THE WORD DIGITAL IS A conundrum to Canadian broadcasters of any stripe.
It means digital specialty channels, or digital migration of analog channels, or digital over-the-air TV (better known as high definition), or even digital audio.
Investing in digital is an expensive proposition. For an over-the-air broadcaster there is no immediate return on investment in upgrading to HD, so many here haven’t done it. Consumers are forcing that change, meaning HD Cancon should be in the offing this fall..
On the radio side, any transition to digital audio broadcasting (DAB) was halted last year once the CRTC decided to…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC today approved the purchase of CHSH-TV-2 Chase from Shuswap Lakes Television Society by Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Ltd.
The purchase price was $10. Pattison’s CFJC-TV out of Kamloops already owns the equipment at the transmitter site and has been maintaining it for a decade.
The Shuswap Lakes Television Society had run out of members as well as money and needed to sell the asset while keeping the transmitter turned on for the people in the Chase and Shuswap Lakes region of British Columbia.
The Commission also approved Pattison’s request to change the programming source from…
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TORONTO – Fresh off its recent regulatory win allowing longer-form programming instead of a straight wheel of news, CTV Newsnet has announced its first full hour show.
Countdown: With Mike Duffy is back. CTV Newsnet announced Friday it has added the popular and timely series to its prime-time schedule. Unlike its previous incarnation in which the series aired as a prelude to last year’s Federal Election, CTV Newsnet confirmed that Countdown: With Mike Duffy will be a permanent addition to the line-up.
Each live, one-hour program will air weeknights at 8 p.m. ET, repeating at 11 p.m. ET, beginning…
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OTTAWA – The everyday consumer probably doesn’t understand – or care to understand – what the VOIP decision was all about. They just want better stuff cheaper.
In the end, the decision was more than a little anti-climactic. Each side had it figured out already because the CRTC had left more than enough clues about the way it was leaning.
The decision was made official at 4 p.m., www.cartt.ca posted its story at about 4:01 (as soon as the CRTC web-heads turned back on the WiFi) and the wave of pre-written press releases soon began to wash into the…
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OTTAWA – Having received new applications for radio stations in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and Calgary, Alberta, the CRTC – in accordance with policy – has issued a broad call for new radio license applications in the two communities.
The deadline is July 27. Click here for Calgary and here for Moose Jaw.
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MONTREAL – Canadian VOIP provider Babytel sharply criticized the CRTC for leaving Canadian cable companies unregulated in Thursday’s decision.
“This is asymmetrical regulation," said Stephen Dorsey, babyTEL president and CEO.
“This is regulating Bell, Telus and other incumbent phone companies on price while ignoring the cable incumbents with their sizable territories and customer base of high-speed Internet users. Competition – and consumers – would be better off with no regulation than this asymmetrical regulation," he added.
“Bell and Telus will be partially self-regulated in that they will be restrained in VOIP offerings to avoid cannibalizing legacy telephone business; whereas…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – While the cable industry was fixated on the voice over Internet protocol decision yesterday, the CRTC issued another one at the same time which will affect a number of small cable operators carrying high definition programming.
In the decision, the Commission told Star Choice that it must, within 30 days, cease transmitting its so-called “omnibus” high definition channels it has been distributing to customers for some time. None of these channels were created with the consent of the broadcasters, who complained to the regulator.
Basically, Star Choice takes high definition programming it finds on CBS, ABC, Fox…
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OTTAWA – At least it won’t be an election issue this time around.
The CRTC today added Italian channel RAI International to the eligible satellite list of services for distribution on a digital basis.
Getting RAI on has been quite a battle for the cable companies since the Commission originally sided with its policy of genre-protection, shutting RAI out in 2004 in favor of protecting Corus Entertainment-controlled Telelatino.
The channel was an election issue last time around as politicians promised Italian-Canadian voters the channel would be added.
Rogers Cable says RAI will go live on its systems June 2,…
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BURNABY, B.C. – The Telecommunications Workers Union doesn’t trust the free market and says that the CRTC’s VOIP decision issued yesterday was wrong-headed.
"The Commission dropped the ball with this decision," said Telecommunications Workers Union president Bruce Bell. “They focused totally on promoting competition among the companies that will provide the service… Their underlying assumption seems to be that by setting the terms of competition, the workings of the ‘free market’ will take care of everything else.
“This focus is way too narrow," Bell continued. "The TWU has always taken the position that the CRTC’s most important responsibility is…
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OTTAWA – The Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications said today it too believes the CRTC’s VOIP decision wrong-headed.
"The Coalition argued that users ultimately pay for the entire telecommunications cost structure and we should have more say in the regime governing our freedom of choice in technology and service providers,” said Ian Russell, coalition chair (and senior vice president, Investment Dealers Association of Canada). “Regrettably, this is a decision about picking winners rather than leaving customers and markets generally to determine outcomes. The CRTC has once again ignored the users.
“It appears the CRTC is far more interested in settling…
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