OTTAWA – New CRTC chair and CEO Ian Scott (pictured) will make his first public speech at next month’s New Developments in Communications Law and Policy.
Presented by the Canadian Chapter of the International Institute of Communications, the event will take place November 14 -15 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa. The conference will provide opportunities to hear from and network with the lawyers, regulators and business leaders at the heart of the Canadian communications industry.
Other newly confirmed speakers include Grace Koh, special assistant to U.S. President Trump for Technology, Telecom and Cybersecurity, as well as U.S. FCC Commissioner…
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TORONTO – As it threatened weeks ago, Unifor, the union which represents journalists and television employees at Rogers’ OMNI TV, has filed a complaint with the CRTC over the broadcaster’s decision to hire Fairchild TV to create its Chinese news broadcasts.
The union believes that violates its CRTC licence.
“The CRTC gave Rogers a special licence with guaranteed income to bring back the Chinese language daily news for the nation’s largest immigrant community,” said Unifor media director Howard Law, in a press release. “Instead of producing the show themselves and adding to the…
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OTTAWA – The Governor-in-Council, as directed by Minister of Heritage Mélanie Joly, has told the CRTC to get cracking on a new report – which must be done by June 1, 2018.
The new Order-in-Council, released Friday – just in advance of the Minister’s release of her review of Canadian content in a digital world today, tells the Commission, with all the appropriate “wherases”, that:
“Whereas Canada ratified, in November 2005, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions; Whereas the Government of Canada has announced a review of…
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OTTAWA – Canadians may soon have more teleshopping options after the CRTC was urged to reconsider its earlier decision denying U.S.-based television shopping service QVC a place on Canadian TV screens.
The Federal Court of Appeal ruled earlier this month to allow an appeal of the Commission’s April 2016 decision that rejected an application by VMedia Inc. to add QVC to the list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada.
In that decision, the Commission concluded that if authorized, QVC would be carrying on a broadcasting undertaking in whole or in part in Canada, a move that…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has shot down a request by Canal Évasion to cut its Canadian programming expenditure (CPE) requirement from 46% to 32% of its previous year’s gross revenues.
Évasion is a Frech-language category A service dedicated to travel and adventure that is owned by Quebec TV and video production company Groupe Serdy and Quebecor’s Groupe TVA.
In its application to the Commission, Évasion argued that it would not benefit from the group-based approach in the same way as the large French-language ownership groups, or have advantages such as a greater flexibility in the allocation of resources.
It also requested that it…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Newly minted CRTC chairperson and CEO Ian Scott offered a glimpse into some of his first orders of business after less than two months on the job.
In a brief statement Friday, Scott (pictured) outlined what the Commission sees as priorities for Canadians, including fast, affordable and reliable Internet access; high-quality and diverse content; the option to use applications and services on the devices of their choice; protection from spam and unwanted calls; and affordable prices and greater choice.
He also alluded to the tightrope that the CRTC must walk as it seeks to balance the priorities of consumers with…
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GATINEAU – Danielle May-Cuconato is no longer secretary general of the CRTC. She left for a position at Public Works Canada late last month, which we've been told is to help spearhead the cleanup of the federal government's broken Phoenix payroll system.
While the Commission looks for a new head of operations (essentially the SG’s role) to fill her shoes, the role will be held on an acting basis during the fall. Until September 29th, Claude Doucet, executive director, communications and external relations has the job, to be followed by executive director broadcasting Scott Hutton until November 10th and then…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will set up shop at a Toronto hotel in November to consider new radio applications vying to serve Ontario’s Grimsby/Beamsville region as well as the town of Georgina.
The Commission said Thursday that it will hold a hearing beginning November 27 at the Holiday Inn Toronto Yorkdale to consider applications from Dufferin Communications, Durham Radio and Byrnes Communications seeking broadcasting licences for radio stations to serve Grimsby and Beamsville.
It will also review applications from My Broadcasting Corporation, Frank Torres, and Radio Markham York to serve the south-central Ontario market of Georgina with a new radio station.
The…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has decided to push forward with a launch of wholesale fibre access for independent ISPs using interim rates it has laid out for the disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (HAS) services that Bell, Rogers, Cogeco and Videotron may charge competitors in Ontario and Quebec.
The Commission said Tuesday that Telecom Decision 2017-312 will allow providers in those provinces access to services based on a new architecture that will foster competition in the broadband Internet market, despite the Regulator’s ongoing review to establish final rates for these services.
“The availability of disaggregated wholesale HSA services will enable competitors…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request by Northwestel to review and vary an earlier decision detailing costing assumptions that impact the rates that the company can charge for its fibre backbone service known as Wholesale Connect.
Wholesale Connect provides for the transport of telecommunications traffic across communities served by Northwestel’s fibre or high-capacity microwave radio transport links. The service, available at different bandwidth levels in 30 communities in the company’s operating territory, allows competitors to connect their points of presence in those communities for the purpose of providing telecommunications services to their own end-users.
In November 2016, the Commission undertook…
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