THUNDER BAY, ON – Thunder Bay TV station CKPR-TV has told the CRTC that it wants to drop its affiliation with the CBC and become an independent.
In its application, parent company Thunder Bay Electronics said that it has been unable to negotiate a new program supply agreement with the CBC, and that as an independent local station it would “source” its non-local programming.
Thunder Bay Electronics’ other local television station CHFD-TV dropped its long time affiliation with CTV to become an independent station aligned with Canwest Global in January.
Interventions are due by April 8, 2010.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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“About a month later at a cable show in San Antonio, I bumped into an engineering legend named Israel Switzer, who worked for years at Maclean Hunter Cable. He was now consulting to upstart U.S. long-distance competitor MCI Communications. I knew and respected him a great deal.
“Israel asked me about cellular and what my plans were. I told him I was looking into it. He said he thought it was the future of telecommunications and urged me to get in before it was too late. I had to pay attention to a statement like that from a man of…
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OTTAWA – It’s a much-anticipated decision, but it won’t be released until after March Break.
For those on the regulatory side of the industry with kids off school and vacations planned, this is a good thing: Cartt.ca has learned that the target week for the release of the decision on 2009-411, the so-called value-for-signal/fee-for-carriage proceeding, is the week of March 22nd.
Click here for a little refresher…
Look for the Commission to also have something to say on VOD advertising and local avails, which will then tie into what happens with this application.
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking for feedback on whether insurance agents and brokers should be exempt from the National Do Not Call List, in the same way as investment and financial advisors.
The Commission clarified certain obligations under the DNCL rules that permit investment and financial advisors to contact existing clients in December 2008. By contrast, it determined that calls by insurance agents or brokers to sell or promote insurance products or services, including to existing clients, violated the DNCL rules. In a call for comments Thursday, the Commission questioned whether this difference should be maintained.
Parties interested…
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OTTAWA – In Wednesday’s Speech from the Throne to open the latest, much delayed, session of Parliament, the federal government has committed itself to allow more foreign investment in telecom and satellite in Canada.
While saying the government “will launch a digital economy strategy to drive the adoption of new technology across the economy. To encourage new ideas and protect the rights of Canadians whose research, development and artistic creativity contribute to Canada’s prosperity,” and that “our Government will also strengthen laws governing intellectual property and copyright,” (Read: Yet another stab at copyright reform, sigh…) the speech also said the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has revised its determination relating to the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) allocation formula.
In paragraph 22 of broadcasting regulatory policy 2009-406, the Commission erroneously indicated that the funding for a minority-language station from one language category would come from the funding made available to a non-metropolitan market of another language category.
The Commission said Thursday that it has corrected the first bullet of paragraph 22 as follows (changes in bold):
LPIF funding will be made available to television stations operating in non-metropolitan markets. However, a French-language station operating in a metropolitan English-language market (i.e.,…
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OTTAWA – Rogers has received CRTC approval for a new mainstream sports channel.
Programming will include NHL hockey games involving Canadian teams, Major League Baseball games, Union of European Football Associations soccer and other mainstream sports.
In its application submitted last September, Rogers said that the new network will air “programming dedicated to all aspects of sports with an emphasis on mainstream Canadian professional sports”.
The service has proposed to offer over 50% of its programming in high definition format with a view of moving towards 90% by the end of its licence term in August, 2016.
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SINCE TENS OF MILLIONS of us tuned in to watch our Canadian skiers, skaters and sliders perform at their best on their biggest stage, the Olympics, wouldn’t we also want to watch our own actors, writers and directors doing the very same thing on their biggest stage, prime time?
The answer is “yes, of course,” if given the chance.
The Olympic broadcast consortium spent multiple millions acquiring the rights to the 2010 Games and then multiple millions more preparing, building the facilities and staffing the place with the best Canada has to offer in terms of broadcasters and broadcasting. The 1,400…
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OTTAWA – Corus is looking to increase its presence in local news.
Through its subsidiary Corus Audio and Advertising Services, the company has applied to the CRTC for a broadcasting licence to operate a regional, English-language category 2 specialty television network in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The service, to be known as LOCAL1, will offer a local news, weather and community information service using video, text, graphics and audio content “tailored to respond to the need and interests of each individual community that it serves, large or small, urban or rural”, the application reads.
The Commission is scheduled to consider the…
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MONTREAL – With Parliament set to resume next week, the Liberal Party is calling on Prime Minister Harper to preserve the foreign ownership rules for Canadian broadcasting companies.
In an open letter that specifically references Industry Canada’s decision to overturn the CRTC’s ownership decision on Globalive, the Liberals said that any revisions to the Telecommunications Act must be debated in the House of Commons, and not “on the sly”.
“Any consideration of the Telecommunications Act must be done in the open, transparently and in consultation with Canadians,” said Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology, Marc Garneau, in a statement. “We must…
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