OTTAWA – The four major party leaders will take to the airwaves four times during the federal election campaign, Canada’s broadcasters announced Wednesday.
This will no doubt mean the Green Party will once again pursue action at the CRTC level (It complained as loudly as it could during the last election campaign when it was refused inclusion in the debates. As long as it remains seatless in the House of Commons, said the broadcasters during the last campaign, it stays on the outside looking in).
The new debate format will feature an increase in the number of Leaders debates…
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OTTAWA – Late last week the CRTC called for comments on adding five more international third-language services to the list of eligible satellite services. Today, the Commission asked for comments on two more.
The Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association has sponsored six new channels. They are:
Polsat 2: 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: A…
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OTTAWA – Late Friday, the government adopted amendments to the Telecommunications Act which gives the CRTC the ability to establish a national Do Not Call List, aimed towards reducing the volume of telemarketing calls Canadians receive at home.
The amendments also give the CRTC the power to levy substantial penalties against telemarketers who do not follow the rules, and to contract with a private sector third party to operate and maintain the list.
"By passing these amendments, the government has ensured that Canadians will have an easy and effective way to better protect their privacy and reduce intrusive telemarketing…
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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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