apeman.org » crtc

Don’t Tax My TV!

apeman — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:22:04 +0000

With all of the recent changes on the Canadian television landscape, its hard to tell what is currently going on. On September 1st, the CRTC ruled that Cable, Satellite and IPTV services would have to remit a 1.5% fee to the new “Local Programming Improvement Fund”. At the same time, the CRTC also opened the door for “fee for carriage” which basically translates to around $6/month per household to pay for the channels that currently, and will continue to show commercials! So the recap, you will be paying more money per month for television service in Canada, but you will not bet getting anything in return.

Keep reading after the jump….

Since September 1st. The CRTC has recieved 1000′s of letters from upset Canadians demanding that they not be taxed in order to fund a bailout of the big two Canadian Broadcast networks (CTV and Global). On September 17th, the Heritage Minister asked the CRTC to review their decision and consider the consumer in the debate.

With the above said, the CRTC still needs to hear from you! Please send your MP, the Heritage Minister and the CRTC a letter or email expressing your opinion. CTV and Global are lobbying very hard to try and charge you money for a service that is supposed to be ad-supported. (You are actually doing them a favour by watching on Cable and Satellite as they no longer need to build out terrestial transmitters…. think rabbit ears).

Shaw Cable has a great website with sample letters that you can send to your MP in the mail and via email (remember, postage to an MP or Minister does not require a stamp).

Please speak up!

CRTC allows Canadian broadcasters to show unlimited commercials

apeman — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:30:28 +0000

Hot on the heels of the 1.5% tax that consumers will have to pay to the Local Programming Improvement Fund, and fee for carriage that is sure to see our Cable and Satellite bills ballon even further, the CRTC has stuck it to the consumer once again. Effective September 1st, Canadian broadcasters are now allowed to air as many commercials as they want, previously, broadcasters were limited to 15 minutes per hour of advertising. I have a feeling that this slipped past the media as two of the Canadian broadcasters, Global and CTV own the newspaper and TV news outlets.

So as a consumer what are you paying for when you support your local station? Not much, your going to have to pay to recieve those signals into your home, saving the broadcasters from having to build out more broadcast towers, and since you are paying for it, you will be force fed as many commercials as they feel like giving you. That means we’ll likely see the typical 90 minute movie cut down to one hour and slotted into a two hour time slot.

Its time for Canadian consumers to stand up and write the CRTC asking them to allow us to pick and choose which stations we want! I don’t want to pay for Global, or CTV if they are going to force me to hit fast-forward on my DVR more than I already do. I’m tempted to dump my cable service entirely! As consumers we are paying more and more every month for less and less service.

The CRTC approves 6 new HD Channels in Canada

apeman — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:38:25 +0000

On February 2nd, the CRTC approved 6 new HD licenses to High Fidelity HDTV Inc. High Fidelity HDTV already operates Oasis HD, Rush HD, Equator HD, and Treasure HD in Canada.

The new licenses are approved for Eureka HD, a science and technology channel; Crafts and Hobbies HD, hobbies and crafts; Aqua HD, life in and around water; Centre Stage HD, dedicated to the art and culture surrounding music, concerts, etc. There are two duds in the line up of six, Seniors HD, and Womens Sports HD.

It will likely be months, to years before we see these channels, for now, the licenses are there, and that paves the way for High Fidelity to start shopping these channels around to the cable and satellite providers in Canada. I can’t say that I am excited about any of these channels, and I think it will be very unlikely that we will see any of these channels, but you never know.

You can read CRTC decision 2007-54 at their website.