OTTAWA – Regina-based Access Communications Co-operative has told the CRTC that it no longer wishes to pay into the country’s Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF).
Canada’s cable and satellite companies must contribute 1.5% of their gross broadcasting-related revenues per year to the fund, which can then be accessed by broadcasters serving markets with less than 1 million people to help fund local programming.
In an application made public earlier this week, Access asked the Commission to amend its BDU licence to relieve it from its LPIF contributions, citing its “unique corporate structure” as compared to other BDUs (Access is a community-owned not-for-profit cooperative…
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OTTAWA – The pace of play at the Federal Court of Appeal’s (FCA) hearing on Globalive Wireless’ ownership yesterday was certainly not like an NHL playoff game, but both sides used their opportunities to rough up their opponents.
After an in-depth explanation why the Federal Court erred in its decision to overturn the Governor in Council (GIC) decision giving Globalive the green light to operate, lawyers for the government of Canada took their first jab at Public Mobile, arguing that the company shouldn’t have even had the right to appeal the GIC in the first place. They said…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has ordered the country’s telcos to pay over $215,000 to the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) in order to cover its costs during the obligation to serve hearing last fall.
The consumer group asked the Commission that it be reimbursed for legal fees, consultant fees, expert witness fees, disbursement fees and tax while representing the organizations Canada Without Poverty, Option consommateurs, and Rural Dignity of Canada, an amount that it said totaled $216,795.66.
On Monday, the CRTC agreed that PIAC should be paid $215,276.46, and that the amount should be divided up among all telecommunications service providers…
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GATINEAU – Independent Canadian ISPs say that while they welcome new proposals to charge for wholesale high-speed access to incumbent facilities such as Bell Canada’s aggregated volume pricing (AVP), most everyone is missing the point by focusing on usage rather than congestion.
Movie streaming service Netflix also filed its own opinion on the Bell proposal, too.
Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC) criticizes both Bell’s AVP model and the blended charge approaches suggested by the cable companies for linking high volume users with those who create congestion on the network.
“This is a crucial distinction because all of the other proposals…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has sided with MTS Allstream in a dispute with Triton Global Business Services over the companies’ billing and collection services agreement.
Triton provides interexchange telecommunications services such as collect calling services and third-party billing in Canada. In February, it asked the Commission to resolve a dispute between it and MTS Allstream over an agreement that the two companies signed in 2003 and was terminated by MTS Allstream in January this year.
After granting Triton’s request for interim relief in March, the Commission said Monday that it found Triton has breached the agreement and “failed to demonstrate that it has taken appropriate…
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OTTAWA – The Community Radio Fund of Canada will hand out more than $180,000 to 26 campus and community radio broadcasters this year.
The Ottawa-based organization said Monday that $182,815 will be dispersed through its Radio Talent Development Program and the Youth Internship Program. The goal of both programs is to develop innovative local interest programming while providing mentorship, education, and or training for broadcasters.
"The Community Radio Fund is all about supporting programming that matters to people in your town, your village, your neighbourhood”, said president John Harris Stevenson, in Monday’s announcement. “I’m very happy that the fund has been able…
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OTTAWA – With just over 100 days and counting until the digital transition, the federal government has launched a new website to help Canadians understand and prepare for the switchover.
In addition to a downloadable checklist, the site offers affected TV viewers tips on how to install a digital-to-analog convertor box, choose a new television set, or subscribe to a TV service provider.
The country’s major over-the-air broadcasters are also now airing their public service announcements as part of the national awareness campaign which began earlier this month. As Cartt.ca reported, the CRTC directed broadcasters that are required to make…
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IT’S ALL ABOUT ENSURING Canadians have access to an open and affordable Internet. This is how Steve Anderson, founder and executive director of OpenMedia.ca, describes the mission of the consumer advocacy organization with respect to the ongoing battle over usage-based billing.
He spoke at length with Cartt.ca last week about UBB, the organization, its creation, its financial backing and other issues.
He says he got involved in Internet policy matters when net neutrality sparked considerable debate in the United States. It was for purely personal reasons at first, but once he realized that this issue would rear its head north of…
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OTTAWA – Canadian television audiences could soon be enjoying two more ethnic services.
The CRTC said Wednesday that it has approved an application by Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. for a broadcasting licence to operate Greek TV, a national, general interest third-language ethnic Category 2 specialty channel devoted to the Greek-speaking communities in Canada.
The Commission also issued a call for comments on the addition of RAINews to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis after receiving a request from Rogers in March. Rogers’ application describes RAINews as the all-news broadcasting service of Italy’s…
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ONE THING BECAME CLEAR pretty quick when I sat down to with Phil Lind a not long ago. He wanted to talk about fee-for-carriage.
The vice-chairman and executive vice-president, regulatory, at Rogers Communications gets a little animated and agitated when it comes to fee-for-carriage(or the renamed value-for-signal). Over four years ago, when we said (wrongly at the time) that it seemed inevitable the CRTC would grant OTA broadcasters the right to charge a fee for their signal, he called me up out of the blue to tell me in no uncertain terms how wrong I was.
For that particular proceeding,…
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