The roles of the Competition Bureau and the CRTC have, for the most part, tended to be separate and distinct. Each agency is, after all, mandated by separate and generally distinct pieces of legislation.

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Scott Gibson, VP legal and government affairs at Canadian Satellite Communications Inc (Cancom) is leaving in mid-December as part of a restructuring at the Mississauga ON company, following its sale to Shaw Communications Inc. Prior to joining Cancom in September 1999, Gibson held senior positions with Star Choice Communications, YTV Canada and CTV Television Network. Cancom’s senior director of communications and government relations, Patricia Dumas, will also be leaving the company later this month as part of the restructuring. Prior to joining Cancom in 1995, Dumas worked in senior communications positions with the federal government, and as a journalist with Radio-Canada and Le Devoir.

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Survey reveals need for crash course on what is DTV
More Canadians are subscribing to digital cable, satellite and wireless cable services – they just don’t realize it’s digital TV, according to a new study released by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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Canada’s broadcast industry has received a passing grade from the CRTC in its first annual Policy Monitoring Report. The report notes the average viewing of Canadian drama and comedy programming in prime time has risen from 2.3 million hours a week on private conventional stations between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. in 1994 to four million in 1999. Nearly 38,000 hours of Canadian drama is broadcast each year.

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The Canadian Association of Broadcasters is poised to become the country’s main lobby voice for most forms of transmitted content, following its merger with the Specialty and Premium Television Association and its decision to allow new media companies to join its ranks.

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Members of the Specialty and Premium Television Association (SPTV) are anticipating a stronger lobby when their organization is absorbed by the larger Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). But they also don’t want to lose the benefits of belonging to a smaller group.

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Broadcasters should be allowed to apply their investments in Internet and web portals against their Canadian content requirements, according to the president/CEO of the Canadian Cable Television Association (CCTA). Speaking Nov. 21 at the Canadian Club in Ottawa, Janet Yale pitched her association’s five-point lobby campaign which, among other things, calls for regulatory changes that would entice broadcasters and distributors to invest in online and interactive content.

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The federal government has given Canada’s two DTH companies the bandwidth they need to compete in the high-speed Internet market, but first they need partners and a solid business plan to finance the construction and launch of two new satellites. On Nov. 10, Star Choice Communications Inc and Bell ExpressVu received Industry Canada approval to co-locate Ka-band satellites in the same orbital slots as their broadcast satellites.

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Tuesday’s successful launch of the Anik F1 satellite will give Star Choice Communications Inc about 100 more channels for pay per view and new digital TV services early next year, but the company’s president warns that it may not be enough to carry every Category 2 licensee.

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