TPIA providers say they’ve had to make tough financial decisions to stem the bleeding
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s large telecommunications companies are claiming third party internet service providers have never had it better with the interim bulk internet purchase rates the CRTC made permanent in May.
The telecoms were responding to petitions to the federal government to overturn the May decision filed by large independent internet service provider TekSavvy, ISP National Capital FreeNet, and the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), an organization representing smaller telecoms who lease network space from the larger carriers. In the decision, the regulator said it…
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GATINEAU – More concerns about Rogers Communications’s proposed acquisition of Shaw Communications were shared with the CRTC during day three of the hearing, Wednesday.
While the day’s presentations showed the deal definitely has its supporters, it also highlighted the many concerns there are about the consequences of the deal in its current form on the Canadian broadcasting system generally, and on independent broadcasters and consumers specifically.
TLN Media Group Inc. and Ethnic Channels Group Limited, who presented together to highlight issues specific to Canadian ethnic independents, told the Commission that despite their opposition to the deal in their written submission, they…
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GATINEAU – Despite attempts to delay it, the CRTC hearing into Rogers Communications Inc.’s application to acquire Shaw Communications Inc.’s broadcast assets will begin Monday, Nov. 22 at 9 a.m. MT/11 a.m. ET.
“Edward Rogers, Brad Shaw and members of their respective executive and regulatory teams will be appearing on next weeks panel,” a Rogers spokesperson confirmed with Cartt.ca via email.
The CRTC announced this morning the hearing will be held in a hybrid format and as such, only parties appearing in person will be allowed in. It will be available to watch on the CRTC’s website.
Throughout the week,…
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TORONTO – Accusations of unfair conduct, cautious optimism and a Ben Affleck meme – the Canadian Telecom Summit’s regulatory blockbuster panel, held Tuesday, had it all.
The panel (pictured above left to right) was moderated by Globe and Mail reporter Alexandra Posadzki, and featured Ceri Howes, head of regulatory at Opensignal, Dennis Béland, vice-president of regulatory affairs, telecommunications at Quebecor, Geoff White, executive director of Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), Paul Beaudry, vice-president of regulatory affairs at Cogeco, Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory at Rogers Communications, Samer Bishay, CEO of Iristel and Stephen Schmidt, vice-president of telecom policy…
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By Lynn Greiner
There is a lot of talk these days around the digital economy, and how cloud, edge, and 5G (the three buzzwords of the year) fit in. The short answer: it’s complicated.
During his Canadian Telecom Summit keynote, Bhushan Joshi, head of sustainability and corporate responsibility for North America at Ericsson, pointed out it is a multimodal problem with several drivers – access, affordability, and digital readiness.
“This multimodal nature of the ICT of the digital divide makes it harder to close this digital divide,” he said. “We need to leverage ICT solutions including 5G to close the digital divide…
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TORONTO — NBCUniversal International announced today its all-reality TV subscription streaming service hayu is now available on LG smart TVs running webOS 4.0 through webOS 6.0 in 27 territories, including Canada.
The hayu app offers more than 8,000 episodes of reality content across more than 300 series, including Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Below Deck and the Real Housewives franchises. The service’s wide variety of unscripted sub-genres include home and design, dating, cooking, fashion and true crime.
A Canadian subscription to hayu costs $5.99 per month.
“This has been an incredible year for hayu, with multiple successful launches into new territories and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Groupe TVA is asking the country’s highest court to review a case in which it was forced to provide Bell customers its sports signal after it abruptly terminated service in April 2019.
The company applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in late September, two months after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled the CRTC has jurisdiction to force Groupe TVA to continue supplying the company’s sports signal during the 2019 NHL playoffs despite parent company Quebecor not agreeing to the financial terms of the distribution agreement.
The Montreal-based company is asking the high…
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TORONTO — Organizers of the Canadian Telecom Summit today announced the moderator and participants for a panel discussion on 5G, cloud and edge innovation that will take place during the upcoming event being held from Nov. 15-17.
Globe and Mail reporter Alexandra Posadzki (above) will moderate the session titled “5G, Cloud and Edge Innovation to advance the Digital Economy across Multiple Industries”. Panellists include: Zouheir Mansourati, senior vice-president and chief technology officer of Cogeco; Ibrahim Gedeon, chief technology officer of Telus; Robin Kaushik, vice-president of digital services at Ericsson Canada; and Vanessa Little, global chief of technology at Interdynamix.
The panel…
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TORONTO – Canadian Telecom Summit organizers announced this week Chris Terris (above), Telus Agriculture vice-president of global strategy and animal health, will be giving a keynote speech at the upcoming event, as well as announcing the moderator and panelists for the event’s Regulatory Blockbuster panel.
Terris “played an instrumental role in shaping the development of Telus Agriculture, including on the M&A, integration and brand and communication fronts,” a press release says.
“He and his team are focused on applying Telus technology to build solutions that create better food outcomes by improving the flow of information across the agricultural value chain, from…
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Government will not publish submissions received
By Amanda OYE
GATINEAU, QC – Comments submitted to the federal government’s consultation into harmful content online highlight a multitude of issues with its proposals for addressing the issue as well as with the consultation process itself.
The submissions to the consultation are not easy to come by. The deadline for comments passed in September, but the government decided it would not publish the ones it received.
A spokesperson for Canadian Heritage told Cartt.ca via email the submissions will only be available if an Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) request is made because the submissions…
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