OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC will hold a public hearing on several radio stations proposed for the Ottawa-Gatineau region along with several TV applications on Tuesday.
Among the applicants seeking a radio licence are Corus Radio Company for an English-language news talk station on frequency 101.9 MHz and Astral Media for an English-language soft adult music format on 99.7 MHz.
Other proposed formats are tourist radio, religious radio, adult album alternative, blues music and pop alternative.
The CRTC said it would consider the radio licence proposals, for either the 99.7 MHz, 101.9 MHz or 101.7 MHz frequencies, as competitive radio…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) is charging that Bell Canada has contravened the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) by using deep-packet inspection technology (DPI) to control traffic over its Internet lines.
DPI reveals what subscribers are using their connections for, to find and limit peer-to-peer applications such as BitTorrent. Bell has said it needs to ensure traffic over its infrastructure doesn’t slow down, and DPI is aimed at optimizing its network.
CIPPIC, a University of Ottawa-based legal clinic specializing in Internet law, though noted in a May 9 letter to the Privacy…
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CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – At their regular monthly meeting held on Monday, the board of directors of cable co-operative Campbell River Television met with representatives of Shaw Cable concerning the big MSO’s continuing interest in the potential acquisition of CRTV.
Shaw Cable announced just last week that it had received the go-ahead by the CRTC to overbuild in CRTV’s cable territory, if it wishes. Such a move would certainly devalue CRTV’s sale prospects.
In a press release to its 13,000 customers/members the board wrote that in “light of the fact of increased competition in Campbell River plus the reality that…
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TORONTO – Today is the deadline for final written submissions to the CRTC’s policy review on broadcast distribution undertakings and specialty services.
(Ed Note: Cartt.ca will publish a recap of these submissions from several stakeholders tomorrow, Friday, May 9.)
Rogers’ final filing recapped the company’s position presented on the first day of the hearings. The company of course, remains opposed to fee-for-carriage “as the broadcasters have failed to justify the need for, or fairness of it,” says an RCI press release this afternoon. “The over-the-air broadcasting sector is profitable, revenues continue to grow and local programming is not in jeopardy”…
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MONTREAL – It’s hoped that today’s quarterly financial report is the final one Bell Canada Enterprises has to make public, as the giant telco has almost finished the work to become a private company.
But since that’s not done yet, the company released decent results for the first quarter of 2008, ended March 31st.
"During the quarter, we made good progress on the completion of the privatization transaction and delivered solid financial results, consistent with our plan for the year," said Michael Sabia, CEO. "With respect to the privatization transaction, the Québec Superior Court approved the plan of arrangement…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has told Shaw Communications it may require the communications giant to file monthly reports on how its community channels are not violating the regs.
Twice in the past two years, Shaw Cablesystems community channels have been rebuked by the Commission for showing advertisements on its cable community channels.
In the Broadcast Distribution Regulations , cable companies are not allowed to air traditional ad spots and there are limitations on the types of sponsorship messages, or advertising, community channels can air. The regs also say sponsorship messages can contain only 15 seconds of…
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OTTAWA – A Federal Court of appeal decision last week that overturned an earlier Federal Court Trial Division ruling regarding broadcast licence fees will be appealed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the organization announced Monday afternoon.
In December of 2006, the Federal Court Trial Division ruled the CRTC Part II Licence Fees collected by the federal government from broadcasters and broadcast distributors were an illegal tax. The Crown appealed that decision to the Federal Court of Appeal, which ruled on April 28th that the fees are valid regulatory charges. The CAB launched this challenge in 2003…
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TORONTO – Limited in our questions as we were (no talking about iPhone, no talking about the advanced wireless spectrum auction), here’s a pretty good taste of what we media types who cover Rogers Communications asked about during Tuesday’s press conference just prior to the RCI AGM (we omitted the questions about the Blue Jays and their dismal start to the season, however). ************* About the AWS auction, and the fact they wouldn’t talk about it, said CEO Ted Rogers: “If you’re going to bid on a Rembrandt, you don’t want to talk about it ahead of time.” *************…
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TORONTO – CTVglobemedia today announced a $400,000 grant to the Canadian Broadcast Museum Foundation/Fondation du musée canadien de la radiodiffusion (CBMF/FMCR).
This grant is part of the public benefits package that was approved by the CRTC following CTVgm’s acquisition of the CHUM properties.
"We are pleased to continue our support of the CBMF and salute their mission to ensure our nation’s broadcasting history is preserved as an important component of Canada’s cultural heritage," said Paul Sparkes, executive vice-president corporate affairs, CTVgm, in a press release.
"This sustaining commitment by CTVgm has really set the bar for Canada’s broadcasters. In…
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CALGARY – The feud between one of Canada’s largest cable companies and one of its smallest took another turn Monday when Shaw Communications announced the CRTC had issued an administrative decision allowing the company to extend the authorized service area of its Courtenay B.C. cable system to include the community of Campbell River.
Campbell River is currently served by Campbell River Television, a community-owned cable co-operative with about 13,000 customers.
As Cartt.ca reported, Shaw made an offer to buy the company last fall, but the membership turned it down, so it looks like Shaw is ready to overbuild…
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