CALGARY – At a VIP luncheon at the Palliser Fairmont Hotel in Calgary, Canada’s Telecom Hall of Fame revealed the names of the four 2007 Telecom Laureates who have been nominated and selected for induction later this year into the industry’s Hall of Fame.
The Class of 2007 Telecom Laureates are: Michael Kedar, Toronto (Champion of Telecom Services Competition), Robert W. (Bob) Jones, Ottawa and Kelowna (Canada’s Radio Spectrum Ambassador), Frederic Newton Gisborne, St. John’s, (Colonial Telegraph Trailblazer), and C.R.O. (Bob) Munro, Montreal (Patron of Federally Regulated Telecom). In addition, the Hall of Fame’s coveted Special Recognition Award for…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s incumbent telcos won’t be allowed to boost everyone’s rates in order to cover off and eliminate reconnection fees for customers who move, the CRTC announced today.
As we reported last summer, Bell Canada, Bell Aliant and Telus applied to the Commission to make changes to the local telephone rates for residential customers. "The companies had proposed to eliminate the connection charges for new customers and existing customers who move in exchange for approval to increase rates for all residential customers, explains the release.
In their submissions, Bell Canada and Bell Aliant proposed to increase the monthly…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Bogged down by having to examine every case individually, the CRTC is considering spelling out which adverse events would result in changes to telco’s retail quality of service (Q of S) rate adjustment plans.
“The requirement for a case-by-case analysis to determine whether an event is adverse has added additional time and a level of complexity to processing Q of S exclusion applications. The adoption of a force majeure clause that identifies what events are adverse would reflect common commercial practice and increase the timeliness of decisions,” the CRTC states in Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2007-9.
In…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The foreign-owned, Hindi-language movie channel Sony Max is being considered for digital distribution in Canada. In Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2007-58, issued Thursday, the CRTC states it will “rely primarily” on comments filed on the application to determine if the channel is totally or partially competitive with existing Canadian TV channels.
The commission wants parties arguing the service is competitive to name the specific pay or specialty service with which they consider the channel would compete, and to provide details to support their views, such as comparisons of programming schedules.
The CRTC also notes that in assessing…
Continue Reading
TORONTO — Telehop Communications Inc. recorded a net profit of $196,315 on revenues of almost $5 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2007, according to financial results released Wednesday. Profits were down from the net income of $262,903 recorded in the same quarter a year earlier and from $253,762 made in the fourth quarter of 2006.
“Our margins are strong due to effective control of telecom costs and our marketing costs are in line with our plan. We continue to build our subscriber base and look forward to increasing revenues while maintaining profitability,” said Telehop president and…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The CRTC has approved the plan of arrangement between Alliance Atlantis and CanWest Global that will run Alliance Atlantis until the Commission can decide on the purchase and transfer of ownership in a hearing.
The Plan of Arrangement will see AA Acquisition Corp. (formerly 6681859 Canada Inc.) acquire all of the outstanding shares of Alliance Atlantis for $53 cash per share, as was announced in January. AA Acquisition is primarily funded by Goldman Sachs, with CanWest Global to be controlling shareholder of the regulated assets.
AA owns (directly or indirectly) the securities of certain entities which are…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – With Canadian broadcasters in Los Angeles now viewing this fall’s potential U.S. hits (not to mention the great big misses) – and making commitments to buy, too, Canada’s actors union says the process is nothing but a big bet.
"Canadian performers are angered that executives of Canada’s private broadcasters are in L.A. this week gambling hundreds of millions of dollars on new American shows for the fall television season while neglecting our own domestic industry," shouts the press release.
“Canada’s private broadcasters are eager to hand over more than $250 million dollars on new American dramas and reality…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The folks at MaxTrax and Galaxie may be wondering about their futures on Rogers Cable today.
The CRTC granted a pay audio license to Rogers Communications this morning. The company plans to launch a 30-channel service of music and spoken word programming. Currently, CBC-owned Galaxie and Corus Entertainment-owned MaxTrax are both carried by Rogers, which hasn’t said when or how it will launch its own service.
The regs require that any carrier which owns a pay audio license must also carry a non-affiliated service meaning that when Rogers launches, it only has to carry one of Galaxie…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Like every other conventional television broadcaster in English Canada, Quebec’s Télévision Quatre-Saisons (TQS) had argued for the CRTC’s acceptance of carriage fees to help OTAs compete with fee-supported speciality channels.
“We’re very disappointed,” said TQS President & CEO René Guimond, after the CRTC rejected the idea Thursday. “For us, it’s the continuation of the old model, a model in need of adjustments.”
“I thought we had made the clear demonstration that there is inequity between conventional broadcasters and the speciality channels. And the reason number one for the inequity is the issue of fees,” Guimond told…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – "It’s a missed opportunity," says Guy Mayson, summing up the Canadian Film and Television Production Association’s overall reaction to the CRTC’s new over-the-air TV policy.
Speaking to Cartt.ca from the streets of Cannes, France, where he’s attending the film festival, the CFTPA president explained that while the policy shows the CRTC has noted producer concerns about the need to increase broadcaster investment in original, Canadian, priority programming, it delayed taking action.
“We’re a little disappointed that the Commission didn’t act” to require conventional TV broadcasters to meet minimum program expenditures and to schedule more of this programming…
Continue Reading
