BCE Inc.’s appeal of a CRTC decision to ban the use of simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl in future years could be a sign of more conflict and court challenges to come as the broadcasting industry awaits further decisions from the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV review, some experts are warning. The Super Bowl decision is the second CRTC directive Bell has challenged at the Federal Court of Appeal in recent weeks, following its February challenge of a ruling that compelled it to treat video streamed through its mobile-TV app like any other data, broadcasting consultant...
In the past, an aspiring broadcast distributor had no choice but to go to the CRTC and get a licence before they launched their cable or satellite business. Now, in theory at least, they can bypass the entire process by launching an over-the-top (OTT) TV service. While they would have more flexibility and freedom from regulation, such as Canadian content contributions and quotas, they also wouldn’t benefit from the rules that benefit licensed service providers, such as guaranteed access to content. And a recent CRTC ruling on an OTT broadcast distributor called Leiacomm could make...
Experts say that while CRTC must somehow respond to the refusal of Netflix Inc. to give the commission information it had been ordered to provide by CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais during a hearing...
The Digital Privacy Act, the government’s most recent attempt to update the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), has experts disagreeing about the effect it...