Ian Scott has begun his term as CRTC chair and introduced himself to the public last week

Ian Scott has begun his term as CRTC chair and introduced himself to the public last week via a statement posted to the commission site. Scott touches on balancing consumer demand for high-speed Internet access, Canadian content, affordability and choice with allowing the communications industry a reasonable return on investment.

The Canadian Paralympic Broadcast Media Consortium has won the 2017 Paralympic Media Award in the broadcast category for its coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. The prize is awarded by the International Paralympic Committee to the TV or radio broadcaster that presented the highest quality and most dynamic coverage of Rio 2016. Consortium media partners included CBC/Radio-Canada, Sportsnet, Yahoo! Sports, AMI, SendtoNews, Videogami and Facebook Canada. The consortium provided over 1,200 hours of coverage to an audience of over 10.2 million, representing a 208 per cent increase over London 2012.

Finalists have been named for the 2017 Jack Webster Awards, with category winners to be announced at the 31st annual Jack Webster Awards dinner on Oct. 12 at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver. CBC’s Washington Correspondent Paul Hunter is the featured speaker, while CBC personalities Gloria Macarenko, host of BC Almanac, and Stephen Quinn, host of On The Coast, take on emcee duties. The 2017 Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to The Vancouver Sun’s Kim Bolan. You can view the full list of finalists here.

The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Prairie Equity Scholarship deadline is Oct. 6. The scholarship is aimed at broadcast students from the Prairie provinces who are from groups underrepresented in the broadcast industry, namely women, Aboriginals, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities. Applicants can access an application package through the website of any Pattison station on the Prairies, or through their post-secondary broadcast program.

Rogers has expanded wireless service and made network improvements in Abbotsford, BC around the Highstreet Shopping Centre on Mount Lehman Road. In addition, Rogers has turned on 700 MHz spectrum in the area, providing better coverage in hard to reach places like basements, elevators and buildings with thick concrete walls. The investment is one of several new Rogers wireless sites recently announced in British Columbia, including improvements for commuters on the SkyTrain in Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island and Kelowna.