OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC says that the CBC breached provisions of the TV regulations and a condition of licence when it broadcast controversial New Year’s Eve special Bye Bye 2008 on its French-language network.
The Commission said it concurs with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council’s (CBSC) analysis of the complaints and its conclusions, and determined that certain segments of the program violated the television broadcasting regulations, which prohibit the broadcast of abusive comments; breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Equitable Portrayal Code concerning the portrayal of visible minorities; and failed to meet the high-standard provision of the Broadcasting Act…
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HAMILTON and MONTREAL – Monday marked the start of a new era at the five former E!-branded television stations across the country.
Gone are the remnants of the ill-fated ‘E!’ design and glitzy American entertainment shows left over from the Canwest Global age. In its place in Hamilton, viewers welcomed the return of the station’s historic call letters as its new name -‘CHCH News and Movies’ – flashed up on TV screens before dawn.
New owner Channel Zero (CZ), cut all remaining ties to Canwest over the weekend, and the station’s first news show of the day opened at 5:30 AM…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request from Bell Canada and Bell Aliant to revoke telephone service providers’ (TSP) authority to cancel local and long-distance services with their existing provider during the customer transfer process.
The Bell companies filed the application on February 11, 2009, proposing a new process that would require customers to contact their existing TSP to cancel services prior to moving to a new TSP.
In its decision released Friday, the CRTC noted that the current customer transfer process, which was developed by the telecom industry, is “competitively neutral” and benefits all competitors equally “by…
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OTTAWA – Channel Zero has received CRTC approval to assume ownership of former Canwest E! stations CHCH TV Hamilton and CJNT TV Montreal.
The independent specialty service operator, which owns short film specialty Movieola, classic movie channel Silver Screen Classics, film distributor Ouat Media and a majority stake in the AOV adult channel brands, agreed to purchase the stations from Canwest Global on June 30.
The Commission also renewed the broadcasting licences for CHCH-TV and CJNT TV through August 31, 2016, and for the transitional digital television station CHCH-DT Hamilton until August 31, 2011.
In its decision on the CHCH…
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MONTREAL – Astral’s French-language music channel MusiquePlus will now allocate its annual contributions in support of music video development and production to MaxFACT.
MusiquePlus’ annual contributions match 3.4% of the previous broadcast fiscal year’s gross revenues. The funds were previously directed to VidéoFACT, but the CRTC approved Astral’s request to direct the contributions to MaxFACT last month.
"This new additional source of financing for MaxFACT, along with a new category for young adults, will help us better respond to the imposing volume of promising and well-thought-out projects that we receive each year and reach a wider audience for our…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Three telemarketers have been fined by the CRTC for violating the National Do Not Call List (DNCL) rules.
The Commission has issued a $4,000 fine to Rob Sugar, a $10,000 fine to Roofing by Peerless Mason Ltd. and an additional $10,000 fine to Waterproofing by Peerless Mason Inc.
The telemarketers were given opportunities to come into compliance with the National DNCL Rules, but “failed to change their business practices”, the CRTC said in a press release.
After violation notices were issued in July, the companies were given 30 days to either pay the fine or to contest it before a CRTC panel….
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OTTAWA – According to Telus, wireless newcomer Globalive should be declared ineligible to operate as a telecommunications common carrier in Canada, as it is controlled by persons who are not Canadians.
The BC-based telecom giant made that assertion again this week as it filed comments for the CRTC’s upcoming review into Globalive’s ownership structure.
Globalive is co-owned by Orascom, a global wireless player based in Egypt with over 79 million wireless subscribers. Orascom holds a 65% indirect equity ownership, but less than 50% of voting control in Globealive Holdings, the parent company of Globalive Wireless.
But Telus alleges that Orascom’s ownership…
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WHILE WE WAIT for the CRTC to decide whether or not Al Jazeera English can be distributed in Canada by cable, satellite and telco TV companies, I already have it in my office.
Actually, I have both the English and Arabic versions, right now, on my television. (No Canadian BDU offers the Arabic version because even though it’s on the eligible satellite list, the regs around it say that BDUs must employ Arabic language censors to monitor it 24/7, if they want to launch.)
And yet, here they both are, in standard definition, full-screen quality, on my 30-inch LCD television thanks…
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TORONTO – CRTC Commissioner Rita Cugini has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters (OAB) annual general meeting in Toronto on October 28, 2009.
The luncheon, which will showcase Ontario radio and television stations that have made significant contributions to their respective communities over the past year, will also see Jim Sward, former president and CEO of Global Television, receive the OAB’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Member stations of the OAB are also encouraged to submit their nominations for this year’s community service awards which recognize station participation in support of local charities.
For further information and tickets,…
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OTTAWA – After renewing the broadcasting licences of Rogers’ OMNI television stations for another six years, the CRTC has denied its request to broadcast ethnic programming during "peak" time, and to remove the conditions of licence relating to the overlap of programming between OMNI and Rogers’ Citytv stations.
The Commission did approve Rogers’ request to “harmonize” its requirement for Canadian programming across all of its multiethnic OMNI stations. It further agreed to amend the requirement of CJMT-TV Toronto (OMNI.2) for the provision of ethnic programming in order to harmonize it with the conditions of licence of the other OMNI stations, and will…
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