OTTAWA – Namir Anani, the CRTC’s executive director, policy, development and research, is leaving the Commission, it was announced today.
He has accepted the position of CEO of the Information and Communications Technology Council in Ottawa. A not-for-profit sector council, the ICTC is geared towards the creation of a prepared, diverse and highly educated Canadian ICT industry and workforce. “ICTC is a catalyst for change, pushing for innovations that will provide standards, labour market intelligence, career pathways and immigration for the Canadian ICT industry, educators and governments,” reads its web site. “We forge partnerships that will help develop the quantity…
Continue Reading
WHILE HIS NAME MAY have been on every submission to the CRTC over the last four-plus years, few, if any know what Robert Morin thinks of Canadian cultural and telecom policy. That’s because he won’t say. It’s beyond his role.
He likens his now-former job as secretary-general of the CRTC (he retired this month) to that of a plumber, where it’s been his duty to make sure the plumbing, or the nuts and bolts of the Commission, work seamlessly and efficiently while policy and other national matters are developed and problems solved all around him. Basically, the type of house…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – It’s generally accepted among those who work in radio in Canada (and those who observe it) that the industry is still pretty strong. Despite predictions of its demise and the general weakness in the radio business south of the border, Canadian radio companies have continued to see modest growth over the years.
“Why is that?” was one of the questions asked last week during the President’s Panel at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters conference held in Toronto last Thursday.
Each of the five radio executives (Astral Radio EVP Charles Benoit, Corus Radio president Chris Pandoff, Rogers Radio CEO Paul…
Continue Reading
KAMLOOPS, BC – OnCall Wireless is rolling out a new wireless broadband Internet service to the communities of Cherry Creek and Savona in the Thompson-Nicola regional district of the province, thanks in part to funding from Industry Canada’s ‘Broadband Canada: Connecting Rural Canadians’ program.
The Kamloops-based ISP said that the service will be delivered to residences and businesses with the use of a small wireless modem and antenna which connects them to the Navigata network (OnCall Wireless is a subsidiary of Navigata Communications). Customers may subscribe by phone or in person at OnCall's new downtown Kamloops office located at 158 Victoria…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The country’s largest radio operator, Astral Media, will launch a brand new online music on demand and music streaming service on November 1st, one of its executives said on Thursday.
Speaking at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters’ annual gathering Thursday morning, executive vice-president of Astral Radio Charles Benoit said the new offering from his company will be the first of its kind in North America.
It’s not clear yet whether the service will have its own name or not as Benoit said it will be made available via the company’s popular Virgin and NRJ Radio station brands. Benoit appeared…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The real battle of the CRTC’s interconnection hearing that starts next week is going to be over whether the new entrant wireless service providers and long distance carriers are able to connect to incumbent and competitor networks at lower costs. In its consultation document, the Commission has asked the telecommunications industry if it would benefit from a consolidated interconnection regime rather than the current situation with three separate regimes: one for each the competitive local exchange carriers, wireless service providers and long distance or toll traffic carriers. Under the current rules, CLECs are…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The change of a single word, which the CRTC insists is a correction of a mistake, has many people in the regulatory side of the TV business wondering aloud if, in fact, the Commission caved a little to the wishes of Bell Canada.
Last Friday, October 14, the CRTC tweaked its regulatory framework relating to vertical integration, where the much ballyhooed code of conduct for vertically integrated companies was softened, with the words “shall” or “shall not” replaced with “should” or “should not” (or, in French, from “doit” or “ne doit pas” to “devrait”…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The Canada Media Fund (CMF) triggered more than $1 billion in production activity across Canada in 2010-2011, according to its first annual report released Monday.
Through contributions from the Government and the country’s largest television service providers, the CMF provides financial support to the Canadian television and digital media industries through two streams of funding. The Experimental Stream supports the creation of leading-edge, interactive, digital media content and software applications, while the Convergent Stream supports the creation of innovative, convergent television and digital media content for consumption by Canadians anytime, anywhere.
The inaugural slate of CMF programs were designed…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Media Access Canada said today it has published the first chapter in its Accessible Content Best Practices Guide for Digital Environments.
The descriptive video production and presentation best practices guide identifies and explains the many variables involved in describing a television program or movie. The remaining six chapters will be published over the next two years.
The guide was developed “after a four-month international literature review establishing the lack of an open source best practices guide for descriptive video as well as an almost complete absence of work on accessible content for digital environments,” says the group’s release. “The…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Health Canada’s suggestion this week that parents should limit their children’s time spent talking on cellphones is just that, a suggestion. And for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), that means its business as usual.
Noting that Health Canada, in addition to global public safety agencies, maintain that there is no conclusive evidence that using cell phones at the prescribed safety levels has any adverse health effects for adults or children, CWTA spokesperson Marc Choma told Cartt.ca that “the role of the industry remains unchanged”.
“Any wireless device sold in Canada must comply with all safety standards set forth…
Continue Reading
