OTTAWA and GATINEAU – While the CRTC said Monday it established “a new framework for wholesale services that will promote competition in wholesale and retail telecommunications markets based on sound economic principles,” market players say what, in fact, happened, was a confirmation of the status quo for the most part.
"Further to the government’s direction that the Commission rely on market forces to the greatest extent possible, we conducted a comprehensive review of our approach to the wholesale services provided by traditional companies," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC, in a statement. "We have now set out…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Canada’s private conventional broadcasters recorded their highest ever revenue total in the 2007 broadcast year (ended August 31st) at $2.17 billion, says the CRTC.
That number was up slightly from 2006 while expenses were held in check, too, which meant that profits before interest and taxes rose to $113 million, up 24% over the 2006 total. As well, the PBIT margin rose from 4.24% to 5.2% during the same period. However, these totals are pretty skinny and remained below those reported between 2003 and 2005 when it was closer to 15%.
Overall, revenues from the…
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VANCOUVER – Earlier this month, media activist group Adbusters lost the court battle it launched against CBC and Canwest Global when the two broadcasters refused to sell the group airtime for its commercials.
Adbusters claimed the CBC and Canwest Global had violated its right to free speech under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by refusing to sell air time, “but the court decided that the Charter does not apply to private corporations,” says an Adbusters release.
(Ed note: Actually, the ruling says no such thing. It was more along the lines of saying broadcasters, like retailers, can…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has signalled it is prepared to consider fundamental change in the way it handles telephone tariff applications.
It gave notice Friday that it wants to hear comments on the “continued appropriateness of the processes for retail and competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) tariff filings”.
Following up on the federal government’s directive for more reliance on market forces, and in light of its subsequent action plan, the CRTC says it is ready to hear different proposals for tariff approval mechanisms that are as minimally intrusive and as minimally onerous as possible.
“In this proceeding, the Commission…
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OTTAWA – The CBC has welcomed a report from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage that recognizes the role of the public broadcaster as an essential institution that requires long-term support and reinforcement.
But there were mixed reviews from ACTRA and words of warning from the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
ACTRA said the government already missed a chance in this week’s budget to back up the Committee’s words with money, while the Friends pointed to the dissenting opinion from the Committee’s Conservative minority which it said sets the CBC up to fail.
The majority report, CBC/Radio-Canada: Defining Distinctiveness in…
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GATINEAU – Is an emerging artist a new singer that has been around for less than half a year and shot to stardom? Or is it a four-year-old band that has struggled out of the clubs gaining sporadic airplay?
The CRTC wants to know.
Wednesday, the Commission asked the radio and music industry to submit comments on just what the definition of an emerging artist should be – in the context of commercial radio.
It even published a report showing just how much (or little) radio stations play of new artists.
“For more than a decade, when the Commission…
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GATINEAU – Saying that two proposed purchases would violate its common station ownership policy, the CRTC has denied Jim Pattison Broadcast Group’s application to purchase two more stations in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.
In 2007, Pattison agreed to buy CKIZ-FM Vernon from Rogers Media and CIGV-FM Penticton from Great Valleys Radio for undisclosed purchase prices.
However, Pattison already owns two FM stations in Kelowna, which is less than 60 kms from either of Penticton or Vernon and the proximity means that such concentration of ownership in the valley runs contrary to CRTC policy, says the decision.
“As set out…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – Statistics Canada and the CRTC announced today they have signed a memorandum of understanding so that the two agencies will partner in order to streamline the annual collection of data from the telecommunications industry.
"This innovative collaboration will further reduce the regulatory burden on the industry and create efficiencies in the collection of statistics by the federal government," said Konrad von Finckenstein, chairman of the CRTC in a press release.
Currently, the CRTC and Statistics Canada survey over 900 companies to obtain a picture of the Canadian telecommunications industry and its many sectors, including local…
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GATINEAU – Reply comments filed with the CRTC on Friday on its broadcasting distribution undertakings and specialty services policy review don’t show anyone has changed their minds. They’ve mostly dug right in, as expected.
(And, we’ll set aside the fee for carriage debate right away for this particular piece. Over-the-air broadcasters and producers who look to see more funds flow their way want consumers to pay a fee for conventional TV stations. Cable and satellite companies do not. We’ll dive deeper into the issue in a later story.)
This story, however, is a tale of two extremes. We looked…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC flexed its regulatory muscles this morning, pressuring the soon-to-be-owners of Bell Canada to more clearly spell out who will control the corporation.
As readers are no doubt aware, a consortium led by the Teachers’ Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, along with Providence Equity Partners and Madison Dearborn Partners, bid $51 billion (debt included) to take the country’s largest telco private.
Given that the new Bell will continue to own a couple of assets that fall under strict regulatory control (namely its TV distribution unit headed by Bell ExpressVu…
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