OTTAWA – MTS Allstream reiterated Friday that it believes a robust definition of telecom “essential facilities” is more important than ever, or continued competition and innovation in the Canadian telecommunications landscape, may wither.
Such a definition is important when it comes to “the associated benefits of choice and competitive pricing for customers, especially in the business market,” says their release, which came as the CRTC holds hearings to review the definition of those essential facilities, as Cartt.ca has covered.
"The government has deregulated the retail pricing of the large former monopolies in major markets across Canada for both consumer…
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Dear Editor,
This is in response to the letter to the editor Cartt.ca received from Bill Roberts, president and CEO of Vision TV, earlier this week criticizing the Rogers’ brief in the upcoming review of the regulatory frameworks governing BDUs and discretionary services. Mr. Roberts appears to have either misread or misunderstood our filing and I would like to set the record straight.
In his letter, Mr. Roberts alleges that our key message in this proceeding is to remove protections for Canadian services and make it easier to import foreign services. In fact, our key message in this…
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TORONTO – A joint submission to the CRTC’s BDU and specialty policy review from seven independent broadcasters recommends putting those channels in all BDUs’ digital "basic" packages.
Saying the diversity of the Canadian television system depends on preserving a place for small, independent specialty services, the channel owners say they should all be in digital basic in order to offset impact of media concentration and integration (See: Rogers buying Citytv, CTV buying CHUM, CanWest buying Alliance Atlantis…).
Such a move would grant the independent Canadian channels "must-carry" status.
The members of the independent specialty services group are: Aboriginal Peoples…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters said today that Global Edmonton news anchor Lynda Steele will be the 2007 recipient of the Gold Ribbon Award for Outstanding Community Service by an Individual Broadcaster.
Steele is passionately committed to community service, says the CAB, particularly in promoting literacy. “While Lynda has a special fondness for events that promote literacy, she has thrown herself behind several causes. She has been at the forefront of efforts to raise awareness about domestic violence, fundraise for cancer research, and find affordable housing solutions for Edmonton’s less fortunate,” says the CAB release.
She is…
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GATINEAU – An airing of Radio-Canada’s "Fric show" which examined the porn industry – complete the nudity and frank language – at 7:30 p.m. was a poor decision, the CRTC told CBC this week.
In a decision released Tuesday, the Commission found that by airing the program on April 26 2007 before 9 p.m., the CBC did not meet the Canadian broadcasting policy objective set out in the Broadcasting Act that programming should be of high standard.
The Fric show is produced by the CBC and hosted by Marc Labrèche. It’s not a public affairs or news program but rather…
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GATINEAU – Having to wedge six new channels to the collective basic cable lineups in Edmonton and Calgary at essentially the same time is just too much to ask, Shaw Communications has told the CRTC.
In a recent application, Shaw has asked for a new condition of license to let it carry Crossroads Television System (CTS), a new religious broadcaster in Calgary and Edmonton which has been in operation in Ontario for years, on channel 51 – an unrestricted channel, but well away, numerically, from where most other must-carries are placed.
Shaw notes that the CRTC approved new licenses not…
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SOME FILED REAMS of digital paper with the Commission (Rogers Communications’ submission was 132 pdf pages and a few appendices), while others were more concise (Shaw’s was just nine pages, plus a couple of research reports)
Anyway, we’ve read more than a few thousand words and identified what appear to be the primary issues facing the CRTC with its review of the policies governing broadcast distribution undertakings (all licensed video providers) and specialty services. The hearing is set for February 4 in Gatineau.
Below is a bit of a synopsis of what the BDUs are asking for and what…
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Dear Editor,
ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC. asserts that the primary policy objective of the CRTC should be to lessen Canadian protection and facilitate an accelerated importation of foreign channels.
Well, the fastest and most economically efficient way to accomplish that would be to cease protecting Canadian cable companies from U.S. distributors like Comcast and DirecTV.
However, that would be against the law – and would trigger a precipitous dismantling of our once-proud broadcasting system.
Canada is the only country in the world that competes 24 hours a day, and live, with the behemoth U.S. entertainment machine.
We have a unique…
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VANCOUVER – Late last week, word leaked out that Best Buy, one of the world’s biggest consumer electronics retailers, would no longer carry analog TV sets in its stores.
Store managers were reportedly informed earlier this month of the move in a company-wide memo.
In the U.S., the analog television cut-off date for broadcasters is February 2009, so that market is well ahead of Canada when it comes to digital, or high definition television. Broadcasters in markets of any size, Stateside, have already made the switch to digital broadcasting because they have to return their analog spectrum to the…
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TORONTO – The CRTC has been told by VisionTV’s owner S-VOX that a mandatory basic package consisting predominantly of Canadian channels is a must in order to preserve the diversity of the entire system.
S-VOX called for rules to ensure that Canadian content providers hold "pride of place" within the country’s television system, says its press release
S-VOX operates the analog multi-faith channel VisionTV, as well as two digital services: One: the Body, Mind & Spirit channel and The Christian Channel.
The submission follows on the heels of a proposal to the CRTC by Rogers Communications and other cablecos…
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