Search Results for: crtc

Cable / Telecom News

More new foreign channels approved

OTTAWA – Five additional foreign channels have been added to the eligible satellite list, the CRTC announced Thursday. All are third-language channels which the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association asked for. They are: * Polsat 2 International: A 24-hour general interest programming service originating from Poland and offered in the Polish language. The service is targeted primarily to Polish-speaking communities outside Poland and provides a wide variety of genres of programming including reality shows, soap operas, crime series, mini-series, talk shows, documentaries, news, sports, and music programs. * ET-Global Channel: A 24-hour general interest programming service offered primarily in Mandarin Chinese… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Dalfen to close Telecom Summit

TORONTO – CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen will deliver the closing keynote address at the 2006 Canadian Telecom Summit. Canada’s leading event for the telecommunications industry, the summit attracts more than 500 from the telecom industry. Other speakers are: Mitel chairman Terry Matthews, Telus CEO Darren Entwistle, Vonage founder Jeffrey Citron, Avaya Chair and CEO Donald Peterson; IBM Canada president Dan Fortin; Alcatel North America CEO Hubert de Pesquidoux; Allstream president John MacDonald; Mark Henderson, president of Ericsson Canada; Michael Moskowitz, president of Palm Canada; Chris Rooney from the new AT&T; Nortel North America president Dion Joannou, Siemens Group executive… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

COMMENTARY: Where’s the small screen Cancon?

WHY IS GLOBAL NATIONAL the only Canadian content I can get from iTunes for my Video iPod? Why is the sports content on the Samsung a920 from Bell Mobility I’ve just started testing (downloads are surprisingly speedy, by the way) from ESPN? Where’s Sportsnet or TSN? Why is its business news a bland CP report and not from ROBTv or Newsnet, for example? Why isn’t FashionTelevision the feed for the "fashion" channel on this nifty multimedia wireless phone? Where’s Treehouse On Demand for these devices – my kids would flip for it (actually, there’s no kids content offered at… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

It’s about “basic business fairness”. CanWest issues statement on Charter case

TORONTO – Responding to a story broken earlier today by www.cartt.ca, CanWest MediaWorks issued the following statement: On December 23, 2005, CanWest MediaWorks Inc. filed an application to the Ontario Superior Court asking it to strike down the current federal statute and regulations restricting direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription medicines, on the basis they constitute a violation of section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteeing the freedom of expression. The current advertising restrictions are unfair, ineffective and discriminatory. Canadians already see significant numbers of DTC prescription drug ads broadcast on U.S. television channels carried… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Videotron wants Commission to stop Star Choice two-for-ones; CAB weighs in, too

OTTAWA – Quebec cable company Videotron is claiming Star Choice is selling some systems on a two-for-one basis and that such practices run contra to the Broadcast Distribution Regulations. In a complaint to the CRTC filed December 2nd, Videotron asked the CRTC to step in and put a stop to the practice, saying the Shaw Communications-owned DTH satellite company was giving itself an undue preference by allowing people to pay one subscription fee on more than one system, which contravenes section 9 of the regs. Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu have allowed customers to purchase more than one system,… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

UPDATE: Dropping in on CanWest Global’s investors’ day: CH changes are coming

TORONTO – "There’ll be no big announcements today so you can get off the edge of your seats," CanWest Global CEO Leonard Asper told a gathering of shareholders and financial analysts today in Toronto while opening the company’s first ever investors’ day. Some highlights from the executive presentations and from the Q&A session were: * The company has looked at U.S. acquisitions – specifically of cable TV channels but, "we don’t have the stomach or the legs to take on a U.S. investment," said Asper. He added the company no longer sees it necessary to have a U.S. asset… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

ANALYSIS: New government says little to this industry

AS EXPECTED, FORMER BROADCASTER (TVO and CTV) and CRTC Commissioner, Durham (Ont.) MP Bev Oda, was made Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women this morning when new Prime Minister Stephen Harper was sworn in and announced his new cabinet. What wasn’t expected was former Liberal Industry Minister David Emerson crossing the floor to become a Conservative and remain in cabinet and in power as Minister for International Trade. Beauce (Que.) MP Maxime Bernier, a former Standard Life vice-president, has been named Industry Minister. Industry and Heritage both oversee the CRTC, the regulatory arbiter of the Canadian cable,… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Union to oppose new Bell income trust

OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, which represents many workers at Bell Canada, said Wednesday it will oppose plans by the company to create an income trust which would provide telephone service in rural Ontario and Quebec. A CEP press release said it is concerned that the move will jeopardize universal, affordable phone service in a huge segment of the country, although it did not way why it had arrived at this position or how. BCE CEO Michael Sabia, however, reiterated many times during the company’s Business Review Conference on Wednesday that the company plans to retain… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Wish it was here: Comcast to offer 2006 Super Bowl commercials on demand

PHILADELPHIA – There’s gotta be a way to do this in Canada somehow. Every year at about this time, Canadian fans of the paid advertisements between plays during the Super Bowl howl long and hard about how those of us living north of the border usually miss all of the nifty new U.S. commercials airing during the big game. Our simultaneous substitution rules means we see Canadian commercials sold by Canadian rights holder Global Television instead and very few of the expensive (30-second ad spot: US$2.5 million, to say nothing of production costs), buzzworthy, usually entertaining, new ads which debut… Continue Reading