OTTAWA – The CRTC has released an approximate schedule for its upcoming television license renewals.
First up will be the renewal of Vide-on-Demand undertakings which will be handled via paper processes this Fall. This will be followed by private English-language groups CTV, CanWest, Rogers, Corus, and CJBN-TV Kenora in the Spring of 2011.
Private French-language groups services Quebecor, V interactions, Astral, TV5 Quebec Canada, and Canal Evasion will be considered in early Fall 2011, while all other conventional, specialty, pay, PPV, and community television undertakings whose licences expire in the next two years will be scheduled for Spring 2012.
CBC/Radio…
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OTTAWA – The Outdoor Life Network can add comedy and cartoons to its programming schedule, but still can’t include “stick and ball” sports.
In a decision on Friday, the CRTC approved Rogers’ request that it add categories 7(b) Ongoing comedy series (sitcoms), 7(e) Animated television programs and films, and 7(f) Programs of comedy sketches, improvisation, unscripted works, and stand-up comedy to the list of program categories that may be broadcast by the service. It also okayed an increase the amount of programming that may be drawn from category 7 Drama and comedy, as a whole from 5% of the…
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OTTAWA – CTV wants to decrease the amount of Canadian programming that it must air in order to allow it more “scheduling flexibility”.
In an application to the CRTC, the network has asked be relieved of the 60% yearly Canadian program requirement set out in section 4(6) of the Television Broadcasting Regulations, instead asking that it be replaced with the following condition of licence:
“As an exception to section 4(6) of the Television Broadcasting Regulations, 1987, the licensee shall devote not less than 55% of the broadcast year to the broadcasting of Canadian programs.”
CTV’s application said that it would "be unlikely" that this…
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WELL, I GUESS THIS leaves Canada (temporarily?) offside with both Europe and the U.S.A. now.
Pity, only in Canada you say?
By the Federal Court of Appeal’s logic, VOD is not a broadcast undertaking either. And let’s recall that cable operators employ IP protocols to deliver all content – including that “requested” stuff.
Two lessons hopefully learned here: First, the expert CRTC should not delegate tipping point policy decisions to narrow, interpretive and thin-knowledge based courts; and second, the only logical step now is to refine and amend the definition “broadcasting undertakings” in the Broadcasting Act.
And please, no more whining…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has upheld a ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council over questionable content that aired on Corus-owned radio station CFNY-FM (102.1 The Edge).
A listener appealed to the Commission in February after the CBSC determined that comments made during the March 20, 2009 broadcast of The Dean Blundell Show did not violate any broadcast codes, as Cartt.ca reported.
The complaint concerned an approximately 10-minute segment entitled “Wha’ Happened?” which aired at 8 a.m. The segment is a recurring contest in which callers are asked to share bizarre stories about things that have happened to them…
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OTTAWA – A small Ontario radio station has asked the CRTC for permission to be sold, but only if it can drop its Christian music for rock.
CFWC FM in Brantford, ON, has asked for a transfer of control to an Ontario numbered company in a sale worth $265,000. After alleging that “the station has been unprofitable for the past several years”, the applicant asked that the Commission revise its condition of license by deleting the condition that it air a minimum of 95% of all musical selections drawn from subcategory 35 (non classic religious).
The licensee said that the…
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MONTREAL – Continued growth in Cogeco’s Canadian division helped to hold third quarter profits steady at the Montreal-based company.
For the quarter ended May 31, 2010, revenue at Cogeco Inc. increased by 4.6% ($14.6 million) year-over-year to reach $330.9 million. Net income of $10.7 million was virtually unchanged compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year, however, net income in the third quarter of 2009 included an unfavourable income tax adjustment of $2 million related to the certain items at the company’s Portuguese subsidiary Cabovisao.
Operating income before amortization grew slightly by $1.3 million, or 1%, to reach $127.9…
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OTTAWA – While ruling that Internet Service Providers are not, in fact, broadcasters and therefore not subject to Canadian content exhibition or contribution requirements, the Federal Court of Appeal today also issued a bit of a caution on the issue of net neutrality.
When the CRTC issued its broadcasting in new media report in June of 2009, it also decided to ask the Federal Court of Appeal to decide whether the act of providing a pipe through which customers can bore into the Internet and draw programming to their various devices makes ISPs broadcasting entities – and therefore subject…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco is one step closer to buying up Corus’ radio stations in Quebec.
The cableco said Tuesday that it has submitted an official application to the CRTC detailing “the radio broadcasting strategy Cogeco intends to implement following this major acquisition”. The $80 million deal, announced in April, includes 11 radio stations: French and English stations in Montreal (CFQR-FM 92.5, CHMP-FM 98.5, CKOI-FM 96.9 and CKAC-AM 730); Quebec City (CFOM-FM 102.9 and CFEL-FM 102.1); CJRC-FM 104.7 in Gatineau; Sherbrooke (CKOY-FM 104.5 and CHLT-FM 107.7); CHLN-FM 106.9 in Trois-Rivieres and CIME-FM 103.9 in St-Jerome.
"We worked really hard to chart a…
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OTTAWA – Wireless data is now subject to same net neutrality rules as wired.
The CRTC said late last week that it will amend the forbearance framework for mobile wireless data services by making the offering and provision of these services by Canadian carriers subject to the Commission’s powers and duties under the Telecommunications Act.
Further, the Commission determined that the policy framework established for Internet traffic management practices applies to the use of mobile wireless data services to provide Internet access.
Click here for the full decision.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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