DARMOUTH – Newfoundland Capital Corporation subsidiary Newcap Inc. is the new owner of NL Broadcasting Limited and its three radio broadcasting licences in B.C.
The company said Tuesday that it received CRTC approval for the purchase, which was first announced in May in conjunction with Newcap’s first quarter financial report. NL Broadcasting owns and operates the radio broadcasting licences CHNL-AM, CJKC-FM, and CKRV-FM in Kamloops.
Newcap added that the transaction is expected to close within 30 days.
www.ncc.ca
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Calls for a new judicial review
TORONTO – Former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan has filed an application with the Federal Court seeking a judicial review of his most recent dismissal from his position as Ontario commissioner for the CRTC.
Shoan was relieved of his duties for the second time on May 4th, just four days after returning to the job after his appointment was first rescinded last June. Shoan went back to work after a Federal Court judge set aside the Governor-in-Council’s June 2016 decision to rescind his appointment.
Heritage Minister Melanie Joly terminated…
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OTTAWA – A group of consumer organizations calling themselves the Equitable Internet Coalition (EIC) wants the CRTC to uphold its recent decision ordering Videotron to stop zero-rating its Unlimited Music service by next month.
The coalition, comprised of the Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC); Council of Senior Citizens Organizations of British Columbia (COSCO); National Pensioners Federation (NPF); Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre (BCPIAC), said in their intervention that Videotron’s request for a stay of the decision fails to meet the criteria for an interim injunction.
EIC also rejected Videotron’s request to…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadian telephone and mobile wireless companies must update their networks in order to provide next-generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) services by 2020, the CRTC said Thursday.
According to the new regulatory framework for NG9-1-1 emergency services, the incumbent telephone companies will be responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the NG9-1-1 networks, with CRTC oversight. The networks must be ready to provide NG9-1-1 voice services by June 30, 2020 and NG9-1-1 text messaging services by December 31, 2020. These services will be made available to Canadians as their local 9-1-1 call centres are in a position to offer…
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QUEBEC – Quebec’s culture minister Luc Fortin is calling on the federal government to review, and perhaps override, parts of the CRTC's recent licence renewals for large French language TV groups.
In a statement earlier this week, Fortin said that the Commission’s decision to remove certain conditions of license, citing the example of Corus-owned Series+, allows that broadcaster to opt out of its obligation to spend $1.5 million annually on original French-language dramas.
Fortin added that the new policies may also encourage ownership groups to simply dub English-Canadian programs for their French-language specialty channels, rather than invest in the production of original French-language Canadian…
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OTTAWA – CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais took the rather unusual step Wednesday of issuing an open letter to the editor (to all us editors) to “set the record straight” on erroneous media coverage in the wake of the Commission’s recent licence renewals for large French language TV groups. Such as this story, we suppose.
Below is the letter in its entirety.
On May 15, following a public process, the CRTC published the decisions regarding renewal of the broadcasting licences for TVA, V, Bell and Corus. Some incorrect information from those decisions recently circulated in the…
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OTTAWA – Delinquent telecom service provider VOIS Inc. has failed to rejoin the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), contrary to a mandatory order from the CRTC last month requiring it to do so.
Participation in CCTS is a regulatory requirement imposed on telecommunications service providers by the CRTC. CCTS terminated VOIS’ participation in August 2016 for failing to co-operate with its complaint resolution process, including ignoring binding recommendations regarding six separate customer complaints.
After a public proceeding on April 27, the CRTC ordered VOIS to re-join CCTS by May 29, subject to any specific requirements imposed by…
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DARTMOUTH – Vancouver listeners will soon have a new sports radio station after the CRTC approved the sale of Newcap-owned CISL 650 to Rogers Media.
As Cartt.ca reported in April, Rogers said that it plans to turn the AM station into an all-sports format, under the Sportsnet brand, as early as this fall.
The deal is expected to close within 90 days.
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TORONTO – The Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) took a little more time to review last week’s CRTC’s broadcast policy changes and licence renewals before joining its fellow associations in denouncing the move to allow broadcasters to spend less on Canadian Programs of National Interest (PNI).
DOC said Tuesday that it applauds the extra credits offered for programs produced by Indigenous producers and producers from official language minority communities, and “fully supports” the convening of an event on increasing women’s access to key creative and production positions.
Executive director Pepita Ferrari said that DOC is pleased that the CRTC plans…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC said Thursday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to fight commercial electronic messages (spam) and telemarketing.
The agreement, signed by CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais and ACMA acting chairman Richard Bean, allows the two agencies to share information and intelligence, where permitted by the laws of each jurisdiction, regarding spam. In addition, both organizations have agreed to facilitate virtual training opportunities and staff exchanges where mutually beneficial.
“Whether you live in Canada or in Australia, unlawful spam and unwanted calls continue to be bothersome”, said the…
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