TORONTO – Canada’s media unions and associations were united in their criticisms of the CRTC’s broadcast policy changes and licence renewals announced Monday.
Unifor, which represents 12,000 journalists and media workers in television, newspapers, magazines, news websites and film production, said that the decision will allow major broadcasters to make further cuts to local news programming, and called on the federal government to intervene.
"The time for fine speeches from Jean-Pierre Blais about big media's corporate responsibility is over”, said Unifor media director Howard Law, in a statement. “A cabinet directive is needed to do for local TV…
Continue Reading
REGINA – Count SaskTel among those opposed to the CRTC’s proposed plan to phase-out the local service subsidy regime.
The local voice service subsidy was designed to keep wireline voice service affordable in high cost serving areas. The CRTC’s preliminary view is that customers with access to wired Internet at speeds as low as 1.5 Mbps have access to “reliable broadband Internet access service” which can replace traditional voice service and that these customers no longer need the voice subsidy.
SaskTel said that it agrees with the CRTC’s decision to establish a universal fixed broadband service standard for all…
Continue Reading
Will be harder to close stations
GATINEAU – The CRTC has tweaked broadcasting policy in Canada by standardizing Canadian Programming Expenditure (CPE) requirement at 30% for the country’s major private broadcasters. It has also imposed new spending requirements for local reflection news and information programming, commitments to Aboriginal and Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) as well as established a new process for TV station closures.
On the latter point, Broadcasting Decision 2017-148 highlighted the various opinions from the broadcasters with respect to a formal Commission process for station closures. Bell Media opposed a condition of licence, while Corus Entertainment didn’t object…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC will announce its decisions on the license renewals for the large French-language ownership groups and large English-language ownership groups on Monday at 4:00 PM ET.
The Commission will also unveil its decision on Rogers Media’s request to approve the mandatory distribution of OMNI Regional on all digital basic TV packages.
Those decisions were originally intended to be released this week, but were postponed due to ongoing flooding in the region, as Cartt.ca reported.
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Continued flooding in Gatineau, home of the CRTC and many of its staff, means the big decisions planned for this week have been put off until next week, Cartt.ca has learned.
Multiple sources have been told by the Commission that since some staffers are dealing with flooding in their own homes (the Regulator’s offices have not been flooded) that the decisions on the license renewals for the large French-language ownership groups and large English-language ownership groups, originally intended for this week, had to be pushed back to next. The CRTC office was also closed Monday and remains so…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Raj Shoan said that he will contest his most recent dismissal from his role as the CRTC’s Ontario commissioner in order “to ensure accountability and justice.”
Shoan was relieved of his duties late Thursday, just four days after returning to the job after his appointment was first rescinded last June.
“This is to inform you that, on reconsideration, the Governor-in-Council has again terminated Raj Shoan’s appointment as Regional Commissioner for Ontario, effective May 5th”, reads an internal CRTC memo signed by chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais.
“This has been a challenging period in the CRTC’s history”, continues the memo. “I am fully aware that events that…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has come down hard on VOIS Inc., slapping the Calgary-based telecom service provider with a $15,000 penalty after it was expelled from the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunication Services (CCTS).
CCTS ejected VOIS last August after it refused to co-operate during the investigations of six customer complaints, and failed to compensate those customers as CCTS had directed. Following its expulsion from CCTS, VOIS was summoned in front of the CRTC last November.
Participation in the CCTS is mandatory for all telecommunications service providers (TSP). This marks the first time the CRTC has imposed a penalty…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Today, the CRTC approved satellite radio company Sirius XM Canada’s ownership change as it goes from a public traded company to one that is privately held.
The CRTC decision will see Sirius XM Canada allocate nearly $29 million over the next seven years to funds that promote Canadian musical talent, such as FACTOR and Musicaction.
The CRTC release says the transaction, valued at $479 million, is in the public interest because it will ensure the sustainability of the satellite radio service, while supporting the Canadian broadcasting system investments through tangible benefits.
Sirius XM Canada is the sole provider of…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – The Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC) is accusing the CRTC of “systemic and overt racism and a colonial mentality” and wants the Governor General, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Canadian Heritage to investigate.
CMAC describes itself as a non-profit organization comprised of academics, legal advisors, policy consultants and community media practitioners working towards equitable representation and access for underrepresented communities within the broadcasting system, including the CRTC.
In a letter dated April 24, CMAC called for action “to ensure the CRTC supports racial equity and the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples”. It referenced its recent…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC has opened up the public proceeding to decide on the setup, governance, operating, and accountability frameworks, as well as eligibility and assessment criteria, for its new $750 million fund to bring broadband at 50 Mbps downstream and 10 Mbps upstream, everywhere.
The Regulator’s new universal service objective was set out in December in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2016-496, which made providing broadband to everyone a necessity for network operators.
The Commission set the following targets for the basic telecommunications services that Canadians need to participate in the digital economy:
speeds of 50 megabits per…
Continue Reading
