Archive for August, 2011

Questions Abound As Digital TV Transition Deadline Arrives

Canada was scheduled to complete the digital television transition today, with stations switching their over-the-air broadcast signals from analog to digital. The transition represented a tremendous opportunity to advance the Canadian digital agenda leading to higher quality digital over-the-air broadcasts, freed-up spectrum that could be used to facilitate greater telecom competition, and the promise of billions in new revenues to fund a national digital strategy.

Yet despite the promise of the transition, my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) argues the near-total absence of policy and political leadership has led to a digital disappointment. Some broadcasters will complete the transition on time, but the CBC has been granted a one-year delay. There has been minimal publicity about the change, which may leave some Canadians without television access by the end of the week. To make matters worse, the government has thus far failed to articulate a policy on how the freed-up spectrum will be auctioned and how the revenues will be allocated.

Read more ›

August 31, 2011 10 comments Columns

Elections Canada Probing Online Elections, Again

Elections Canada has announced that it plans to trial online voting systems sometime in the next few years. I’ve written about some of the concerns with online voting in the past (here and here). Christopher Parsons posts an excellent look at why Elections Canada “cannot secure an online electoral process.”

Read more ›

August 31, 2011 20 comments News

Artists in Conversation with Copyright

Artists Legal Outreach is holding a series of events in Vancouver early next month on copyright and artists. Details here.

Read more ›

August 31, 2011 Comments are Disabled News

CRTC Asks Rogers to Probe Online Game Throttling Complaints

The CRTC has asked Rogers to probe complaints from an online gaming group about throttling of Call of Duty: Black Ops. The complaint follows multiple complaints about Rogers throttling of World of Warcraft.

Read more ›

August 30, 2011 4 comments News

Government Launches Consultation on White Spaces

Industry Canada has launched a public consultation  on “a Policy and Technical Framework for the Use of Non Broadcasting Applications in the Television Broadcasting Bands Below 698 MHz.”  In plainer language, the consultation focuses on the important issue of licence-exempt white spaces, spectrum that can be freely used by anyone […]

Read more ›

August 30, 2011 Comments are Disabled News