CRTC chief to step down:(Financial Post)

[Tape Splicer]

The following is from the Financial Post's "FP TECH DESK" - 09/27/11
=================================================================================


CRTC chief to step down

Jamie Sturgeon Sep 27, 2011 – 1:59 PM ET | Last Updated: Sep 27, 2011 2:34 PM ET

Konrad von Finckenstein, the chairman of federal telecommunications and broadcasting regulator is expected to inform government officials Tuesday he will not seek another term.

“He’s expected to meet with them and [tell] them,” a person close the chairman’s thinking said.

A letter to staffers obtained by the National Post also confirms Mr. von Finckenstein’s intentions to leave the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in January at the end of his five-year term.

In the letter, the chairman said a notice will soon be published to solicit interest from candidates for his post.

Mr. von Finckenstein, a former chief of the Competition Bureau, brought to the CRTC a decidedly independent approach from pervious commissions, often defying the aims of both government and private sector interests in recent years.

The chairman also presided over one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the communications sector, as fast-moving digital and Internet technologies served to disrupt the traditional broadcast and telecom markets.

His departure will follow on the heels of a landmark regulatory ruling handed down last week on how vertically integrated telecom and media conglomerates like BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. can operated.

The decision will give the CRTC additional powers to guard the market place, while providing protections for consumers, advocacy groups say.

“I’m pleased that we were able to establish a policy that will serve both consumers and the broadcasting system in the years to come,” he wrote in the note.

The decision ends months of speculation over whether Mr. von Finckenstein would remain for another five years. Many suggested the ruling Conservatives had grown tired of the commission head’s approach and would not renew another term.