OTTAWA – Earlier this week, Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, passed second reading stage in the senate and was referred to the senate transport and communications committee (TRCM) for full study.
Yesterday, the committee heard from two panels of witnesses.
Robert Fenton, board chair of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind suggested several improvements that take into account people who are blind or partially sighted.
For example, he pointed out the broadcasting system needs to be more accessible. “Yes, there are set top boxes out there that talk, but they only talk after a sighted person enables them for those…
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By Len St-Aubin
RICHARD STURSBERG’S OP-ED in Monday Oct. 24’s Globe and Mail put forward the British system of defining domestic content as a model for redefining TV CanCon when the CRTC starts regulating global streaming services as broadcasters under Bill C-11. He makes a good point, but vastly understates how contentious this will be in C-11’s brave new world.
Stursberg has previously recommended the British model. He’s right that adopting their approach would address two issues. First is the often unrecognizably ‘Canadian’ outcomes of current CanCon criteria. Second is foreign streamers’ reasonable expectation that they can own the rights…
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OTTAWA — Tandy Yull has joined the Canadian Association of Broadcasters as its vice-president of policy and regulatory affairs, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Yull joins the CAB from the CRTC where she worked for the last 23 years in various positions including senior manager of alternative dispute resolution, senior manager of English and third-language programming, and manager of English-language pay and specialty services.
She previously worked at the CAB as manager of television policy and social issues from 1996-1999.
Prior to that, she was a consultant at Nordicity.
Yull holds a BA in political science and history from McGill University and…
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The following is an abridged version of keynote address delivered to the Canadian ISP Summit last week, by Geoff White, executive director and general counsel, Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC).
TORONTO – Last year, the CNOC keynote address was titled “Independents Unite: How We Are Fighting for a Fairer Today and a Stronger Tomorrow.” Well, it’s tomorrow now, and there’s a lot to reflect upon as we head into the future. So, the title of today’s remarks is “Where do we go from here?”
First, let’s take stock. Since we last met, a couple of major things that should not…
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OTTAWA – Last Friday, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage heard from CRTC chair Ian Scott and the heritage minister, Pablo Rodriguez on Bill C-18, the Online News Act, but representatives from Meta, Facebook’s parent company were still notably absent.
The CRTC chair appeared to reassure the committee the Commission can handle implementing the bill. As with C-11, the Online Streaming Act, one of the questions that has been asked again and again is whether the CRTC will be able to handle its new responsibilities should the bill pass.
While many have doubts about the Commission, Scott told…
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CRTC chair attempts to explain cost awards granted to CMAC
OTTAWA – During a meeting on C-18, the Online News Act, heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez and Ian Scott, chair of the CRTC, were also asked questions about the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) and its senior consultant Laith Marouf being awarded funding by the federal government and the CRTC.
Surprisingly, Rodriguez told the committee he did not know what was going on until the media reported on it – meaning he was not clued in on the matter at any point in the month that passed by between…
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By Howard Law
I KEEP THINKING I have written my last post on the Bill C-11 debate over regulation of user generated content and discoverability, but I am always wrong.
The issue continues to consume almost all the Parliamentary oxygen available. The Conservatives have made it a big part of their branding and fundraising. Now there is speculation that the Poilievre leadership is thinking about a third filibuster, this time in the Senate which had previously agreed to return the bill to the House by Nov. 18.
C-11 has given us our own Canadian culture wars, divisive on the basis of ideology,…
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THE BIG INTERNATIONAL web platforms carry Canadian news content they didn’t create. They take it for free and use it to stock their sites, hold on to their users, attract new ones, and generate substantial revenues. The federal government’s Bill C-18 is a step in the right direction: it recognizes at last that the use and dissemination of local news content without compensation is unfair and, in the long term, threatens the very survival of Canadian news outlets.
Behemoths like Google and Facebook, which have a combined market cap in excess of US$1.6 trillion, are grabbing our content and intellectual…
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FREDERICTON – As of Jan. 20, 2023, 10-didgits (area code and phone number) will be needed to make local calls in New Brunswick, the Telecommunications Alliance announced today.
The CRTC made the decision to implement 10-digit dialing in October 2020. It is paving the way for the 428 area code to be introduced in the province on April 29, 2023, “as the current 506 area code reaches capacity,” a press release explains.
The Telecommunications Alliance, which is a group of major Canadian communications companies, “is leading a public awareness campaign to inform residents and businesses across New Brunswick about local…
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Uncertainty around whether Senate will meet Nov. 18 deadline
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The Transportation and Communications Senate Committee (TRCM) continued its pre-study of Bill C-11 yesterday and the committee staff should be commended for very effective casting.
The first hour featured two visions of intervenors and their approach to the bill. Peter Menzies, previously vice-chair of the CRTC, outlined some (he only had five minutes) of his objections.
“Bill C-11 seems to be inspired by a desire to assist those whose business models are having difficulty adjusting to the Internet age. That’s an understandable desire. But to the extent this overly broad…
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