The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.
The media of Canada is highly autonomous, uncensored, diverse, and very regionalized. Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output—particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines—is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. As a result, the preservation of a distinctly Canadian culture is supported by federal government programs, laws, and institutions such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
The Cable Public Affairs Channel, better known by its acronym CPAC, is a Canadian specialty television channel owned by a consortium consisting of Rogers Communications, Vidéotron, Cogeco, Eastlink, and Access Communications. The channel is devoted to coverage of public and government affairs, including carrying a full, uninterrupted feed of proceedings of the House of Commons of Canada, with three audio channels, one untreated feed and, with the assistance of interpreters, one in each of the official languages.
Audio description (AD), also referred to as a video description, described video, or visual description, is a form of narration used to provide information surrounding key visual elements in a media work for the benefit of blind and visually impaired consumers. These narrations are typically placed during natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes overlap dialogue if deemed necessary. Occasionally when a film briefly has subtitled dialogue in a different language, such as Greedo's confrontation with Han Solo in the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope, the narrator will read out the dialogue in character.
Max Trax was a Canadian pay television audio service that broadcast continuous streaming music on multiple channel feeds. The service was owned by Stingray Digital.
MTV was a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel formerly owned by Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. with the name and branding used under a licensing agreement with Paramount Global. Originally devoted to talk, lifestyle, documentary and scripted programming, the channel drifted towards programming sourced from its U.S. counterpart aimed at men ages 12-87 before the channel would wind down in 2024.
In cable television, many governments, including the ones of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, apply a must-carry regulation stating that forces a cable TV provider to carry the public interest programming, like locally licensed television stations, on a provider's system. In some countries, this "traditional" approach had been extended to the Internet information sources. Similar approach in other sectors, like telecommunications, is called universal service.
Sportsnet 360 (SN360) is a Canadian discretionary specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. The channel primarily broadcasts automated blocks of sports news and highlights, along with live sports coverage as an overflow channel for Sportsnet's national programming.
Subsidiary Communications Authorization (SCA) in the United States, and Subsidiary Communications Multiplex Operation (SCMO) in Canada, is a subcarrier on a radio station, allowing the station to broadcast additional services as part of its signal.
Stingray Music is a Canada-based international multi-platform audio service that broadcasts continuous streaming music and other forms of audio on multiple channel feeds. The service is owned by Stingray Digital.
Canada is served by various multichannel television services, including cable television systems, two direct-broadcast satellite providers, and various other wireline IPTV and wireless MMDS video providers.
CTV 2 Alberta is a Canadian English language entertainment and former educational television channel in the province of Alberta. Owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc., it operates as a de facto owned-and-operated station of its secondary CTV 2 television system.
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is a group of Canadian specialty television channels based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The channels broadcast programming produced by or highlighting Indigenous peoples in Canada, including arts, cultural, documentary, entertainment, and news and current affairs programming.
HMWN Radio Maria is a non-commercial Catholic broadcaster which operates as a closed circuit Subsidiary Communications Multiplex Operation (SCMO) and uses the subcarrier frequency of 67 kHz removed from the centre FM broadcast frequency of 102.1 MHz in Toronto, Ontario. HMWN's offices and studios are also located in Toronto.
AMI-tv is a Canadian, English-language, digital cable specialty channel owned by the non-profit organization Accessible Media. AMI-tv broadcasts a selection of general entertainment programming with accommodations for those who are visually or hearing impaired, with audio descriptions on the primary audio track and closed captioning available across all programming.
AMI is a not-for-profit media company that serves Canadians who are blind or partially sighted. The company operates three broadcast services: AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French.
Fee-for-carriage, value-for-signal, negotiation for value, or the "TV tax" all refer to a proposed Canadian television regulatory policy which would require cable and satellite television companies to compensate conventional, over-the-air television stations for the right to carry their local signals. Such a system has long existed in the United States, under the name of retransmission consent.
A 9.1(1)(h) order (previously known as a 9(1)(h) order) is an order issued by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) pursuant to section 9.1(1)(h) of Canada's Broadcasting Act. It requires that a particular Canadian television channel is must-carry and distributed by all (or a particular subset of) cable, satellite, IPTV, or similar subscription-based television service providers in Canada. In most (but not all) cases, the order requires that the channel be included in the analogue and/or digital basic service, making it available to all subscribers of that TV service provider. A channel subject to such an order, particularly those subject to mandatory carriage on the basic service, was sometimes known as an 9(1)(h) service.
AMI-télé is a Canadian French language digital cable specialty channel owned by the non-profit organization Accessible Media Inc. (AMI). AMI-télé is a French version of AMI's English-language service AMI-tv, and broadcasts a selection of general entertainment programming with accommodations for those who are visually or hearing impaired, consisting of described video on the primary audio track and closed captioning available across all of its programming. The channel also broadcasts series on accessibility- and disability-related topics.
A discretionary service is a Canadian specialty channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried optionally by all subscription television providers. It replaces the previous category A, category B, category C, and premium classifications.
