OTTAWA-GATINEAU – "The telecommunications landscape has changed considerably since the release of the first report to the Governor in Council in 2001," said Charles Dalfen, chairman of the CRTC in releasing the Commission’s Telecom Monitoring Report to the Governor-in-Council.
(An earlier version of this story contained an mistake, which the Commission corrected today in an additional release. The fixed copy is in boldface below.)
"Our monitoring report indicates that Internet and wireless services continue to be the flagships of growth and innovation for the Canadian telecommunications industry and that technology continues to impact the industry, not only by lowering costs, but…
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GATINEAU and QUEBEC – The CRTC has postponed Nov. 14th public hearings in Quebec City on a bundle of applications for new or modified radio services, all because of a sales agreement two weeks ago involving one of the region’s FM stations.
The decision puts 10 applications on hold, including seven for new FM radio stations and one for a licence renewal for a station in the Gaspé region, about 700 km away.
Three other applications for new services will be heard, but in Gatineau instead of Quebec City. One is for a French-language country music station on the AM…
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OTTAWA – Research released Monday – a week before the Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual convention – by the Canadian Film and Television Production Association says that changes to the financing policy infrastructure have heavily tipped the scales in favour of Canada’s broadcasters.
"Between 2000 and 2002 Canadian film and television producers earnings before taxes dropped from 6.7% to 1.6%," said Ira Levy, CFTPA chair. "In comparison large broadcasters have maintained a consistent rate of profitability well in excess of overall Canadian industry averages."
The figures are part of an analysis the CFTPA commissioned from the Nordicity Group Ltd….
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OTTAWA – A press release yesterday touting how broadcasters are getting rich and TV producers are not, isn’t supported by the study it cites, says the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.
In releasing its Nordicity Group Ltd.’s Study on Broadcaster Profitability and Programming Expenditures, the Canadian Film and Television Produces Association (CFTPA), as reported by www.cartt.ca, claims that private broadcasters have increased their profitability and reduced their Canadian program expenditures, at the expense of the Canadian program production industry. Data taken from their own study demonstrates that this could not be further from the truth, says the CAB.
“Canada’s private…
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TORONTO – Astral Media may have been one of the CRTC’s most vociferous critics when it came to its satellite radio decision this year, but the company’s radio division has signed on to produce two French language channels for SIRIUS Canada.
Adult Contemporary format Rock Velours will play the best Canadian soft rock and include new French artists like Jorane, Pierre Lapointe and Ariane Moffatt. Rock Velours will also feature newer Canadian artists like Daniel Powter, Feist and Divine Brown.
Contemporary Hit radio (CHR) format Energie2 will have a play list that includes Pop Rock, Modern Rock and popular…
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SAINT JOHN – Aliant president and CEO Jay Forbes told financial analysts on Friday that he’s holding out hope that the CRTC will see it their way when it comes to forbearing from regulating its local telephony markets.
Aliant and all other Canadian telecom stakeholders faced the Commission during the week of September 26th to give their opinion on local telephony competition and at what stage the Regulator should de-regulate local phone markets.
The local forbearance hearing (which was attended by www.cartt.ca) was initiated by an Aliant request early in 2005 that it be relieved of regulation in 32…
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TORONTO – The Canadian Telecommunications Hall of Fame inducted its first nine laureates at a dinner last week in Toronto.
Those honoured included posthumous contributors to Canada’s telecommunications industry, namely, Alexander Graham Bell and Reginald Aubrey Fessenden in the Inventors and Innovators category, Dr. John H. Chapman in the Servants of the Public category and Charles Fleetford Sise (first Bell Canada CEO) in the Icons of Business category.
Other laureates inducted were former CRTC vice-chair (telecom) David Colville in the Servants of the Public category, Professor and telecom law specialist Hudson Janisch and consultants Lis and…
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OTTAWA – Looking to push the adoption of advanced telecom technologies in this country, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance said this week that the market should decide how telecommunications develops in Canada.
Providing better tax credits and becoming a model user of ICT were recommended steps that government could take to encourage industry growth, according to respondents.
"The survey is part of a six-month advocacy campaign by CATA to encourage the adoption of advanced telecommunications and information technologies," said John Reid, president, CATAAlliance, in a press release.
The survey was undertaken as an open online poll of the general membership…
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TORONTO – The Canadian cable industry asked for the U.S. version of Discovery HD in February of 2003 but made little progress with its request with the CRTC.
However, a decision last Friday, as reported by www.cartt.ca, licenses Discovery HD Canada – and owner CTV Specialty said today that it will launch, ASAP.
CTV Specialty Television Inc. (a subsidiary of CTV Inc.) and US-based Discovery Communications announced Tuesday that their joint venture application to the CRTC for a new High Definition (HD) specialty channel – Discovery HD – has been approved. Expected to launch before the end of 2005,…
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MONTREAL – Bell Digital Voice is now available in the Greater Montreal Area, the company announced this morning.
Already offered in Toronto for $40 a month, the service is being progressively rolled out across Québec and Ontario.
In Montreal, the offer is $35 a month. Bell has faced significant pressure in Montreal with Videotron’s $16 a month residential telephony offer. The MSO said in August that it had surpassed 75,000 customers and were adding 4,000 a week, which means the company is over or nearly 100,000 VOIP subscribers, most of which would be telephony customers taken from Bell.
As…
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