletin reporting on its “progress” on Access to Information requests. He also stressed its accountability to Canadians through Parliament, the CRTC, the Auditor General and its government-appointed Board of Directors.
“We take accountability and transparency very seriously”, he said…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications said Tuesday that it will try out a leaner basic programming package that it claims will provide its cable customers with the choice and flexibility that they have been asking for.
Available November 8 as a trial in London, ON, the Rogers Digital Starter Pack will offer a standard set of 86 core TV channels, including government mandated channels, for a base price of $20.29/month excluding taxes. Customers can order the Digital Starter Pack and may then choose any additional 15, 20 or 30 channels from more than 100 options, starting at $26.38/month, plus taxes. The Digital Starter…
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OTTAWA – Heritage Minister James Moore, CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, and CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein are among the big name speakers confirmed for the 2011 International Institute of Communications (IIC) Canada conference.
Scheduled for November 28 – 29 at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ottawa, the event is themed ‘Competition, Innovation and Applications: Towards a Digital Economy for Canada’. Cartt.ca is a media partner.
This year's conference will also feature a pre-conference on public broadcasting, presented in conjunction with CBC/Radio-Canada, on the morning of November 28. Plenary panels will include ‘Copyright and the digital economy’; ‘Over-the-top services: reframing the content…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable CEO Louis Audet said yesterday that the existing subscription TV model of providing large multi-channel programming packages to customers will soon be a thing of the past as companies evolve towards a model of more choice and flexibility.
Speaking to financial analysts after the company’s release of its strong fourth quarter results, Audet said irrespective of the CRTC’s demand for a report on providing more choice to the consumer (as the Commission has demanded as part of its Vertical Integration Policy), the overall video market will push cable in that direction.
“It’s…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has told online gamers that its complaints over Rogers network management policies have been heard and that the big ISP may face some sort of penalty or public hearing.
According to a news release Thursday evening from Openmedia.ca, the Canadian Gamers Organization was told by the Commission in a letter on Thursday from chief compliance and enforcement officer Andrea Rosen that its ongoing complaints against Rogers will be referred to the Commission’s Compliance and Enforcement Sector for further action.
The gamers say that Rogers’ throttling…
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WHILE HIS NAME MAY have been on every submission to the CRTC over the last four-plus years, few, if any know what Robert Morin thinks of Canadian cultural and telecom policy. That’s because he won’t say. It’s beyond his role.
He likens his now-former job as secretary-general of the CRTC (he retired this month) to that of a plumber, where it’s been his duty to make sure the plumbing, or the nuts and bolts of the Commission, work seamlessly and efficiently while policy and other national matters are developed and problems solved all around him. Basically, the type of house…
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TORONTO – Score Media saw its 2011 profits cut nearly in half, despite a modest gain in revenue.
For the fiscal year ended August 31, the company posted net income of $1.48 million, down from $2.5 million in 2010 though revenue increased across its TV and digital media platforms to $47.7 million from $43.8 million. Excluding the impact of the $800,000 CRTC Part II fee reversal in fiscal 2010, EBITDA was $7.9 million compared to $6.8 million last year.
The sports broadcaster reported a fourth quarter loss of $316,000, down from $1.1 million year-over-year, due in large part to a charge for…
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