QUEBEC CITY – Thirteen months after the CRTC ruled that the controversial, market-leading CHOI-FM did not deserve to have its licence renewed and three weeks after the Federal Court of Appeal agreed, the station has hooked itself back up to the “judicial respirator”.
The station’s owners, GENEX Communications, Wednesday received the consent of the Court of Appeal to an agreement reached with the federal Attorney-General on an extension of its licence.
This allows GENEX to file an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, thus “reconnecting the judicial respirator” as Court of Appeal Justice Gilles…
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HALIFAX – Aliant announced today it will invest over $100,000 over the next three years to support wireless research and development at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC).
The Wireless Network for Environmental Monitoring Project – sponsored by NSCC’s Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) – is a major research initiative that focuses on the development of a wireless network of remote environmental monitoring stations in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia.
Aliant will contribute $25,000 per year for three years, along with over $30,000 of in-kind contributions of equipment and services in support of the project. The funding is provided…
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THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS are the most valuable, most talked about, most loved sports team in English Canada.
Launching a TV channel that’s all Leafs, all the time, was a no-brainer for team brass back in 2001. But without any games, LeafsTV left a little something to be desired, say viewers, and says executive producer and vice-president programming John Shannon (right).
That changes this season (and was supposed to last year, but for the NHL lockout) as LeafsTV will have a total of 21 Toronto Maple Leaf games – eight pre-season matchups and 13 regular season tilts – to…
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OTTAWA – With the hearings on the new pay television applicants scheduled for next month, the two major associations have weighed in with their comments.
While expressing no opinion on the merits of the applications, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters told the CRTC in its submission that since the applications force it to consider altering its policy of licensing just one Canadian specialty or pay service per genre – or in this case, per region – that a separate hearing needs to be held.
As reported by www.cartt.ca, four new applicants will face the Commission October 24th…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC last week turned down Aliant Telecom’s request for relief from the telecom win-back rules and policies against wireline promotions.
The eastern telco said that the market in Nova Scotia is plenty competitive, what with the surging cableco EastLink, which provides local telephony in most regions, and that the win-back rules (which prevent an incumbent from contacting a lost customer for an entire year) and promotional restrictions must be lifted.
The CRTC said no, saying that any determination on matters like this will take place during the hearings coming up next week (and the…
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GATINEAU – This sounds something like the Spike TV debate.
In January this year Discovery Wings changed its name to The Military Channel and significantly altered its programming. Soon after, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association asked for a change in the eligible satellite list to reflect the switch.
The CCTA has submitted that the Commission’s current authorization to distribute Discovery Wings extends to The Military Channel. The U.S. channel is owned by Discovery Communications.
On Monday, however, the CRTC issued a call for comments on the CCTA’s request to alter the list. The channel remains on the digital…
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QUEBEC CITY – Quebec City Mayor Jean-Paul L’Allier has filed a complaint with the CRTC about Global Television’s plan to transfer several key technical jobs to Toronto.
In a letter filed Monday, Mayor L’Allier, a former Quebec communications minister, accuses the network of breaking its promise made at licence hearings in 1996 and asks the CRTC to respect licencing conditions.
As reported by www.cartt.ca in July, Global will transfer master control and traffic jobs to Toronto at the end of this month, leaving eight full-time employees and one half-time employee at CKMI. Global insists however there will not…
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OTTAWA – Saying we need greater inclusion of people with disabilities on the air, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) today submitted its research report titled The Presence, Portrayal and Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Television Programming to the CRTC.
The report provides extensive detail on the issues and barriers challenging persons with disabilities, in society and in television programming alike. It further provides a series of recommendations for the development of a broadcaster tool kit to move forward on greater inclusion of persons with disabilities within the broadcasting industry; and for addressing issues of presence and portrayal…
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OTTAWA – After absorbing a few regulatory blows the past two weeks, CCTA president Michael Hennessy says he’s happy to be moving forward with, “a new regime at the Commission.”
The run of bad news, from the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association point of view, began with the August 31st decision to grant the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network its requested 10-cent per month wholesale rate increase.
The must-carry-by-everybody-no-matter-what channel will now cost Canadian TV subscribers $0.25 a month instead of $0.15, boosting APTN’s annual revenue stream to about $30 million, not counting its ad sales. Since cable will feel the…
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TORONTO – CHUM Limited CEO Jay Switzer said yesterday that while conventional radio broadcasters will feel little immediate impact from the two satellite radio companies coming to market, the future repercussions he foresees makes him worry for the country.
Switzer was part of a broadcast panel with Corus Entertainment CEO John Cassaday and Alliance Atlantis executive chairman Michael MacMillan at the BMO Nesbitt Burns Media and Telecom conference which concluded today in Toronto.
When asked about the satellite radio decision, which CHUM and others vehemently protested but which federal cabinet decided late last week to let stand, Switzer…
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