OTTAWA – The CRTC will review the structure service rates charged by some of Canada’s biggest telephone companies.
Telus sent an application to the Commission last October asking for it review the rates, terms, and conditions of the support structure service tariffs of the large incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs).
The ILECs would like to increase the rates they can charge, currently $9.60 per year, to rent their poles to other customers such as cable companies. Telus’ application noted that the Ontario Energy Board had approved a hydro pole rate of $22.35 per year.
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has announced plans to make telecommunications and broadcasting services more accessible to disabled Canadians.
On the telecom side, the CRTC has pledged to:
– require that telephone companies offer a new service that will allow an operator to convert text messages sent over the Internet into voice calls, and vice versa. Known as Internet Protocol relay, this service is used by persons who are deaf or hard of hearing to communicate;
– require that telecom companies, including cable and satellite companies, improve the accessibility of their customer service;
– request that wireless companies offer at least one type of cell phone…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has decided to proceed with a review of wireless newcomer Globalive’s ownership to determine whether it is truly Canadian owned and controlled.
The Commission announced Monday that it will initiate a ‘Type 4’ review of Globealive’s ownership and control, given the complexity of Globalive’s corporate structure and financing arrangements, Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-429 reads.
A Type 4 review consists of an oral, public, multi-party proceeding, and occurs when the CRTC finds that a company’s ownership and governance structure “is of a complex or novel nature, such that in the Commission’s view its determination…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will hold a public hearing next month to review the purchase of two of Canwest’s E! stations by Channel Zero.
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 E!-branded CHCH TV Hamilton and CJNT TV Montreal from Canwest Global on June 30.
According to Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-425, the applicant (which is listed as two numbered companies in Ontario rather than Channel Zero by name), is also seeking broadcasting…
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CALGARY – The rumour mill had been spinning wildly over the past couple of days in Hamilton about the impending sale of Mountain Cablevision, but the buyer, announced this morning to be Shaw Communications, is a bit of a surprise.
Based in Hamilton, Ontario Mountain has approximately 41,000 cable customers and has been very successful adding services, too, with 28,000 Internet subscribers and 27,000 telephone customers.
The purchase price was not announced, but a cable company in the lucrative southern Ontario market with this many revenue generating units, expect the price to be north of about $300 million, sources have told…
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CALGARY – This week, Shaw Communications removed four channels, BBC Kids, Court TV Canada, Discovery Kids and TV Land Canada from the channel lineups on Shaw Digital Cable and satellite service Shaw Direct (formerly Star Choice).
CTVglobemedia owns TV Land Canada and Court TV and while TV Land was carried only by Shaw Direct, Court TV was carried on cable and satellite.
Canwest-owned BBC Kids was carried by cable and satellite, too, and Corus Entertainment’s Discovery Kids was just available on Shaw Direct.
All three programmers confirmed that the channels have either already been removed, or are about to be. Each are…
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TORONTO – CTV has sold CKX-TV Brandon to Canadian investment firm Bluepoint Investment Corporation for one dollar.
Bluepoint assumes all of CKX-TV’s broadcast assets, liabilities and commitments with the purchase, including the station’s 39 employees, the announcement read.
"This is good news for the employees that work at CKX-TV Brandon and the surrounding communities who depend everyday on the local programming that the station provides," said Paul Sparkes, CTVglobemedia’s EVP of corporate affairs, in the announcement. "Being an independent operator, Bluepoint will be able to access the Small Market Local Programming Fund. This is something that neither CTV nor Canwest have…
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ABOUT A WEEK before the next Commission’s September 29th inquiry into the state of the broadcast industry, whomever the regulator dares send to the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance annual gathering will be sure to get an earful.
The members of the CCSA are Canada’s smaller, but fiercely independent, cable operators and when they meet on September 20-22 for Connect 2009 at the White Oaks Resort in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont., you can bet any thought of paying a fee for carriage to conventional broadcasters won’t be warmly received, to say the least.
The group has worked hard to earn a small systems exemption…
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DARTMOUTH, NS – Newcap Inc. is selling its two FM radio stations in Thunder Bay, ON to Acadia Broadcasting in a deal worth $4.5 million, plus working capital.
Acadia Broadcasting is a community focused radio broadcaster with 10 licences in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and existing radio stations in Fort Frances, Kenora and Dryden, ON.
"While these stations were positive contributors to Newcap, there was little opportunity to expand our presence and build on a cluster of stations in close proximity to Thunder Bay,” said Newcap president and CEO Rob Steele, in the announcement. “As a result we have chosen to divest…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment is buying diginets Drive-In Classics and SexTV from CTVglobemedia for a combined acquisition price of $40 million.
“These services are currently available in over two million households and provide a great base to grow their audiences and increase their appeal to our advertising customers,” said Corus president and CEO John Cassaday, in an announcement late on Tuesday.
The transaction is subject to approval by the CRTC.
www.corusent.comwww.ctv.ca
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