OTTAWA – Is access to an ILEC’s local loop – or even a cable operator’s plant – an essential service that must be opened to competitors?
That’s just one of the questions being asked of the telecom industry by the CRTC in a public notice released Thursday. It will be a huge and complex undertaking that involves the Competition Bureau, the Telecom Policy Review Report and the federal government and could end up redrawing the rules of the telecom game so that the Competition Act, and not the Telecom Act, takes precedence over the industry’s disputes.
In legalese, the…
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TORONTO – Two of Canada’s big cable companies must think HDNet is a winner.
Both Rogers Cable Communications and Bell ExpressVu began courting the U.S. all-high definition channel in June, when the CRTC added HDNet to the list of approved satellite services.
On Tuesday, after a summer of rate haggling, HDNet announced it’s signed on with both.
In a statement, Mark Cuban, HDNet’s Chairman and co-founder as well as being owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, expressed delight with the deal with Rogers.
Then in a second statement, he expressed the same measure of delight in being ExpressVu’s partner….
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VANCOUVER – Like members of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Tuesday’s group of financial analysts dared not speak the name of the biggest incomplete deal in the room.
Just like Harry Potter’s friends don’t like to say "Voldemort", the financial analyst members of the panel session at the Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention entitled "The Word from the Street" were asked in advance not to talk about the Bell Globemedia deal to purchase CHUM Ltd., which has not yet been ruled upon by the Commission.
Last we checked, BGM hadn’t yet even submitted an application to the…
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VANCOUVER – CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen spoke to the broadcast industry for the last time on Friday in his position as chair, from which he steps down as of December 31st.
He was given a rousing standing ovation after his speech to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention, which touched upon the highlights of his five years at the helm of the Commission. Given the tectonic shifts in the media landscape during Dalfen’s tenure as head of the CRTC, few broadcasters envied his position as the regulator struggled to make Acts written in another time fit today’s media age….
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OTTAWA – A year after submitting a report to the CRTC on the presence, portrayal and participation of people with disabilities, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has outlined plans to help influence a positive shift in attitudes.
It announced today a three-pronged campaign to help counteract negative social attitudes and misinformation about people with disabilities.
The campaign includes the release of “Recommended Guidelines on Language and Terminology – Persons with Disabilities”, a glossary and manual for news professionals.
A public service announcement, entitled “Open Your Mind”, has been prepared to encourage the hiring of people with disabilities in…
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VANCOUVER – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters inducted nine distinguished Canadians into the CAB’s Broadcast Hall of Fame at a special luncheon ceremony Monday at the CAB’s 80th Annual Convention in Vancouver.
The Hall of Fame recognizes Canadians in private broadcasting or related industries who have achieved outstanding success in helping raise industry standards from a material or humanitarian standpoint.
The inductees who were honoured at the luncheon are: Doug Allen, Broadcast engineer, Winnipeg Vicki Gabereau, Radio and Television talk show host, Vancouver Alain Gourd, Broadcast executive, Gatineau Frank Lewis, Broadcast executive, Charlottetown Gary Miles, Broadcast executive, Toronto Pierre…
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VANCOUVER – Canadian stars told Canada’s private broadcasters today it is time they invest in more Canadian TV drama.
Instead of producing more “reality” TV shows, said Gabrielle Miller, star of Corner Gas and Robson Arms, “what we need is new rules to protect our Canadian cultural sovereignty and to get more home-grown dramas on our televisions.”
Miller was speaking near the annual Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) convention where the theme is “New Realities, New Rules”.
He was joined by other stars, including Joy Coghill (Da Vinci’s Inquest, Stargate), Jackson Davies (X-Files, Beachcombers), Donnelly Rhodes (Da Vinci’s Inquest,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC told Bell ExpressVu today that it can’t add XM Radio Canada or Sirius Canada to its entertainment lineup without first getting a license amendment.
Specifically, "the Commission finds that satellite subscription radio (SSR) undertakings are not programming undertakings and that the licensees of direct-to-home broadcasting distribution undertakings, in the absence of a specific condition of licence allowing such distribution, do not have authority under section 39 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations to distribute the programming of SSR undertakings," says the decision.
Mainly, XM and Sirius aren’t like Galaxie or MaxTrax, is what it means.
The…
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PUBLICLY CALLING OUT SOMEONE as a bigot is generally considered a poor way to build a business relationship with them.
However, the folks at English language Muslim channel Bridges TV, for whatever reason, believe this is their best chance at gaining carriage in Canada. And, not only have supporters of the channel labeled Rogers Communications, its founder Ted Rogers, and TV vice-president David Purdy as Islamophobic hate-mongers – claims that are wholly absurd – they’re also playing fast and loose with the facts.
Following up on a screed released October 18th, several Canadian Muslim groups said that a…
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OTTAWA – Just like Proctor and Gamble pays Loblaws for a front-and-centre placement in the laundry detergent aisle for Bounce dryer sheets, so should companies like Google or Apple or Amazon have to pay ISPs like Videotron for transmitting their goods to consumers along the Internet backbone.
In a speech Tuesday at the Fourth Annual Telecommunications Forum in Ottawa, Dépatie’s speech just might rip the lid off the so-called "net neutrality" debate in Canada. On one side we have sectors of consumers fearing their unfettered access to the Internet will be disrupted (or unduly influenced by who pays the…
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