GATINEAU – On Friday, the CRTC granted Newcap Broadcasting a license for a new FM station serving Bonnyville, Alberta.
The station (at 101.3MHz) will be a pop format aimed at 18 to 45 year olds, says the license decision.
Bonnyville is a market of about 10,000 people near the Saskatchewan border, about 280 kms northeast of Edmonton.
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GATINEAU – After a short hiatus, Denis Carmel has returned to the CRTC.
A familiar face and voice, Carmel left the CRTC in 2005 after spending a number of years in the communications branch. He returned to the Commission full-time as director of public affairs in February.
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QUEBEC – Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to delay its moment of truth for an extra 60 days.
The station’s owner, Genex Communications, has filed the request because of “serious discussions” with third parties that “could lead to the settlement of the current legal dispute."
The unusual request comes as the Supreme Court is about to rule on whether or not it will hear Genex’s appeal of the CRTC’s decision in July 2004 to revoke CHOI-FM’s licence. It was granted the right to hook itself back up to the “judicial respirator” last…
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TORONTO – CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch said Thursday that if we, as Canadians, want to have a good public broadcaster, it needs better a better, stable funding model.
In a speech to the Empire Club in Toronto, Rabinovitch said he welcomed any governmental review of the CBC’s mandate (as has been alluded to by the new Conservative government) and said one is coming anyway by the end of 2006 when the Corp. faces the CRTC during its license renewal hearing.
The CEO says the broadcaster’s vision is to be "(t)he undisputed champion of compelling Canadian programming," and…
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CALGARY – The claims Vonage is making are wrong and misleading, Shaw Communications CEO Jim Shaw said today in a press release responding to the VOIP company’s CRTC application.
This week, as reported here, Vonage announced it has asked the Commission to look into the $10 fee (calling it a VOIP tax) Shaw recommends consumers pay per month in order to guarantee quality of service if and when they are using a third party voice provider for local telephony (other than Shaw’s own digital telephony product).
"Vonage’s news release concerning Shaw’s quality of service enhancement is both wrong and…
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OTTAWA – The New Democratic Party today released a four-point plan for "broadcast sovereignty".
The four points are:
* Change the governance structure of CBC board of directors — ending the patronage appointment process and giving the board the power to hire or fire the CEO, who is currently appointed by the Prime Minister. * Ensure stable long term funding to expand regional programming. * Maintain clear limits on foreign ownership of Canadian airwaves. * Restore the obligation of Canadian broadcasters to promote home-grown drama.
NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) said in the release that Prime Minister…
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TORONTO – The gala evening celebrating women in communications is Wednesday in Ottawa, but Canadian Women in Communications has announced who the award winners will be.
Woman of the Year: Sarah Crawford, vice-president, Public Affairs, CHUM Television, Toronto
Employer of the Year: Alliance Atlantis Communications
Chapter Leader of the Year: Diane Johnson, president, Descriptive Video Works, Vancouver
Trailblazer of the Year: Sandy Larson, manager of customer service and operations, SaskTel and Mayor of Swift Current, Saskatchewan
Mentor of the Year: Cindy Chatwell, acting marketing manager, Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN), Winnipeg
The CWC Jeanne Sauvé Program winners are: *…
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REVIEWING THE WORK OF Rogers Communications chief technology officer, Nick Hamilton-Piercy leaves one a little awestruck.
He’s been at the forefront of just about every technological development in the cable industry almost since there was a cable industry. If Nick and his team at Rogers (and before that, Canadian Cablesystems) wasn’t first with something, you can bet they weren’t far behind – and most likely contributed to its development, anyway. Hamilton-Piercy (left) seems to be enjoying his semi-retirement from Rogers (which is now going on six years) in a role that…
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MISSISSAUGA, ON – Internet telephony provider Vonage Canada announced today it has appealed to the CRTC to investigate Shaw Communications’ "thinly veiled VOIP tax to determine if Shaw is unfairly driving up competitor’s prices and forcing Western Canadians to pay more for phone service," says the company release.
Shaw tells its high-speed Internet customers that they should pay an extra $10 charge per month if they use a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone service provider such as Vonage Canada.
The big western MSO says the fee it meant to ensure that customers of Vonage, for example, using Shaw’s…
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TORONTO – It’s too bad CRTC commissioners weren’t here to see this.
During May’s commercial radio review, commissioners will host an orderly procession of industry stakeholders, from musicians to record producers to broadcasters to industry associations. They’ll all make their points in front of the Commission, answer questions and then go home to wait some months for a decision.
Yesterday though – in a packed, hot (-tempered, sometimes) room – broadcasters and producers went at each other in a highly-charged, eminently entertaining hour of running ideas up the flagpole and see who salutes… or moons… or kicks over the…
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