LEONARD ASPER HAS been front-and-centre on the fight for regulatory change in broadcast television.
Of all the broadcast CEOs in Canada, he has stuck his neck out the farthest in demanding things as fee-for-carriage and increased advertising flexibility. As you’ll read, much is riding on his company’s submission and the eventual new policy emanating from the CRTC decision which will be announced in 2007.
During the hearing days, expect much hay to be made on CanWest’s request for an extra 50-cents per TV subscriber per month for each conventional broadcaster.
At the Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual conference in…
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MONTREAL – On Sunday, CKTS Sherbrooke stopped rebroadcasting Montreal radio station CJAD.
The CRTC has been notified of the decision to relinquish the license.
CKTS first began rebroadcasting CJAD, which is owned by Standard Radio, after a CRTC ruling in 1992. CKTS was subsequently acquired by Corus Québec in an exchange of assets with Astral in 2005.
"The CKTS antenna needs major work, and expenses for annual upkeep are significant. Given Standard Radio’s decision not to cover these costs, we have no choice but to relinquish the license to the CRTC," said Corus Quebec network vice president Jacques Papin…
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TORONTO – Saying she was "among friends", former CRTC commissioner and Canadian Women in Communications chair (and current Minister of Canadian Heritage) Bev Oda spoke openly Thursday night in Toronto about the current state of the broadcast and telecom market.
The Minister was speaking at CWC Toronto’s fall gathering at the Bravo! Rehearsal Hall.
During her informal presentation, Oda acknowledged that there is much uncertainty, many questions and areas where no one knows how broadcasting and telecommunications is going to evolve over the next few years. Instead of fear and trepidation, the industry stakeholders should look at the wonderful…
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IF CANADA’S INCUMBENT TELEPHONE companies want total deregulation quickly, they’re going to have to do it for (and to) themselves, in the marketplace.
Yesterday Industry Minister Maxime Bernier told the Economic Club of Toronto, with numerous telecom executives in the audience, that the federal government will force the CRTC to deregulate "access independent" VOIP services, no matter which company offers them or where.
The voice services offered by Primus and Vonage are prime examples. The consumer buys a special box, perhaps downloads some software and "poof", they have VOIP service in their homes –and perhaps portably, too.
The Commission’s Continue Reading
OTTAWA – So how fast will we see a complaint filed on this one?
Just yesterday everyone was wondering whether or not Bell Canada’s Digital Voice Lite voice over IP service would be considered an access-independent VOIP product under the new rules announced Wednesday. If so, it would be deregulated.
Today, the CRTC issued a circular today saying yes, in fact, Bell’s nascent VOIP product can be considered access-independent and "that by virtue of the Order in Council the tariffs previously approved by the Commission… are no longer of any force or effect and those services are forborne from…
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TORONTO –The federal government has altered the CRTC’s VoIP decision, calling on the commission to refrain from economic regulation of certain Voice-over-Internet Protocol services.
"Canada’s telecommunications landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and it’s time for our regulatory approach to evolve as well," said Industry Minister Maxime Bernier. "A more competitive environment will translate into greater choice, newer products and better services for the Canadian consumer."
Earlier this year, the Governor in Council had referred Telecom Decision CRTC 2005-28, Regulatory Framework for Voice Communications Services Using Internet Protocol, back to the CRTC for reconsideration. This decision was re-examined…
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RIMOUSKI – Télévision Quatre-Saisons (TQS) viewers in eastern Quebec will get their own regional news bulletin, if licence proposals submitted by TQS and Télévision MBS are accepted by the CRTC.
Under the proposals, a two-person bureau based in Rimouski would produce a three-and-a-half minute news segment, five days a week. Another three minutes daily would offer community notices and public service announcements.
The new service would supplement existing TQS news bulletins produced in Rivière-du-Loup and Montreal, and would serve Rimouski, Mont-Joli, Matane, and the Matapedia Valley, a population basin of about 100,000 people.
Cogeco Inc.-controlled TQS has asked the…
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OTTAWA – Okay, perhaps they won’t re-name the second feed, but the CRTC Thursday granted TSN permission to offer additional programming channels on a digital-only basis.
The new condition of license will let the national sports network deliver specific feeds (most often live events that conflict) to individual BDUs. So, for example, if TSN holds the rights to a figure skating event and an NHL hockey game, it can show both live rather than shuffle one off to tape delay.
The CBC and CanWest objected while Rogers Sportsnet sought certain protections to ensure TSN didn’t turn into a full-time…
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DARTMOUTH – Small and mid-market radio company Newfoundland Capital Corporation posted third quarter revenue of $22.8 million, an 18% increase over the third quarter of 2005 and year-to-date revenue of $65.9 million, also an 18% increase over 2005.
EBITDA improved 9% to $5.6 million for the quarter, ended September 30th.
Consolidated EBITDA was $2.6 million in the quarter, down from $4.2 million last quarter due to a provision for decline in value of short-term investments, consistent with a general decline in the stock market, said the company’s press release.
Year-to-date EBITDA of $17.5 million "is more than last year’s…
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OTTAWA – A November 3rd deadline has come and gone for the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology to make its recommendations to the Minister on the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel report.
That’s because the Opposition parties, with their majority in the House and in committee, approved a motion to delay the whole process at least until March. After telecom industry players appeared before the committee last month (as reported by Cartt.ca), such a delay looked likely even then.
The late-October motion, put forward by Bloc Québécois MP Paul Crête and supported by the Liberals, asks for the…
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