Post Tagged with: "crtc"

CRTC Releases Draft Regulations for Electronic Commerce Protection Act

The CRTC has released draft regulations for the provisions it deals with in Canada’s new anti-spam legislation. The CRTC regulations are only part of the picture with Industry Canada scheduled to release its own regulations shortly. The CRTC regulations include specifications on the information that must be included in a commercial electronic message:

July 4, 2011 — 5 comments — News

“Down the Rabbit Hole at the CRTC Hearing”

Dwayne Winseck has another terrific column at the Globe, this time reflecting on the recently concluded CRTC vertical integration hearing.

June 30, 2011 — Comments are Disabled — News

CRTC Faces Charges of Bias in Online Video Consultation

Earlier this month Konrad von Finckenstein, the chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, was asked at an industry conference about the role of consumer groups in telecom regulation. He responded that consumer groups generally do not have a problem ensuring their views are heard, but that their effectiveness depended upon getting organized and developing the necessary knowledge and expertise to fully participate in regulatory proceedings.

Yet just as von Finckenstein was providing assurances to the consumer community, my weekly technology column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the CRTC was erecting barriers to their participation in a consultation on online video services such as Netflix and AppleTV. In fact, the consultation (labeled a “fact-finding exercise”) has been marred by charges of CRTC bias that has led at least one consumer group to pull out altogether.

June 29, 2011 — 11 comments — Columns

CRTC Faces Charges of Bias in Online Video Consultation

Appeared in the Toronto Star on June 26, 2011 as CRTC Faces Charges of Bias in Online Video Consultation Earlier this month Konrad von Finckenstein, the chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, was asked at an industry conference about the role of consumer groups in telecom regulation. He […]

June 29, 2011 — Comments are Disabled — Columns Archive

Forget “Skinny Basic”, It’s Time For the CRTC To Mandate Full Consumer Broadcast Choice

The CRTC vertical integration hearing continues today, following several full days last week in which the Commissioners repeatedly asked whether companies such as Rogers, Bell, and Shaw should be required to offer a “skinny basic” service – a cheaper television package with limited programming. The introduction of skinny basic appears to be one of the CRTC’s preferred responses to the issue, since it is concerned that vertically integrated companies will use their broadcast distribution services to require subscribers to subscribe to their broadcast properties. The major integrated providers have opposed the idea, arguing consumers aren’t interested.

While greater consumer choice is definitely needed, skinny basic, which still envisions a required basket of channels, isn’t good enough. A preferable approach would be to offer consumers real choice with a full pick-and-pay format. I discussed the option in 2009 during the fee-for-carriage fight:

June 27, 2011 — 23 comments — News