OTTAWA and MONTREAL – Should the CRTC be able to dictate which technology Bell Canada uses to provide broadband to rural and remote communities in communities in Ontario and Quebec?
Absolutely not, says Bell. And it appears to have at least one CRTC commissioner on its side.
After agreeing in 2008 that Bell could use its deferral account funds to build broadband out to 112 underserved communities in Ontario and Quebec, Bell applied for permission the following year to deploy the latest HSPA+ broadband technology. But in Tuesday’s deferral accounts decision, the CRTC told Bell that it must instead bring…
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OTTAWA – Hundreds of thousands of Canadians are being deprived of access to their local CBC or Radio-Canada signal, and it’s up to the CRTC to right that wrong, according to the ‘pubcaster.
CBC/Radio-Canada is asking for the public’s help as the CRTC prepares to review its policies for direct-to-home (DTH) satellite distribution. In a statement on Wednesday, it said that Bell TV carries only nine of 14 CBC stations and eight of 13 Radio-Canada stations, while Shaw Direct carries only 10 of 14 CBC stations and six of 13 of Radio-Canada stations.
Conventional television licensees have argued in the past…
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GATINEAU – The five-year term of Michel Arpin, the vice-chair of broadcasting at the CRTC, ended Monday without a replacement being announced.
According to several sources, the seat may remain vacant for a while, until the federal government can find a candidate the Prime Minister’s Office likes.
As we’ve reported here and here, the rumour mill has whipsawed back and forth on what might be done, leading to lots of speculation on what may or may not be happening behind the scenes in Ottawa.
What we know is that the feds were adamant that Arpin not be extended, and…
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GATINEAU – As the large telephone and cable companies continue to push fibre deeper into their old copper networks to offer increasing broadband speeds and new services to their customers, the CRTC affirmed Monday the incumbents must continue to rent space to third party ISPs under its mandated access policy and the Commission’s speed matching rules.
These regs must be set aside, though, Bell Canada’s regulatory chief, Mirko Bibic, told Cartt.ca late on Monday. “We need to figure out how do we get to a situation where this should not be done at all?” he said in reacting to Monday’s…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s largest telephone companies must rebate $310.8 million to their urban home telephone customers plus bring broadband Internet to 287 rural and remote communities across the country, the CRTC said Tuesday.
Widely referred to as the deferral accounts decision, the CRTC has ordered that the initiatives be funded using the deferral accounts of Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Telus and MTS Allstream, which, as of May 31, 2010, held $770 million (including interest). Of this amount, $310.8 million will be rebated to customers, while $421.9 million will be spent on broadband services in communities across five provinces by 2014. The…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Most stakeholders agree that the CRTC’s new community TV policy did little to lessen cable’s firm grip on the country’s community channels. But even some of the country’s biggest cable companies appear to have some concerns.
“The closed captioning component is going to be a challenge”, said Colette Watson, VP of Rogers TV, in an interview with Cartt.ca. “As of December 31st, the funding is frozen to the levels we’re at now for four years. That’s fine, we’ll make that work. The issue then becomes, if in that same time frame we have to caption 100%…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians will now have more opportunities to participate in their community television channels, while cable companies must become more accountable and transparent with their channels’ funds, under the CRTC’s new community TV policy.
The Commission said Thursday that its new policy will require that community members be involved in the creation of at least half of a community channel’s programming. This means that the original idea for a program must come from members of the community, who must also be involved in some aspect of the production, whether in front or behind the camera.
Additionally, at least half of…
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OTTAWA – Specialty television networks Mystery TV, TVtropolis, Food Network Canada, HGTV Canada, History Television, The Independent Film Channel, Discovery Health Channel and Slice received CRTC approval to amend their broadcasting licences to add to the list of program categories from which they may draw, and to remove limitations on certain program categories.
The applicants said that the intent of their respective applications was to provide “additional programming flexibility”, consistent with the Commission’s policy set out in the regulatory framework.
Click here for more on Wednesday’s decision.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The financial and insurance industries must abide by the rules of the National Do Not Call List, the CRTC has decided.
After calling for comments in March, the Commission has amended its interpretation of the Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules to apply equally to the financial industry and the insurance industry, and determined that unsolicited calls by members of these industries to existing clients to sell or promote products or services constitute telemarketing calls.
“Consequently, the Rules are to apply equally to the financial and insurance industries, and in the same way they apply to all other industries”, Thursday’s decision…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is poised to release two key policy decisions this week.
Cartt.ca has learned that the Commission’s community TV policy will most likely be released on Thursday, just days before Commissioner Michel Arpin’s last day as vice-chair broadcasting.
A number of groups including cable providers and industry organizations appeared before the CRTC at its public proceeding in April, as Cartt.ca reported. Click here and here for a recap.
Also due out this week is the CRTC’s criteria for assessing applications for mandatory distribution on the digital basic service. This could be particularly interesting for Quebecor Media in…
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