OTTAWA – Despite the CRTC’s announcement today that it has deregulated the local telephony market in Fort McMurray, Alberta – where resident have been among the keenest adopters of cable telephony – Canada’s two largest incumbent telcos remain unhappy.
Shaw Cable boasts a high speed Internet penetration rate in the city of over 80% of its basic cable customers there. Convincing those customers to add cheaper VOIP phone service has been easy so far and incumbent Telus has admitted it’s lost well over 25% market share in the community when it applied for forbearance last fall.
Today, the Commission…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC on Friday denied an application for a Category 2 French-language specialty TV channel that would operate as an adult pay service on sex appeal, sensuality, eroticism and sexuality (Broadcasting Decision 2007-98).
In response to individuals opposing the proposed channel known as Télé Sex-shop on moral grounds, the owners told the commission the channel would be discretionary and accessible only to subscribers who requested it.
But what did the channel in was the applicant’s refusal to accept as a condition of licence a requirement that it would comply with sections D.3 and E.1 of the Industry…
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TORONTO – More than eight in 10 Canadians oppose mandatory inclusion on digital basic of the five new channels being considered for the priority carriage, according to a telephone survey of 1,000 Canadians polled March 18-22 by Strategic Counsel on behalf of Rogers Communications.
The survey of Canadians 18 years and older from across the country – 70% of whom were cable subscribers and 30% of whom were satellite TV subscribers – also revealed strong support for pick and pay options.
The CRTC is considering adding the new digital specialty TV channels Metis Michif Television and Canada One along…
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OTTAWA – Shaw Communications Inc. is looking for CRTC approval to carry on a digital basis USA Network, a popular U.S. channel that broadcasts blockbuster theatrical movies.
At the same time, Shaw is asking the commission to change the way foreign TV channels are put on the list of non-Canadian services eligible for carriage in Canada.
The cableco wants the CRTC to automatically approve all general interest non-Canadian services, and to allow distributors to carry channels on the eligible lists on either an analog or digital basis. Specifically, Shaw wants the commission to remove section C from the lists…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC should amend the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to stipulate distributors must make monthly, rather than just annual, contributions to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), the all-party Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage recommended in a report released this week.
That was one of six recommendations contained in the report, entitled The Future of the Canadian Television Fund. It includes dissenting opinions from the Bloc Quebecois and Conservative Party members. The report was tabled on March 21.
The Standing Committee under recommendation number one strongly condemns the actions of Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Media – both of…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC appears on the verge of having to revoke another radio licence.
Radio Express inc., the owner of the French-language CKOD-FM based in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC, doesn’t appear to have cleaned up its act since the commission last checked in.
Last August, the regulator granted the station only a nine-month licence renewal until May 31, 2007 and slapped it with four mandatory orders in an attempt to get it to comply with its licence conditions. The mandatory orders were filed with the Federal Court and failure to comply with them could result in contempt of court charges.
The station…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has launched a public proceeding to set out rules regarding the installation of a network interconnection device (NID) when the incumbent local exchange carrier’s (ILEC) network is disconnected from the inside wire at the home of a residential customer who has elected to take a cable telephone service and no longer wishes to use any services provided on the ILEC’s network (Telecom Public Notice 2007-3).
The commission is asking for comment on whether a NID should be installed at the premises of a residential customer when no such device is present; should the cableco or…
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OTTAWA – Official Languages commissioner Graham Fraser called Tuesday on the government to compel the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. to spruce up its regional programming to help build cultural connections among Francophone minorities outside Quebec and English minorities inside the province.
Appearing before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage which is in the midst of an investigation of the role of the CBC in the 21st century, Fraser said one of the shortcomings of the public broadcaster is that it has become too centralized in Toronto and Montreal.
He noted that Francophone communities outside of Quebec need to have access…
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CALGARY – Calgarians want CHUM’s new Calgary FM radio station to follow the Hot Adult Contemporary format based on votes received so far in an online poll, according to the station’s program director Rob Mise.
When the new FM station hit the airwaves on March 12, it encouraged listeners to indicate what they wanted the station to sound like at www.calgary1015.com.
“This is a Calgary radio station so why not ask Calgary what it wants,” said Mise. “Thanks to the advice and information that we have been receiving, The New 101.5 FM will be a station that will reflect…
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ONE OF THE KEY DEMOGRAPHIC differences between the U.S. and Canada is the number of Hispanics here versus there.
Stateside, there’s an entire media sector dedicated to the Hispanic consumer, of which there are 40 million or so, including several cable channels such as Univision. In Canada, there are about one million Spanish-speaking Canadians and until recently, just one place to get some Spanish language programming: Telelatino.
Of late, however, other Spanish language channels have been added and in March, two Canadian channels were launched, one by the legacy brand owner in Canada, Telelatino.
In a recent chat with Cartt.ca…
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