News
The CRTC has re-opened its consultation on CBC/Radio-Canada’s licence renewal applications in advance of a twice-rescheduled hearing now expected to begin on Nov. 19, the commission said Wednesday.
In the updated notice of consultation, the commission said the late-November, Gatineau-area hearing will consider the public broadcaster’s applications to renew the licences of its French- and English-language television networks, as well as its specialty TV channels and radio stations.
Canadians are watching and listening to more content across both traditional and new media platforms, but still turn to TV and radio for the bulk of their media consumption, the CRTC said in an annual report released Tuesday.
In the latest iteration of its Communications Monitoring Report, the CRTC said the average Canadian watched 28.5 hours of television and listened to 17.7 hours of radio each week in 2011, up from 28 hours of weekly TV viewing and 17.6 hours of radio listening in 2010.
The CRTC issued five notices of consultation calling for comments on 123 radio licence renewal applications.
In one notice, the commission said it is taking comments on applications to renew and amend eight radio station licences.
The CRTC approved an application Tuesday from the Voice of the Shuswap Broadcast Society (VSBS) to operate a low-power community FM station in Salmon Arm, B.C.
In the decision, the commission said the English-language station can operate at 93.7 FM with an average effective radiated power of 15 watts.
The CRTC issued a call for comments Friday on proposed standards for non-disclosure agreements and provisions on the conduct of audits.
In a release, the commission said it is seeking to establish standards to help in “safeguarding commercially sensitive information that may be obtained over the course of negotiations or other interactions between programming undertakings and BDUs [broadcast distribution undertakings].”
A CRTC working group plans to file a report to develop a model agreement between telcos and municipalities for access to municipal infrastructure, the commission said Friday.
The working group will issue its report by Dec. 4, 2012, the CRTC said in a notice on its website.
The CRTC approved an application from Corus Entertainment Inc.'s Telelatino Network Inc. to operate specialty channel Eur-Asian Television Network Inc.
The CRTC approved an application from Shaw Communications Inc. to operate a specialty channel called Global News Plus BC.
In the decision Friday, the commission said the regional English-language specialty service would feature a mix of local and regional news, weather, business and sports, as well as entertainment information from British Columbia.
The CRTC approved an Alberta numbered company's application for a new specialty channel licence called Supernatural TV.
In a decision Thursday, the commission said the national, English-language channel is licensed to feature TV series, movies and documentaries focusing on the paranormal realm, including psychics, mediums, telekinesis and other unexplained phenomena.
The CRTC approved CBC/Radio-Canada’s plan to shut down all of its analog transmitters that support 23 English and French-language television stations across Canada.
In broadcasting decision 2012-384, released Tuesday, the CRTC said it approved the CBC’s request to amend the licences of 23 TV stations to remove their analog retransmitters.
The CRTC said Monday it has approved an application from Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. to operate an English-language commercial FM radio station in Winkler, Man., which will replace its AM station CKMW.
The CRTC said Monday it has approved an application from High Fidelity HDTV Inc. to transfer control of the company and its subsidiaries to Blue Ant Media Inc.
The CRTC issued a call for comments on a series of broadcasting applications that will be under consideration at hearing in Montreal starting Sept. 10.
The consultation, opened Tuesday, said the hearing will consider four BCE Inc. applications related to its planned $3.38 billion purchase of Astral Media Inc. and other corporate restructuring.
BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. propose to remove the CRTC's restrictions on how much Canadian content overspending can be carried over from one year to the next, the commission said Friday.
In a call for comments, the CRTC said it is seeking industry comments on the proposal.
A numbered company in Alberta has received a licence to operate a national, English-language, Category B specialty service focused on crime-related dramas, documentaries and movies, the CRTC said Friday.
In its decision, the CRTC said The Crime Network would primarily offer programming from the 1960s, '70s and '80s, but could also offer “recent dramas and international series where the theme is crime stories.”
The CRTC approved a set of closed captioning quality standards and will require broadcasters to implement them starting Sept. 1, 2012, the commission said Thursday.
In its decision, the CRTC said lag time between the audio and captions on a program must not exceed six seconds. Captions must also be “verbatim representations of the audio,” the commission said, regardless of the age of the target audience.
A CRTC decision that awarded Calgary’s 95.3 MHz and 106.7 MHz frequencies to an out-of-province company running an English-language commercial station is “fatally flawed,” three ethnic radio stations in Calgary, Atla., said in a petition to cabinet.