OTTAWA – CTV, on behalf of its radio division Chum, and Harvard Broadcasting both resubmitted their bids for a new radio station in Edmonton to the CRTC Monday, and both requested the same channel frequency – again.
The CRTC granted partial approved the two applications last October in Broadcasting Decision 2008-288, but asked the companies to amend their respective applications within 90 days by proposing an FM frequency other than 107.1 MHz (which it awarded to John Charles Yerxa).
So, both CTV and Harvard re-submitted their proposals, and both requested the frequency 95.7 MHz (channel 239C1).
After determining that the…
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OTTAWA – CBC has received approval from the CRTC to use a subsidiary communications multiplex operation (SCMO) channel in Vancouver to launch a Fijian-language radio service called Radio Fiji Mirchi. The Commission said that it is satisfied that approval of CBC’s application, received December 9, 2008, will not have “an undue negative impact on existing local conventional ethnic radio stations”.
It reminded the CBC that approval will be effective when the Department of Industry notifies the Commission that its technical requirements have been met, and that the licensee’s broadcasting certificate has been amended.
Programming broadcast using an SCMO channel…
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OTTAWA – While acknowledging that it is still in “a transition and adaptation period”, the streamlined Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) highlighted its goal to focus on policy and copyright matters in an internal memo to members this week.
The private broadcasters’ lobbying group stressed that it will provide members with strategic analysis, research and information on CRTC and government proceedings in order to assist with members’ respective filings with the CRTC and/or government, rather than spend “Association and member resources discussing and preparing detailed written submissions and appearances in dozens of public proceedings each year.”
“As an illustration…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has submitted its plan for the administration of the new local programming improvement fund (LPIF) to the CRTC, but the Commission is asking for public input on the fund’s allocation formula.
The CRTC said that while the CAB proposal recommends “a simple, objective allocation formula” for the LPIF, it did not provide enough specific details as to what that formula should be. In Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2009-113-1, the Commission has proposed its own formula.
The LPIF was established to improve the quality of local programming provided by conventional…
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MORE AND MORE, we’re beginning to realize that to provide the quickest, most robust broadband experience, fibre optics must penetrate far more deeply than most CFOs and others in charge of capex at telecom and cable companies are hoping.
Fibre to the neighbourhood, or to the node? That works great now and will continue to be satisfactory for the near and mid-term future. But not so long from now, consumers will be demanding more – far more – especially when they begin to access ever more bandwidth-hungry services like high definition TV over the web.
North American cable and…
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OTTAWA – Add Telus to the list of telco’s appealing to the Federal government over CRTC decisions.
The B.C.-based telco filed a petition to the Governor in Council late last week over Telecom Decision CRTC 2008-117 and calling for the rescission of Telecom Order CRTC 2009-111, expressing many of the same concerns as BCE.
Citing its capital program for 2009 which planned to invest $2.05 billion dollars in its networks, Telus’ petition said that rather than encourage investment risks in the current economy, “the CRTC has declared that we will be required to share this new investment…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC estimates its total broadcasting regulatory costs for the 2009-2010 fiscal year are $28.469 million.
The broadcasting licence fee regulation provides for the payment of Part I licence fees by specific distributors, as set out in section 9(1) of the Broadcasting License Fee Regulations.
The Commission also calculated the annual adjustment for the 2007-2008 fiscal year at $5.018 million, with $4.453 million of this total earmarked for “the recovery of a temporary increase in the Commission’s budget approved by (the) Treasury Board.” The balance of this adjustment, ($0.565 million) recovers increases in salary (e.g. ratified collective agreements)…
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TORONTO – On the heels of the CRTC new media hearings, a new survey from Angus Reid Strategies says a proposed levy on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to support the development of Canadian TV programming would be a tough sell to consumers.
The online survey of a representative national sample found 79% of respondents said that this type of levy would be “an unnecessary and/or inappropriate fee that would end up being passed along to consumers.” Only 21% said that a levy would be “a worthwhile initiative to help ensure that there will continue to be high quality Canadian TV…
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OTTAWA – BCE has asked the federal cabinet to overturn a CRTC decision, saying investment in next-generation communications networks should be encouraged “as a matter of policy”.
At issue is the Commission’s Telecom Decision 2008-117 from December 11, 2008, and its companion order, Telecom Order 2009-111 from March 3, 2009, requiring incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) “to provide speeds for wholesale asymmetric digital subscriber line services that match the speeds made available to their retail Internet service customers”, if a competitor requests it.
The CRTC application was filed by Cybersurf Corporation in June 2008, and was…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage passed a motion at an in-camera (i.e.: not public) meeting late Wednesday afternoon to study the impact of the economic crisis on Canadian television, with a focus on local programming.
The first witnesses the committee plans to call before it – on March 25 – are CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein, CRTC vice-chair of broadcasting Michel Arpin, and CRTC director general of television policy and applications Peter Foster.
A committee clerk told Cartt.ca they have not yet been told if the briefing will be open to the public, but that further…
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