THUNDER BAY, ON – Thunder Bay’s TV station CHFD-TV has told the CRTC that it plans to drop its affiliation with CTV to become an independent station aligned with CTV rival Canwest Global.
After more than 37 years as a CTV affiliate, CHFD-TV said in its application that is unable to negotiate a new program supply agreement with the national network after its previous one expired last August.
At issue is a new agreement on national commercial inventory. In documents filed with the CRTC in November, CHFD-TV said that CTV’s new proposed agreement would reduce its revenue by approximately 45% “therefore…
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OTTAWA – The new year is shaping up to be a busy one for broadcasters and the CRTC alike.
In addition to reviewing Mediadenovo’s request to sell ad time on US specialty channels’ local avails, the CRTC will consider a number of other applications at its hearing scheduled for February 22.
Astral Media has applied for three new broadcasting licences for national, English-language Category 2 specialty television networks. Adrenaline would air action movies and series “primarily driven by a fast-paced fictional plot featuring car chases, explosions, special effects, or martial arts” according to its application, whileSuperstar will be devoted…
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VANCOUVER – Most Canadians expect that cell phone prices will drop this year now that the country has a fourth major wireless company, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
More than half of respondents (53%) say that Canada is one of the most expensive countries to use a cell phone – including more than 60% of those in British Columbia and Alberta, while one-in-four (24%) believe the country is “slightly” more expensive than others.
In an on-line survey of a representative national sample Canadian adults, 72% of respondents said that the decision to allow Globalive’s Wind Mobile to operate in Canada…
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OTTAWA – Glenn O’Farrell’s plan to sell ad time on US specialty channels’ local avails in Canada is one step closer to fruition.
The former CAB president and CEO’s new company, Mediadenovo, learned Wednesday that its application will be considered as part of a CRTC public hearing scheduled for February 22, 2010. If approved, Mediadenovo would become a new programming undertaking that would sell the two minutes per hour of local availability ad time to national advertisers, and in turn, direct the majority of the revenues to Canadian programming.
In a move designed to further demonstrate its public policy credentials, the…
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OTTAWA – Public Mobile is the latest new wireless entrant scheduled to have its ownership structure scrutinized by the CRTC.
In a letter to the nascent company dated December 18, secretary general Robert Morin advised that Public Mobile will be subject to a Type 2 review of its ownership and control in order to determine its eligibility to operate as a Canadian telecommunications common carrier.
“When reviewing the ownership and control of Public Mobile, the Commission will apply the existing jurisprudence relating to determinations of control in fact, cognizant of the fact that in varying Telecom Decision CRTC 2009-678,…
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I BELIEVE IN LOCAL NEWS. I have been producing it all my career.
From my student paper, to the community weekly newspapers I’ve worked at, to the various trade magazines and web sites which have employed me, they have all been, in a way, strictly local news.
Friends and acquaintances sometimes think of me as a new media guru of sorts, that because I run a news service which is distributed online only, I know something they don’t. The truth is I’m not doing anything now I wasn’t doing back in 1989 when I was a sports writer for the Ontarion,…
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WHEN IT COMES to the billions of dollars Canadians pay for television every year, the main numbers which are poured into everyone’s spreadsheets for regulatory analysis are basically the same.
Thanks to the public documents available through the CRTC or via the companies which are publicly traded, the folks in the TV biz have a pretty good sense of how much money consumers willingly fork over (or which is pried from our bank accounts, depending on your point of view) for television, our primary form of video entertainment, and how it is divided.
But once dumped into those spread sheets, those…
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OTTAWA – Add the Canadian Association of Internet Providers to the list of organizations unhappy with the government’s decision not to overturn the CRTC’s decision on broadband competition.
CAIP says it is “profoundly disappointed”, and questioned whether the Federal Cabinet understands “that competition, innovation and choice for consumers hinges upon fair and equitable access to telecommunications infrastructure by competitors".
"To grow and flourish in a manner that benefits Canadians, the competitive Internet industry needs continued regulatory oversight of wholesale services", said CAIP chair Tom Copeland, in a statement. "Without this oversight Canada will continue to have only two dominant sources of Internet…
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OTTAWA – The Federal Cabinet has missed “an important opportunity to promote competition and innovation in Canada”, according to MTS Allstream.
By refusing to vary the CRTC’s "essential facilities" decision as it relates to local broadband network inputs, MTS Allstream said the Federal Government has “ignored the clear concerns” of thousands of Canadian consumers and businesses.
“This decision is a setback for Canadian consumers and businesses”, said CCO Chris Peirce, in a statement. “By refusing to act immediately to provide reasonable access to essential broadband network components, the Federal Government has further delayed vigorous competition in broadband and has stepped back…
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OTTAWA – Mediac Inc. is urging the CRTC not to “abandon” hearing- and visually-challenged consumers.
“With revenues shifting to multi-platform content distribution, the CRTC bears a duty to ensure that all Canadians’ ability to access the communications system is improved and strengthened, not reduced,” said Mediac president and CEO Beverley Milligan, in a statement. “As one of the central issues for hearing- or visually-challenged people with disabilities, and for those learning Canada’s official languages, accessibility will become meaningless unless the CRTC’s report to the government considers the benefits of encouraging and ensuring accessible content going forward.”
The company, which specializes in measuring…
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