OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Reaction to the CRTC’s broadcasting in new media report has been swift, and predictably, mixed.
The news that the Commission will continue to exempt new media broadcasting services from its regulation got high marks from Internet service providers (ISPs) Telus and Rogers.
“The CRTC is often criticized, but give them in credit in this case,” Rogers’ senior vice president of regulatory, Ken Engelhart, told Cartt.ca on Thursday. “The Internet’s power comes from the consumer, not regulation and not taxes. This decision is very progressive and far reaching and we support it.”
Michael Hennessy, Telus’ senior…
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WE’VE READ ALL SORTS of dissenting opinions on CRTC from individual commissioners who don’t agree with their co-panellists. But a “concurring opinion”? That’s a new one for us.
Yesterday’s release of the Commission’s broadcasting in new media review was not exactly an earth-shattering moment. Response was a tepid “yea” for the most part because faced with the Act that binds its actions as well as what’s going on in reality and using common sense, the Regulator did all it could by saying no to changes in its exemption orders, going to the Federal Court, and calling for a…
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GATINEAU – Will there be a new ISP levy to support Canadian content on the web? Will the hands-off approach the CRTC has maintained when it comes to the Internet and wireless networks remain? Does the Commission need to do more to promote, or make Canadian content on the web more visible? Do the walled garden wireless nets need to be pried open?
These and a number of other questions will be answered today when the CRTC releases its report on broadcasting in new media, less than three months after wrapping the three-week-long hearing which ended March 11.
Cartt.ca…
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OTTAWA – Former Canadian Association of Broadcasters exec Jay Thomson has launched a consulting company offering strategic communications policy and regulatory advice.
Jay Communications Consulting will focus on Internet, broadcasting and copyright matters.
Thomson recently helped lead the CAB on the BDU framework hearing and other significant CRTC files as its vice president of regulatory and policy. He also spent four years at Telus, and was the first full time president of the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP).
He may be reached at jay@jaycom.ca
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TWO SOURCES HAVE confirmed to Cartt.ca that former Heritage Minister Sheila Copps is one of the finalists for the position of president and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasters Association.
Final interviews are apparently being done this week, say the sources with intimate knowledge of the situation, but Copps is apparently the leader in the clubhouse right now.
Copps, a very high profile MP through the 80s and 90s, held the Hamilton East riding for 20 years for the federal Liberals, beginning in 1984 and was Deputy Prime Minister under PM Jean Chretien from 1993 to 1997.
A journalist by…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – After all that, the CRTC opted to continue with its ‘hands-off’ approach.
In its much anticipated broadcasting in new media report, released Thursday afternoon, the Commission said that it will “maintain its approach” for broadcasting content distributed over the Internet and through mobile devices, and will continue to exempt new media broadcasting services from its regulation.
"While broadcasting in new media is growing in importance, we do not believe that regulatory intervention is necessary at this time," said CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein, in the press release announcing the report. "We found that the Internet and mobile services…
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TORONTO – CTV and its ‘A’ stations thanked viewers who they say helped to make its ‘save local television’ campaign a “tremendous success”.
The initiative, which CTV describes as “designed to inform viewers of the critical issues facing their local television stations”, hosted over 30,000 Canadians at its 16 open houses held across the country on May 23. The network said that it also received over 50,000 on-line petition signatures, and that more than 25,000 letters were sent to James Moore, the Minister of Heritage, expressing support for fee for carriage.
But with all of the promotional weight that the network threw behind its…
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TORONTO – ACTRA expressed its disappointment with Canada’s major private TV broadcasters, saying they chose to “fill their Fall 2009 schedules with U.S. product rather than make a commitment to Canadian drama”.
A review of the Fall 2009 schedules released this week by the TV networks show “weak” commitments to new Canadian drama, from a low of one hour per week on ‘A’ Channel, to a high of two hours each on CTV and Global, ACTRA noted. Out of a possible 112 prime time hours in a week, CTV, Global, CityTV and ‘A’ Channel have scheduled just 6 ½…
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HALIFAX – He’s not exactly going out on a limb by saying it, but CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein told a group of teachers on Friday that the two dated Acts that govern the CRTC desperately need updating.
In a speech to the Conference of the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada, von Finckenstein noted it’s closing in on 20 years since the last time the Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act – documents that “ are very much products of their times” – have been updated, he said.
“They were conceived for an environment where bandwidth and spectrum were…
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OTTAWA – The controversial issue of ‘net neutrality’ has made it on to the political agenda, after NDP digital affairs critic Charlie Angus tabled Bill C-398 on Friday.
Designed to prevent telecom service providers from engaging “in network management practices that favour, degrade or prioritize any content, application or service transmitted over a broadband network based on its source, ownership, destination or type”, Angus said that the bill will ensure that the future development of the Internet “is not impeded by unfair throttling or interference by telecom giants”.
“The telecom giants didn’t invent the internet,” Angus said in a statement….
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