EVERY TUESDAY AFTER Labour Day, because it’s a fun analysis of our year and lets us have the weekend off… we re-publish the top stories from the last 12 months.
Why a “Happy New Year” now? Simple. September is the “new year” for broadcasters. The new fall shows are coming out and speaking from a regulatory perspective, the 2010 broadcast year ended August 31st and we are into a new year for them.
(Ed. Note: Not so incidentally, we’re now less than a year away from the analog shut off – which was a popular topic this year – and there’s…
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TORONTO – Canadian author Margaret Atwood is contributing to the hype around Quebecor’s proposed new Sun TV news channel – whether she means to, or not.
Earlier this week, Atwood tweeted that she’d signed a petition called “Stop Fox News North” at avaaz.org, and encouraged others to join her. The petition, among other allegations, accuses Prime Minister Harper of “trying to push American-style hate media onto our airwaves, and make us all pay for it”, and calls on him to “immediately stop all pressure on the CRTC on this matter”.
This sparked a swift, and sharp, opinion-editorial piece…
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TORONTO – With one saying it “verges on abuse of regulatory process,” several independent broadcasters are mulling their next steps in light of the CRTC decision to delay considering applications made under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act to June 2012.
On Friday the Commission finally released its new criteria for assessing applications for mandatory distribution on digital basic service made under that section, which guarantees carriage for any such license holder on all Canadian BDUs as well as a wholesale rate will be paid.
While the broadcasters are somewhat concerned about the seven criteria now set out which focus on…
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GATINEAU – On November 19th, the day after the CRTC is set to wrap up its look at the DTH satellite TV policies, the Regulator will hear Quebecor Media’s request for a SunTV News category two digital specialty service license.
With much fanfare back in June, the company made public its plan for a new news channel featuring “hard news” during the day and “straight talk” at night. In its original submission to the Commission, QMI proposed to shutter its money-losing SunTV station in exchange for a category one digital license, which would make the channel a must-offer…
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As the dust begins to settle after Tuesday’s deferral accounts decision, opinions from industry stakeholders run the gamut from “disappointing” to "harmful" to “reasonable”.
Barrett Xplore Inc., Canada’s largest provider of rural broadband services, described the decision as anti-competitive and an ineffective use of monies.
“We’re obviously disappointed that the CRTC chose to proceed as they did, using technology that is not the least-cost solution for rural Canada”, its chief legal officer, C.J. Prudham, told Cartt.ca. “We’re also disappointed that they did not take in to consideration the expansion by other companies, including us, into those areas. Essentially they’re…
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TORONTO – While not officially kicking its chief rival when it’s down, Rogers offered up a few thoughts of its own on the CRTC’s decision on deferral accounts.
“One problem with the (deferral account disbursement process) is that it went to court, and so there’s about a four year delay between when the (underserved) communities were approved and when they got built”, said SVP of regulatory, Ken Engelhart, in an interview with Cartt.ca. “What the CRTC really should have done was review all of the communities to make sure that they weren’t subsidizing Bell to go into some place…
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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 – 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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