OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Broadcaster Crossroads Television (CITS) will stay on basic cable on Videotron’s Quebec-Ontario border systems, the CRTC told the company today.
Videotron wanted to distribute the Christian broadcast channel as a digital basic service to its Gatineau, Buckingham, Thurso and Montebello, Quebec – and Rockland, Ontario, systems.
CTS said it would submit to digital basic distribution, so long as Videotron wanted to do it province-wide.
The Quebecor Media-owned cable company, however, added that moving it to digital would free up network space to other specialties and new services.
“Videotron noted that CITS-TV-1, an English-language television programming undertaking devoted…
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OTTAWA – The Government of Canada Wednesday dismissed complaints filed with the Governor in Council over two CRTC decisions awarding Vancouver radio station licenses.
On July 21, 2005, the CRTC awarded a radio license to South Asian Broadcasting Corporation Inc. to operate a new commercial specialty FM (ethnic) radio station at Vancouver at 93.1 MHz aimed at the South Asian community.
The same day, it also approved an AM radio application by I.T. Productions Ltd. for a new station at 1200 kHz also targeting Vancouver’s South Asian communities.
“The decisions… were found to be consistent with the policy objectives…
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MONTREAL – Rogers Communications founder and CEO Ted Rogers used a speech to the Canadian Club Monday in Montreal to blast Bell Canada’s lobbying efforts and predatory pricing ideas.
Just days after the local forbearance hearings in Ottawa and in the middle of the Telecom Review undertaken by Industry Canada, Rogers’ comments had serious purpose behind them.
Mentioning Videotron and its parent company, Quebecor, as well as iconic owner Pierre Karl Peladeau, Rogers outlined how Canadian cable companies are working hard to provide facilities-based local telephony competition in Canada. He said he’s pleased with the uptake on Rogers Home…
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QUEBEC CITY – Genex Communications, owner of controversial CHOI-FM, has reached an agreement to sell CKNU-FM of Donnacona, just outside Quebec City, to Radio Nord Communications.
Terms of the deal, subject to CRTC approval, were not disclosed.
If the sale is approved, Radio Nord would have a presence in the greater Quebec City market for the first time. It currently operates 13 radio stations and five TV stations in other regions of Quebec and eastern Ontario.
Radio Nord, though, has another chance to break into the city. It already has an application before the CRTC for a license to…
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OTTAWA – Saying the Copyright Board has now moved into cultural policy, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters has called the board’s Friday decision “astonishing.”
Rather than just approving rates based on the value of music, the panel’s decision “seeks to appropriate a cultural policy making role, and establish its own economic order for the distribution of cultural subsidies,” says the CAB today.
“It is remarkable that this panel took the liberty of criticizing Parliament itself by gratuitously condemning the legislated tariff rate that Parliament granted small broadcasters,” continues the harshly-worded (and for good reason) release.
“Unlike the CRTC, which…
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TORONTO – Thanks to a partnership agreement which dates back to the beginnings of CanWest Global’s only analog specialty service, Prime TV, Rogers Communications wants to acquire one-third ownership of the channel.
In a nutshell, Rogers provided some start-up financing and covered some operating costs for the channel leading to and after its launch in 1997. In return, RCI received a subordinated debenture from CanWest, convertible into ownership of the channel, at RCI’s option.
The company has exercised its option and plans to take 33.3% ownership of CanWest’s channel.
CanWest has applied for CRTC approval for the ownership change….
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TORONTO – Family Channel has applied to the CRTC for a new category two digital specialty service it’s calling Boyz Own.
Programming will be aimed at serving “the distinct entertainment and information needs of boys aged 8 to 13 years,” says the CRTC’s release. “Programming on the service will focus on issues unique to boys 8-13, including interests and activities such as action/adventure, outdoor themes, extreme sports and video games.”
Family proposed its own limits on the channel, too, including:
* No more than 10% of all programming broadcast during the broadcast week shall be drawn from category 6b…
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OTTAWA – Personalized media will take centre stage at next month’s Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual convention in Winnipeg, November 6 to 8.
This year’s plenary sessions examine the industry’s “big picture” issues, including the prospects for regulation in a broadband universe, and the future of advertising in a digital environment.
The concurrent sessions tackle such hot-button issues as the impact of new personal media devices; the prospects for Canadian HDTV; the new marketing imperative for broadcasters; the upcoming CRTC review of the Canadian radio industry; and the future of news.
On Tuesday November 8th, the ever-popular closing plenary…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC today turned down an application by Bayshore Broadcasting for a new FM radio station in Wasaga Beach – a popular summer hangout about 13 kms north of Toronto on Georgian Bay.
The proposed Classic AC station would have operated at 97.7 MHz (channel 249A) with an effective radiated power of 1,800 watts.
However, the Commission sided with the intervenors which said Wasaga Beach (pop, 12,400 – and which receives many radio stations already) could not support a dedicated local radio station.
“The Commission is concerned with the expanded principal marketing area that the applicant has…
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OTTAWA – Not every intervention filed with the CRTC over the four new pay TV license applicants were negative. Many were overwhelmingly supportive.
As reported previously, four groups are vying for new must-carry pay TV licenses from the Commission and will face a hearing on October 24th.
The applicants are: Spotlight TV, a bid led by former Alliance Atlantis executive George Burger (backed by Insight Media and now Bell ExpressVu); One from Allarco (backed by the Allard family, the former owners of WIC Broadcasting); another from a division of Quebecor Media for BOOM TV, and a unique…
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