GATINEAU – It’s been a bit of an open secret in Ottawa but today it was made official, Len Katz is the new vice-chair (Telecommunications) at the CRTC.
Also announced today was Peter Menzies’ appointment as a part-time member to the CRTC.
"I am pleased that both Mr. Katz and Mr. Menzies have agreed to join the CRTC," said Heritage Minister Josée Verner in the official release. "Their vast knowledge and experience will play an important role in helping the CRTC carry out its mandate."
Katz (whom Cartt.ca profiled here) has been executive director, broadcasting and telecom at…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will hear from a large number of companies in December – all of whom want to launch new radio stations in Ontario. Maybe radio ain’t so dead after all?
There are four asking for licenses in Owen Sound, four asking for Windsor, 10 for the Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes region.
Click here to see the list. The hearing will be December 10th in London.
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GATINEAU – On Friday, the CRTC eliminated the winback rules that still stood for high speed Internet services, lifting the final marketing restrictions in that market.
It means ISPs can immediately begin attempting to take back what they’ve lost with immediate offers. The old rules mandated a 90-day waiting period for sales contact after a large ISP lost a customer.
For the full release, click here.
Winback rules were also eliminated for incumbent cable operators who offer TV in multiple dwelling units (apartments and condos).
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TORONTO – Approximately 200 jobs will be lost as CanWest Global announced today it will build four new broadcast centres in each of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto, consolidating all production for its local news (for both Global Television and E!/CHCH) across the country to these four locations.
The construction will take about 18 months, according to an internal memo from CanWest’s Television president Kathy Dore obtained by Cartt.ca that outlined the impending changes. “Our goal is to update our operations for the HD world and produce higher quality local news, while increasing our efficiency by streamlining the way…
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SINCE WE’RE ALL GOING to be visiting family and eating turkey this weekend, Cartt.ca won’t publish a newsletter on Tuesday, October 9th.
We’ll still post the news as it happens, of course, and we will also be covering the CRTC’s review of regulatory framework for wholesale services and definition of essential service hearing beginning Tuesday in Gatineau – and will resume regular newsletter service on Thursday.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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TO SAY 2007 HAS been a year of growth for EastLink is simply a colossal understatement.
So far, the company has acquired Amtelecom Communications, Persona Communications and RuSh Communications – meaning EastLink (or officially, its parent company, Bragg Communications) has more than doubled in size to around 500,000 customers.
No longer just a regional cable concern, Bragg/EastLink is a national force to be reckoned with, with cable and telecom services extending coast to coast.
The company is a pioneer, having launched phone service years before other North American cable companies – to much success – in Nova…
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TORONTO – CTVglobemedia announced five key appointments on Monday as it reorganized its television division into strategic channel groups following its acquisition of CHUM Ltd.
Susanne Boyce and Rick Brace will lead the television division’s content and business strategies, while Dawn Fell, Andre Serero and Paul Sparkes will be responsible for the corporate units. Robin Fillingham remains chief financial officer and will continue to handle all financial matters pertaining to CTVglobemedia.
As president of creative, content and channels at CTV Inc., Boyce will be responsible for all creative aspects of the conventional, specialty and digital platforms, excluding sports. She…
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OTTAWA – When it comes to wholesale access services, the CRTC should no longer make incumbent telephone companies share parts of their networks with competitors in the residential telephone market, recommends an independent report released Monday by the Commission.
The author of the report, competition and commercial litigation lawyer Michael Osborne, makes the recommendation for areas of the country where large cablecos are emerging as big telephone players.
In business markets, Osborne suggests the CRTC adopt an ex post regulatory approach to allow wholesale access-dependent competitors to demonstrate that mandated access must be continued, because there is less facilities-based…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Ian Scott, vice-president of government affairs at Telus, has agreed to participate, for a two year period, in an executive interchange with the Commission, the CRTC announced Friday.
Effective October 1st, Ian will become Chief Policy Advisor to the Chairman on strategic issues such as the CRTC’s role on the international scene and its new approach to regulatory convergence. Scott’s agreement with the Commission is governed by the terms of the Interchange Canada Program and the Values and Ethics Code for the Public Service.
Scott had been with the Commission from 1990 to 1994, where he was…
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MONT TREMBLANT – Cogeco CEO Louis Audet said Thursday he thought it pretty improbably that Rogers Cable would want to overbuild his company’s regions of Halton, Oakville and Burlington.
He was responding to a question at the CIBC Institutional Investor Conference at the Fairmont Mont Tremblant, Quebec.
Cartt.ca broke the story last week that Rogers had applied to the CRTC to expand its cable licensed territories to include the large piece of Cogeco’s Ontario territory as well as that of Aurora Cable.
Audet doesn’t figure Rogers has any plans to completely overbuild, as it would be far too costly….
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