OTTAWA — Responding to a procedural request for information from the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, the CRTC is now asking CBC/Radio-Canada to submit its total aggregate revenues for all of its online services, as part of the proceeding related to the public broadcaster’s licence renewal.
In a letter sent to the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting on January 28, the Commission notes it has sent CBC/Radio-Canada a letter requesting the information about aggregate revenues (subscriber and advertising) asked for by FCB for all CBC/Radio-Canada owned and operated audio and audiovisual online services. CBC/Radio-Canada has until February 4, 2020 to provide…
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OTTAWA — Somebody owes Telus some money. Maybe it’s Rogers and Bell. Or it could be the consumer groups l’Union des consommateurs and (to a lesser extent) the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC). Either way, Telus should be getting back about $1,700 as a result of a decision rendered Wednesday by the CRTC.
Back in May 2019, after the Commission denied PIAC’s request for clarification on the device unlocking rules set out in the Wireless Code, the CRTC did approve an application by l’Union and a separate application by PIAC for the awarding of costs related…
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GATINEAU – With a number of proposed substantive changes to the role and responsibilities of the CRTC recommended in the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review (BTLR) panel report released today, it’s not surprising one of the first people to issue a statement regarding the report was the Commission’s chair and CEO, Ian Scott.
The first of the panel’s 97 recommendations is that the name of the CRTC be changed to the Canadian Communications Commission, the title of the Broadcasting Act be changed to the Media Communications Act, and the title of the Telecommunications Act be changed to the Electronic…
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Renamed Commission would oversee all media in Canada
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Eighteen months, thousands of pages from more than 2000 written submissions, dozens of staff and six panel members have produced a shockingly thorough 235-page report which proposes 97 recommendations to change the Broadcasting Act, Telecommunications Act and Radiocommunications Act.
The CRTC will be dead, long live the CCC
One of the many recommendations from the Broadcasting & Telecommunications Legislative Review (BTLR) panel in its report called “Canada’s Communications Future: Time to Act” is a renamed CRTC where the new moniker would reflect the sweeping new regulatory powers found in many…
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GATINEAU — Canadians will have an additional week to submit their opinions on CBC/Radio-Canada’s programming as the CRTC announced Tuesday it is extending the consultation period that is part of the public broadcaster’s licence renewal process.
The Commission says it wants to hear from Canadians across the country to ensure the content produced and distributed by the public broadcaster reflects the diversity of Canada’s population, while meeting its needs in both official languages.
The deadline extension comes after the Commission posted online Tuesday a recently completed study by Cullen International which examined public broadcasters in other jurisdictions around the world….
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OTTAWA — The CRTC announced Tuesday the start of its proceeding to review the commercial radio policy framework, previously announced as part of its 2019-2020 Departmental Plan.
In its Broadcasting Notice of Proceeding CRTC 2020-25, the Commission says the intention of the review is to modernize the regulatory framework for radio in order to position the radio market to best contribute to Canada’s broadcasting policy objectives.
The proceeding will consist of three phases:
Phase 1 — conversation with Canadians through public opinion research;
Phase 2 — a notice of consultation covering several steps; and
Phase 3 — appearing public…
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CNOC wants Commission’s help with Eastlink decision
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Recently, Technicolor, a modem manufacturer, discovered some of its equipment was faulty and thus informed it customers.
It told carriers that some modems were defective. “The TC Bulletin explains that a very small quantity of TC Modems built during a two-week manufacturing window between weeks 35 and 37 of 2018 were exhibiting an issue,” reads a Canadian Network Operators’ Consortium application to the CRTC.
Yet, according to CNOC, Eastlink decided to order its wholesale third party internet access customers to remove all Technicolor modems from that batch. CNOC also states that…
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OTTAWA – Bell Canada has applied to appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) the CRTC Decision 2019-427, that found Bell guilty of undue preference.
“The Commission finds that Bell (…) has conferred an undue preference upon RDS, its discretionary sports service, and has subjected the service TVA Sports to an undue disadvantage by packaging the two services in a different manner,” the CRTC Decision reads, which we covered in December.
The main argument Bell brings forward in its motion is that in a 2018 Final Offer Arbitration (FOA) “The CRTC accepted Bell’s final offer, which was based…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC is asking the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) to tell the Commission how the association and its members plan to combat the issue of unauthorized porting of mobile phone numbers, a fraudulent activity that has been reported with increasing frequency in recent months.
CBC News has reported recently on several instances where mobile phone customers reported falling victim to number porting.
“The Commission has become aware that certain Canadian mobile customers have been subject to fraudulent activity involving unauthorized porting of their mobile phone numbers,” the CRTC wrote January 15 in a letter to the…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC says it will not proceed with an application submitted in September requesting must-carry status under a barker licence type, on SiriusXM, for an audio-based radio guide for the visually impaired.
Evan Kosiner of Kosiner Venture Capital submitted the application on September 17, 2019, requesting 9 (1)(h) designation for the service that would allow visually impaired Canadians to have access to the alphanumeric information displayed on the screen in a car or on a portable receiver, where it would be turned into machine-read audio. The information would pertain to the song or the show being played.
In…
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