OTTAWA – With the wireless number portability deadline about 10 months away (March 14, 2007), the CRTC on Thursday cleared up a number of issues related to WNP.
For example, since the Commission considers the wireless market pretty competitive, there will be no win-back restrictions as there are in the wireline market, where incumbent telcos are not allowed to contact a lost customer for 90 days.
Other issues, such as trunking arrangements, E9-1-1 and porting issues are all addressed in the decision.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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THERE’S LITTLE DISPUTING the fact Canada is a resource-based economy.
As oil and gas and mineral stocks go – so goes the Toronto Stock Exchange. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians work oil rigs, underground drills, huge chain saws and on fishing boats.
The question is: Do Canadians want a television channel reflecting that? Ivor Barr thinks so and has launched IDNR-TV to prove it. The company holds a pair of category two digital channels for The Mining Channel and for Natural Resources TV.
Barr is generally unhappy with the way the mainstream media covers the resource industry, swooping…
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OTTAWA – Distributing separate feeds simultaneously is currently a no-no for national sports service The Sports Network, the CRTC said today.
In January, the CBC complained to the Commission that CTV Specialty’s TSN had breached the conditions of its licence by broadcasting NHL hockey games using two simultaneous, national feeds on at least three occasions between October 2005 and December 2005. These games were distributed by cable companies (BDUs) on an analog as well as a digital basis.
The Commission agreed with CBC and found that TSN’s use of two simultaneous national feeds when broadcasting a pair of games…
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WOODSTOCK, N.B. – A company that already provides high speed Internet access to remote Canadians wants the federal cabinet to take another look at a CRTC decision which will help fund the build-out of broadband facilities to rural areas by the incumbent telcos.
Barrett Xplore, which sells satellite and fixed wireless high-speed Internet across Canada, "has requested federal Cabinet intervention in a flawed, out-of-date and competition-limiting decision," by the CRTC, the company said Friday.
The company will also ask commissioners to review the decision and will seek a stay of its implementation, pending completion of the review.
The Commission’s…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC’s much anticipated decision on which, if any, of the 2005 pay television applicants will receive a license will be announced this morning, www.cartt.ca has learned.
Early in 2005, an application by former Alliance Atlantis executive George Burger for a new pay television license kicked off the whole proceeding. The Commission called for other applications and received three others from Quebecor Media’s Archambault Group, an all-Canadian bid from Channel Zero (Movieola, Silver Screen Classics) and one from former WIC owners, the Allard family.
Burger’s Spotlight TV application is backed by Lawrence Tanenbaum’s Insight Sports,…
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KELOWNA – A dozen informative seminars dotted the schedule of the CommTech trade show, held over two days here at the Coast Capri Hotel.
Below are notes from two of the 12 training seminars, which talked about subjects such as reducing locate costs, network synchronization, fusion splicing techniques, air-blown fibre, safety, Ethernet troubleshooting, IPTV testing, WiFi, OTDR testing and third party VOIP providers.
This morning, delegates were treated to an hour with Telus regulatory vice-president Willie Grieve, who expounded on where he believes the regulatory system is headed (and maybe should be headed).
He pointed to the crowd of…
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OTTAWA – This week the CRTC granted a new FM license to Golden West Broadcasting for a new radio station in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Golden West beat out Harvard Broadcasting and a local man, Kevin Shattock, for the license. The new station will be Golden West’s third in the market. It already owns and operates "greatest hits" CHAB and CILG-FM (Country).
The new station will operate at 103.9 MHz (channel 280C1) with an ERP of 100,000 watts and an adult contemporary format.
Click here for more.
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OTTAWA – Striking while the reconsideration iron is hot, Canada’s incumbent telcos have asked the federal cabinet to refer another telecom decision back to the CRTC for a re-think.
As they said they would, Aliant, Telus, SaskTel and Bell Canada today launched their appeal of the Commission’s April 6th local forbearance decision, "and to do so in light of the recommendations of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel, which filed its report in March.
The companies filed the petition on May 12th, a year to the day that the CRTC’s 2005 decision on VOIP came out – which…
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QUEBEC – Genex Communications, owners of Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM, once considered a synonym for trash radio, has found a potentially profitable way out of its battle royal with the CRTC.
It has reached an agreement with Radio Nord Communications, a growing player in the Quebec radio and TV market, to sell the station for an undisclosed price.
The one obstacle in their path, however, is that the CRTC must give its approval to a licence transfer, and that’s by no means a sure thing.
As Genex President Patrice Demers acknowledged, CHOI has no operating licence. The CRTC…
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TORONTO – Corus Entertainment and the CBC announced today that the public broadcaster will purchase Corus’ 53% ownership in The Documentary Channel.
As CBC/Radio-Canada currently owns 29% of The Documentary Channel, this agreement will give it majority interest and control of this digital service, currently available in approximately 950,000 Canadian homes. The National Film Board of Canada (14%) and four Canadian production companies – Omni Film (1%), Cinenova Productions (1%), Barna-Alper Productions (1%) and a numbered company (1%) – also have minority positions in the service.
"This is excellent news for CBC/Radio-Canada. Documentary programming is a core part of…
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