OTTAWA-GATINEAU – In a long-awaited decision, the CRTC today released rules for the creation and operation of a national do not call list for Canadians who wish to avoid unsolicited phone calls.
The federal government passed Bill C-37 over a year ago, a bill which granted the Commission the power to create the DNC list, after many years of complaints by Canadians over ringing phones from companies they never heard of or don’t wish to be contacted by.
The new framework won’t go into effect until the Commission picks a company to operate and maintain the list and…
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TORONTO – The Writers Guild of Canada has come out in opposition to the CRTC Task Force on the Canadian Television Fund.
Oddly, while directing pointed criticism at Shaw Communications and Quebecor/Videotron, the WGC release is really about how it believes that broadcasters don’t properly promote or schedule Canadian shows.
The Task Force report calls for the lowering of Canadian talent CAVCO requirements for CTF-funded prime time programming to 8 out of 10 points, from 10 out of 10. To the Writers Guild, that means the report says "in order to garner an audience, programs need non-Canadian talent," reads…
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JACKSON POINT, Ont. – As part of a wide-ranging new media study, the CRTC will look at myriad issues, even discussing whether or not to regulate new media in Canada, CRTC chairman Konrad von Finckenstein told an invitation-only broadcast event this week (we weren’t invited, sniffle,) launching the Commission’s New Media Project Initiative.
There’s no doubt that new media and the alternative ways Canadians can get audio and visual content is having — and will continue to have – a growing impact on traditional broadcasting, both culturally and economically. So, as the monitor of traditional media in Canada and…
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MONTREAL – At about 6 a.m. this morning (Saturday), Bell Canada Enterprises entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by a private investor group led by Teachers Private Capital, the private investment arm of the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and two U.S. private equity firms, Providence Equity Partners Inc. and Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC.
The all-cash transaction is valued at $51.7 billion (US$48.5 billion), including $16.9 billion (US$15.9 billion) of debt, preferred equity and minority interests. The BCE board of directors unanimously recommends that shareholders vote to accept the offer.
The equity ownership of BCE would be as…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – There will be a new way of doing things when it comes to funding home-grown television, if the recommendations from the Task Force Report on The Canadian Television Fund are followed.
Upon first read, the recommendations released today by task force chair Michel Arpin, vice-chair, broadcasting at the CRTC, largely address the complaints made by the primary funding organizations – Canadian cable and satellite companies – which were led by Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media.
While most of the BDUs have serious reservations about how the CTF has worked and is working, Shaw and Quebecor took action this…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – In its application to purchase the five Citytv broadcast stations, Rogers Communications has told the CRTC it will voluntarily divest its two Christian OMNI stations in Winnipeg and Vancouver.
As readers will recall, Rogers emerged as the buyer for Citytv Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto after the Commission told CTVglobemedia that it could purchase CHUM Ltd., but not the five local TV stations.
Rogers’ two English language stations, although niche religious stations, do violate the Commission’s one-station-per-market policy, which is the reason why the regulator wouldn’t let CTV own the Citytvs. Rogers’ ethnic broadcasters, OMNI.1 and…
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VANCOUVER – An new activist organization is trying to get everyday Canadians to care enough about their media to get involved.
Canadians for Democratic Media said today it is urging people to "send a message to the CRTC calling for policies that limit concentrated and cross-ownership in the media and support public and community-based media," says its press release.
It is also offering an online form letter supporters may sign individually and have automatically sent to the Commission prior to July 18th, which is the deadline for submissions on the CRTC’s diversity of voices proceeding. So, there could be…
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OTTAWA – If the level of radio today’s teenagers now listen to stays consistent as they age, the long-term future of radio appears a little bleak.
Numbers released today by Statistics Canada show that overall, Canadians devoted less time listening to their radios as a form of entertainment in 2006 than in previous years (see chart below), especially teenagers and young adults, many of whom appear to be switching to digital music players and online music services.
"On average, Canadians tuned in to their radios for 18.6 hours during ‘measurement week’ in fall 2006, down from 19.1 hours…
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TORONTO – Billing itself as "The Canadian Solution", Canadian investment banker Catalyst Asset Management has announced a bid for Bell Canada Enterprises which, on the face of it, presents no regulatory hurdles whatsoever.
The bid, the fifth one to become public, would maintain Bell Canada as a stand-alone public company, and would benefit "all Canadians and Canada," says the press release.
Catalyst’s proposed transaction would be completed by way of an exchange offer by a Canadian Corporation formed exclusively for this purpose. That new company will offer one "stapled security" in exchange for each outstanding common share of Bell…
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GATINEAU – Having received applications for a new radio station in each of Peterborough, Ont., and Ottawa-Gatineau, the CRTC has opened a broad call for new applications, as is its practice, for both markets.
The application deadline is August 21, 2007.
Click here for more.
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