OTTAWA – With an election call to come this morning from the Governor General, Canada’s broadcast, cable and telecom industries get a legislative time out… again… from the feds.
Any hope for copyright reform is dashed, once more. This was the fourth time the industry had lobbied heavily for changes to the Radiocommunications Act to make it tougher on signal thieves and again, the government couldn’t – or wouldn’t – do it. Last time Parliament dissolved, in 2004, the copyright reform bill went before parliament as Bill C-2, the very first one to face lawmakers. Alas, even that didn’t…
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YEARS BACK, IT WAS EASY to pick on VisionTV. Its programs were old, appearing only on the specialty channel in their second or third (or fourth!) window.
Much of its original “Mosaic” programming looked and sounded terrible – and violated the channel’s Canadian content requirements, it turns out, causing CRTC sanctions. Preachers and traditional religion dominated the channel. However, when current president and CEO Bill Roberts (left) came on board in 2000, he set out to drastically alter VisionTV. More original, interesting, programming – about faith and spirituality and not necessarily organized…
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OTTAWA – One might not think that an application to set up a community radio station in Chibougamau, a small community about 475 km northeast of Quebec City, would draw much attention.
But the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has intervened before the CRTC to ask that the application from Radio Matagami be rejected. The CRTC will hold a public hearing in Gatineau Dec. 12th.
The proposed community station would serve both Chibougamau and the smaller town of Chapais 50 km away, a market of about 7,000 people. It would provide community news and play a broad range of music….
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OTTAWA – ACTRA and the United Steelworkers announced this week they will work together to lobby for certain election platforms.
They are challenging ministers, party leaders and MPs of all parties “to bring Canada back to a position of strong cultural and national identity,” says their co-branded press release.
"It’s time for politicians to take a stand and recognize that working people – regardless of what they do for a living – are the backbone of our nation. Let’s see politicians make some key commitments on culture and trade and show us they’re listening," said actor R.H. Thomson.
"Over…
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TORONTO – Next week, new Humber College radio station CKHC 96.9 FM will launch as likely the only all-Canadian station in the country.
The station plans to play nothing but music by Canadian artists.
The Humber campus radio station has been operating at the north campus since 1973. CKHC 90.7 FM currently operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In 2003 the school applied to the CRTC for a ‘developmental campus license’ to operate a new radio station on the FM frequency of 96.9. The college was officially awarded a license as of Sept. 13, 2004.
Beginning…
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MONTREAL – Fifteen independent companies, today lodged a complaint with the CRTC over the business practices of Bell Canada they say is unfair.
The document ultimately strives to end what the Quebec ISP Coalition calls the "unfair conduct of Bell Canada with regards to the provision of high speed Internet services."
The Coalition’s two main complaints relate to Bell Canada’s "taking advantage of its dominant position" regarding its high speed basic Internet access, and that its long-term, so-called promotional rates are unfair.
"Bell Canada gives with one hand and takes with the other," said Sophie Léger, spokesperson for the…
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CAMPBELL RIVER and CALGARY – As of Wednesday afternoon, 10,000 Campbell River TV customers were still without most of their TV channels.
As reported by cartt.ca yesterday, Shaw Communications, which owns both networks that CRTV relies on for distant signals, had shut off the microwave system delivering U.S. over-the-air signals and had cut off access to most other Canadian TV signals delivered by Shaw satellite division Cancom.
The problem, says Shaw, is that CRTV is encouraging customers to go to the town of Courtenay – a Shaw Cable region about 45 kms south – purchase digital set top boxes there…
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DARTMOUTH, N.S. – The CRTC has approved Newcap Inc.’s $1.8-million purchase of Winnipeg station CHNR-FM “The Breeze” from CKVN Radiolink System Inc.
The transaction, originally announced in February, is expected to close within 60 days.
"The completion of this purchase is important to Newfoundland Capital because it represents the Company’s first entry into Winnipeg, which was one of Canada’s highest radio revenue growth markets last year," said Rob Steele, president and CEO, in a release. "This strategic acquisition represents another step in building a geographically diverse presence across Canada."
Newcap “will continue its course of sourcing new, expanding markets…
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OTTAWA – Today, the CRTC added six new foreign, third-language TV channels to the eligible satellite list.
Sponsored by the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, the new additions are: Channel One Russia Worldwide TV, NTDTV, Phoenix North American Chinese Channel, PTV-Prime USA, RTPi, and TV Globo.
"The authorization of additional foreign third-language services allows distributors in specific markets to offer diverse programming to many ethnocultural communities," said Michael Hennessy, CCTA president. "Third-language services often provide a different perspective to world events and are an excellent complement to the current Canadian line-up.
“The addition of new services reflects the cable industry’s…
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CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. – As general manager Jim Forsyth feared, Shaw Communications revealed the depth of its anger Tuesday afternoon and shut down most of the distant TV signals for Campbell River TV.
“We’ve been disconnected by Shaw from just about everything. The microwave system has been turned off and all of our digital services are off and the vast majority of our satellite channels are off,” Forsyth told www.cartt.ca Tuesday evening.
CRTV is preparing a court injunction to force Shaw to turn its Cancom feeds and microwave distribution back on, said Forsyth, who added Shaw executives have yet…
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