OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has filed its statement of case before the Copyright Board in the re-hearing of the SOCAN-NRCC Radio Tariff 2003-2007.
It’s the latest step in the proceeding that arises from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision last October to set aside the Copyright Board’s original 2005 decision to increase payments by private radio stations for music use by up to 30%
The CAB had called the tariff increase unfair and said it would result in industry job losses. It then argued successfully before the Court of Appeal that the Copyright Board had…
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TORONTO – ACTRA’s National Executive Director Stephen Waddell has announced the appointment of Brad Keenan as Director of the ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society (ACTRA PRS). The appointment is effective immediately.
Keenan will oversee all aspects of ACTRA PRS, including the Sound Recording Division. “With his solid understanding of ACTRA’s core mission to protect the rights of Canadian professional performers, Mr. Keenan will be responsible for the advocacy of ACTRA’s intellectual property rights and initiatives,” the organization said in a statement.
Keenan specializes in ensuring that compensation is received for the use of intellectual property rights through licensing of music…
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TORONTO – The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television is on the hunt for a new CEO as Maria Topalovich said Thursday she will resign as CEO at the end of her contract on April 30, 2007.
"I have enjoyed the unique privilege of helping to build this vital association since its inception. After 28 years of serving the Academy and its constituents, sponsors and broadcasters and steering this organization to its present position as a leader in Canada’s film and television community, I feel the time is right to pursue my own personal goals," said Topalovich in a…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC outlined details today of its previously announced formal public review of issues relating to the ownership of Canadian broadcasting companies.
At the same time, it also issued a call for comments on a code prepared by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC), to which member broadcasters will be required to adhere.
CRTC Chairman Konrad von Finckenstein said the ownership review, whose broad strokes were outlined last month, will focus on media ownership and its impact on the range of voices that the broadcasting system provides to Canadians.
“The goal of this proceeding is…
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HALIFAX and VANCOUVER – Two releases within an hour of each other early Wednesday evening, one from western telco Telus and eastern incumbent Bell Aliant, say the companies have filed for local forbearance in some major metropolitan centres.
While Telus has asked for Vancouver and Edmonton, Aliant has filed for deregulation in Halifax and its surrounding regions of Hubbards, Ketch Harbour, Musquodoboit Harbour, Prospect Road, Sackville, St. Margarets, Waverley and French Village.
Aliant has asked for deregulation in Halifax, where the local cable operator has taken in excess of 35% market share, before, only to be rebuffed by the…
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TORONTO – Canadian consumers are hopeful that phone number portability will bring better competition to the Canadian marketplace and that once their current contract expire, they will look around for deals.
With last month’s arrival of number portability in Canada, a new independent poll conducted by TNS Canadian Facts shows what the industry figures is out there: that there are a bunch of unconcerned, sort of inert, wireless consumers out there who are generally satisfied with their wireless brand and may – or may not – change.
"While having to give up their phone numbers when changing providers was…
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TORONTO – Former Rogers Communications executive and current leader of Ontario’s Conservative Party John Tory is stepping back into the telecommunications world – at least briefly. He is giving the luncheon keynote speech on Monday, June 11 at the 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit.
The event, which runs until Wednesday, June 13 at the Toronto Congress Center, includes the participation of the telecommunications industry’s biggest names. Virgin Mobile Canada President and CEO Andrew Black, Motorola President and COO Greg Brown, Videotron President and CEO Robert Depatie, CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein, Mitel Chair Terence Matthews, Nortel CTO John Roese, Competition Bureau…
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QUISPAMSIS, NB – While pleased the government altered the final telecom deregulation order last Wednesday so that small cable operators will get an 18-month head start if and when they decide to enter the local phone market, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance blasted its decision to drop the winback restrictions.
The alliance, which represents more than 90 small cablecos across the country, said it “remains deeply disappointed” at the immediate removal of the 90-day winback restrictions.
When the order is gazetted on April 18, large incumbent phone companies will be allowed to try to “win back” telephony customers with lucrative…
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SO FAR, SO GOOD for wireless number portability, says Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association president and CEO Peter Barnes.
There have been few issues the association has had to solve since March 14, the day Canadians could take their phone number with them, no matter which telephony carrier they chose to acquire service.
A more contentious, far less decided matter, is the upcoming Industry Canada wireless spectrum auction. The association’s majority want a free, unfettered auction but certain factions want constraints on the existing players so that newcomers may bid for spectrum and win. The CWTA is even holding a…
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TORONTO – It was a an open secret in media circles, as many have reported, including Cartt.ca, but today it was made official: Rogers Communications has signed a deal to purchase the chain of A-Channel stations and other assets put on the block when CTVglobemedia acquired CHUM Ltd.
In officialspeak: "Rogers Broadcasting, a Rogers Media subsidiary, would acquire certain Canadian conventional and specialty television services from CTVglobemedia Inc. These assets are currently under the control of Mr. John D. McKellar, C.M., Q.C., Trustee under a Voting Trust Agreement in respect of CHUM Limited. CHUM Limited and Mr. McKellar…
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