The CRTC in an April 8 letter has directed Iristel to make payments past due to Bell that the far north telecom provider had been withholding in response to an interconnection dispute between the two companies.
The commission has told Iristel to pay the amounts owed to Bell based on the payment plan proposed by Iristel in a Part 1 application it filed with the CRTC in March. The commission’s requirements regarding these payments have been provided in confidence to Iristel and Bell, and have not been made public.
In addition, the…
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Follows CRTC’s rejection of WildBrain’s ‘undue disadvantage’ claim against Bell
WildBrain announced Monday it has begun renegotiations with Halifax-based children’s studio IoM Media Ventures on certain commercial aspects of their previously announced agreement whereby IoM is to acquire a majority stake in WildBrain’s TV broadcast business.
When announced in December 2024, the transaction was valued at more than $40 million. Under the terms of the agreement, IoM was to acquire 66 2/3 per cent of WildBrain’s TV business, including Family Channel, Family Jr., WildBrainTV and Télémagino.
While the deal itself is still subject to CRTC approval,…
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In two unrelated broadcasting decisions published Monday, the CRTC has approved Local Radio Lab’s acquisition of Vista Radio’s CJFB-FM Bolton station, and Blackburn Media-owned CFCO Chatham’s conversion to the FM band.
In the case of CJFB-FM in Bolton, Ont., new owner Local Radio Lab is expected to devote at least five per cent of the station’s musical selections in each broadcast week to selections from Canadian emerging artists. In addition, the broadcast regulator expects CJFB-FM to include indigenous musical selections on its playlist. Local Radio Lab is required to report annually on how…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Small landline service providers are asking the CRTC to forbear from regulating the wireline voice service in their operating territories because they say it is getting harder for them to compete on regulated rates when alternatives exist.
The Independent Telecommunications Providers Association (ITPA), a trade group representing those providers, filed an application published last week that argues the market for those services has changed since the commission last made a major change to the forbearance framework on landline service in 2009.
The ITPA argues that a combination of declining landline subscribers over the years and the…
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By Connie Thiessen
John Meisel, who served as the chair of the CRTC from 1979 to 1983, has passed away at the age of 101.
According to an obituary published in the Kingston Whig Standard this week, the Queen’s University Professor Emeritus died peacefully on March 30.
Born in Vienna, Austria to Jewish Czech parents, the Meisel family was sent abroad by the Bata Shoe Company where Meisel’s father worked, as the Nazi occupation loomed. Jewish employees were dispatched to other Bata facilities, taking Meisel to the Netherlands, Morocco and Haiti before arriving in Canada in 1942.
He attended Ottershaw College in the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal has set June 9 as the starting date for a hearing on several consolidated appeals from foreign streamers against a CRTC decision to impose a five per cent base financial contribution toward Canadian content funds.
The hearing will be held in Toronto and run for three or four days starting at 9:30 am, the court announced late last week.
The court consolidated four separate appeal applications from the Motion Picture Association of Canada (MPA) – representing the interests of Netflix, Paramount, Pluto, and Crunchyroll – as well as…
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Follows Pascale St-Onge pledge
By Ahmad Hathout
Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday pledged $150 million to shore up the CBC/Radio-Canada and enshrine funding for the public broadcaster in the law if elected.
“Canada’s institutions and identity are under attack from foreign interference,” Carney said during a campaign stop in Montreal. “If elected, my government will take action to enshrine and protect and strengthen CBC/Radio-Canada for generations to come.
“We will not only increase CBC/Radio-Canada’s funding by $150 million, but we will also make this funding statutory, meaning Parliament as a whole will need to approve any future changes to its funding, not…
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The CRTC announced Friday its hearing on the definition of Canadian content for audio platforms will occur starting September 18.
The regulator originally scheduled the hearing for June 18 but postponed it – as well as two other hearings collectively called “The Path Forward” consultations on the implementation of the new Broadcasting Act – to accommodate the caretaker convention during the federal election period.
The convention limits the regulator’s ability to launch new regulatory initiatives and engage stakeholders.
As such, and after requests from parties, the regulator also extended the intervention deadline from April 7 to May 5 for the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers says it has been forced to plow millions of dollars to carry Corus channels it no longer sees as useful, and asked for assurances that, if it wins its case at the Federal Court of Appeal, it will be made whole.
The cable giant allegedly asked Corus in December whether it will reimburse Rogers if it wins its case challenging how the CRTC is applying the standstill rule to both parties in a commercial dispute wherein Rogers wants to remove at least one Corus service and move two others down the dial on cable.
Corus allegedly didn’t respond…
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Bell Media on Wednesday announced Vista Radio’s 51 radio stations are now available to stream through the iHeartRadio Canada platform.
The new agreement will also see the 21 Bell Media radio stations purchased by Vista in February 2024 continue to be available on iHeartRadio Canada after the transaction is closed, a Bell Media press release said Wednesday. The CRTC approved the sale of those stations earlier this year.
With stations across eight regions in Alberta, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Ontario, the Vista stations and brands joining iHeartRadio Canada include The…
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