OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Nascent wireless company Globalive is so worried about protecting the identity of its financial backers that this week it has asked the CRTC for what looks like CSIS-level security if and when those financiers do meet the Commission.
Others say the request is unprecedented and should be immediately dismissed.
In a three-page letter to the Commission, Globalive doesn’t just want their competitive financial information kept confidential, but “requests that the Commission treat as confidential the name and other identifying characteristics of a Canadian financial institution (the Bank), or any other financial institution, which may provide witness to appear at…
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VICTORIA – On the final day of its temporary reprieve from closure, the employees of CHEK-TV got the answer they were hoping for: Canwest has accepted their offer to buy the station.
Station GM John Pollard confirmed to Cartt.ca that the deal was struck at approximately 2 PM local time on Friday afternoon.
“We’ve bought the station”, Pollard said in a phone interview. “We’ve signed off on all agreements and paid the money. It’s done.”
Pollard declined to name the purchase price, other than saying that it was “nominal”. The deal gives the employees a 20% stake in the station while a…
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FIVE OF Canada’s biggest cable companies have complained to the CRTC for extending a filing deadline – two days after the deadline had already passed.
Calling it “both unprecedented and unacceptable”, the heads of regulatory affairs from Bragg Communications, Cogeco Cable, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media on behalf of Videotron, (collectively, the Cable Carriers), sent a sternly worded letter to CRTC Secretary General Robert Morin on Thursday expressing their collective “deep frustration” with Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-261-4.
“…The Cable Carriers want the Commission to understand the deep frustration that the companies feel at having made…
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OTTAWA – If the transition to digital television is going to work here, Canadian consumers are going to need digital set top boxes – and help paying for them – says prospective satellite company FreeHD Canada.
In its early submission to the CRTC on Broadcasting Notices of Consultation 2009-411 and 411-3, the company (which just asked the CRTC for BDU and SRDU licenses last month, as first reported by Cartt.ca) notes the substantial issues facing the Canadian broadcast industry with less than two years until analog TV is set to be switched off forever.
BNC 2009-411 and 411-3 are of…
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OTTAWA – Over-the-air broadcasters serving markets of less than 1 million people can now apply for a share of approximately $100 million from the new Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) which came in to effect Tuesday.
Both private broadcasters and CBC/Radio-Canada television stations can access the LPIF, which is funded by cable and satellite companies who must contribute 1.5% of their gross broadcasting-related revenues from the 2008-2009 broadcast year.
The Fund, administrated by McCay, Duff and Company Management Ltd., will be disbursed over the 2009-2010 broadcast year. One-third of the total funding will be divided equally amongst stations in specific Francophone…
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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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