OTTAWA – MTS Allstream is asking the federal government to reject proposals from Bell Canada and Telus that it says would “stifle broadband internet competition”.
The company issued a statement Monday in response to petitions by Bell Canada and Telus, claiming its telecom brethren are asking “for latitude to raise prices, reduce competition, and control the content that users are able to access”.
“Adopting the ideas tabled by Bell and Telus would entrench them as the gatekeepers for customer choice in telecom services,” said MTS Allstream CCO Chris Peirce, in the statement. “Bringing choice and competition to the market for…
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TORONTO – The new agreement between ACTRA, the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and l’Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ) was brokered quickly and ahead of schedule, and should bring “stability to the industry”.
Performers and independent producers have reached tentative terms for renewal of their independent production agreement, which would give performers a rate increase of 2% each year for three years. The balance of the other terms and conditions remain unchanged.
The agreement covers the engagement of performers on all film, television and new media production in Canada, except for British…
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GATINEAU – Like CTV beforehand, Canwest – in its second appearance at the CRTC’s OTA licence renewal hearings – focused on obtaining relief from certain of its programming obligations Thursday afternoon in front of the Commission.
There was little tension in the Q&A session, but there were some requests for “changes” to Canwest’s licence obligations – repeated from the Tuesday appearance – and several specific requests for Global Ontario, Global Quebec and CJNT-TV in Montreal, a station focused on ethnic programming.
Again like CTV, Canwest asked for changes to its priority programming conditions. But where CTV asked that the…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications doesn’t take long to act.
In fact, says company president Peter Bissonnette, the decision to go after three CTV-owned stations made available to purchase for the low-low price of a dollar each was made on Wednesday, with an offer executed via a newspaper ad slated for today’s Globe and Mail, but scooped yesterday by Cartt.ca instead.
Within hours of hearing of the ad from Cartt.ca, CTV accepted and Shaw – after some due diligence and contracts we suppose – will own CKNX-TV in Wingham, Ont., CHWI-TV Windsor, Ont. And CKX-TV Brandon, Man., for three…
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CALGARY – In a full page ad which is slated to run in tomorrow’s Globe and Mail, Shaw Communications says it believes over-the-air television has a bright future and it will purchase three stations CTV says it wants to close because it could not find a buyer for them, even for a buck.
The ad, (click here to see it) signed by CEO Jim Shaw, warns Canadians their broadcasters are seeking a bailout worth hundreds of millions of dollars. “They call this Fee for Carriage. Without mincing words, this is a tax. It is a direct tax on…
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GATINEAU – Bell Canada says it has continued to develop an interesting way for the conventional broadcast industry to go digital, but it is bumping up against stiff opposition by those broadcasters to its so-called (and perhaps mis-named) FreeSat proposal.
In a nutshell, Bell is offering broadcasters the ability to distribute their local signals digitally, via satellite, covering their entire traditional over-the-air contours, without upgrading a single transmitter. And beyond paying about $450 for the required dish, set top box and installation, FreeSat would not cost the tens of thousands of OTA-only consumers a monthly subscription fee to Bell TV,…
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GATINEAU – This morning, CTV began its second appearance before the CRTC’s OTA licence renewal hearing this week with some tense exchanges with the panel’s commissioners, some unvarnished attacks on broadcast distributors, and a call for the regulator to protect the interests of consumers.
The tension level in the room first rose over the issue of the coming transition to digital transmission. CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein noted the possibility of FreeSat signal delivery didn’t figure much in CTV’s application. He noted that Bell Canada proposed such a model yesterday, to ensure off-air viewers would continue to be served…
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TORONTO – About two hours after having been informed by Cartt.ca that an offer to buy three troubled TV stations was coming from Shaw Communications, CTV said it will accept the $3 offer.
An exclusive story broken by Cartt.ca this afternoon revealed that Shaw Communications was placing a full page newspaper ad in tomorrow and Saturday’s Globe and Mail, as well as The Hill Times on Monday morning.
The ad, signed by CEO Jim Shaw, warns Canadians their broadcasters are seeking a bailout worth hundreds of millions of dollars. “They call this Fee for Carriage. Without mincing words, this…
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GATINEAU – Looking around the CRTC hearing room Tuesday in Gatineau many of the exact same faces were in the exact same places making the exact same cases as they were 12 months ago.
Last year it was the combined BDU and specialty policy review hearing while this year it’s the license renewals hearing for conventional broadcasters. Same concert hall. Same tune. Same singers. Sung with more urgency though, this time around.
Despite the passage of a year and the new name of the hearing, the central issue is the same: broadcasters want more money for their signals and…
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GATINEAU – Rogers Cable told the CRTC Tuesday morning that offering distant broadcast signals to its customers in a linear format is a poor use of spectrum and that time-shifted viewing of popular programming can be done much more efficiently and in a more consumer-friendly way via its on demand platform.
During questioning on distant signals by commissioners during the “broad sectoral issues” portion of the conventional stations’ license renewal hearing in Gatineau, Rogers Cable’s vice-president of video product management David Purdy told the panel that given its druthers, the cable giant would rather not offer Vancouver’s broadcast stations…
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