OTTAWA – The CRTC on Wednesday approved two Category 2 pay TV licences and two Category 2 specialty TV service licences for Ultimate Indie Productions.
The first national pay TV channel, called Everything Weddings, will offer programming related to weddings and marriage, including planning, fashion, traditions, wedding receptions, entertainment and honeymoon destinations as well as practical advice.
The second national pay TV channel is called Everything Expecting and will focus on pregnancy, maternity and infant care.
Both pay TV channels must limit the amount of drama and comedies they broadcast to no more than 10% of all programming aired…
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OTTAWA – The Campaign for Democratic Media will encourage Canadians to make their voices heard on the "net neutrality" issue during a gathering on Parliament Hill this morning.
An impending CRTC ruling on Bell Canada’s network management practices “may pave the way for continued Canadian technical advancement and progress or set the scene for a corporatized Canadian Internet,” says the group’s release, which insists Bell’s actions are choking, or “throttling” Internet performance and favoring its services over others.
Said Rocky Gaudrault, CEO of TekSavvy Solutions and one of the rally’s organizers, in the press release: "If we don’t stand…
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CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C – The Campbell River Television board of directors has called a special meeting for July 2nd to discuss details of an offer to purchase CRTV by Shaw Communications.
Details of the offer have not yet been made public but the 13,000 customer cable system could sell for over $20 million, given current cable valuations. The board said earlier this month it had had discussions with the big Calgary-based MSO.
“This is a critical meeting and members who wish to have input should appear in person or authorize a proxy for an immediate family member who…
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TORONTO – S-VOX is now operating Vancouver-based CHNU-TV and its Winnipeg sister station CIIT-TV. They are the first two conventional broadcasters owned by the faith and spirituality focused media company.
The CRTC last month approved the acquisition of these two local stations from Rogers, which chose to sell the stations when they moved to acquire the Citytv network.
"We are proud to add these vibrant local stations to the S-VOX family of channels, and look forward to helping them build on their current strengths to become leaders in their respective local marketplaces,” said S-VOX president and CEO Bill Roberts,…
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EDMONTON – Tomorrow (Tuesday), the CRTC will begin a public hearing in Edmonton, Alberta, to consider various radio programming undertaking applications to serve the Drumheller, Red Deer and Edmonton markets.
For more information or to listen to the hearing through live audio feed, click here.
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TORONTO – Over 20 industry leaders will deliver keynotes at the 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit, running from June 16 to 18 at the Toronto Congress Centre, organizers announced Tuesday.
They will give their insights into the future of Canadian telecommunications industry, while examining technology, services, consumer and business trends and policy. More than 50 experts will be participating in panel discussions.
One of the highlights of Monday’s sessions, according to organizers, is the panel on examining entertainment and content over broadband. It will feature a discussion by Gary Anderson (VP Consumer Internet Services, Sympatico MSN), Steve Billinger (Executive Director, Digital Programming and…
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NEW YORK – The American banks that have committed themselves to backing the $52 billion leveraged buyout of Bell Canada are seeking to renegotiate the deal, says a Monday story in the New York Times.
According to the story, the banks want new terms, including higher interest rates and stronger protections for the banks, as well as a lower purchase price, which is currently set at Cdn$42.75 per share. Shares closed at $38.80 on Friday and the Toronto Stock Exchange is closed today for the Victoria Day long weekend but BCE shares trading in New York were down over $2,…
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OTTAWA – The House of Commons decided last week that Bill C-327 should not proceed further. On May 13, it adopted the April 9, 2008 Report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which made such a recommendation.
As a result, the legislative process on Bill C-327 will go no further in this session of Parliament. The bill proposed to alter the Broadcasting Act so that the CRTC would have to come up with new rules to curb violence on television. The Commission would also be required to police TV programming for any content that crossed those standards on…
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MONTREAL – BCE announced Monday it has written confirmation from the CRTC that it had met the regulator’s conditions of sale with “two minor exceptions,” just as media reports surfaced that the banks providing the financing want to renegotiate terms of the deal.
The CRTC states in the letter that its conditions set forth in its March 27 decision to approve the acquisition of BCE by an investor group led by Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Providence Equity Partners Inc., Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC, and Merrill Lynch Global Private…
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OTTAWA – Timothy Denton, a specialist in legal and policy issues related to the Internet and communications, has been appointed as CRTC commissioner, Canadian Heritage announced Friday.
He was involved with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the governance of the domain name industry and helped introduce long-distance voice competition in Canada as counsel to the Canadian Consumers’ Association.
From 1985 to 1987, Denton was involved with the creation of the Broadcasting Act and later took part in the creation of the Telecommunications Act while working as a policy advisor to the Minister of Communications from 1985…
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