By Denis Carmel
IN A DECISION RENDERED last Thursday, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) dismissed an application for judicial review that had been brought by six broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) and partially granted an application made by a group of nine collective societies.
The appeals stem from a decision from the Copyright Board of Canada (the Board), issued in August 2019 relating to royalties for the period 2014–2018.
In Canada, cable providers (BDUs) can distribute local over-the-air television signals for free and without permission from the signal owner. But, in the case of distant signals, the BDUs can distribute without permission…
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ONTARIO – While Ontario Connects has generally been welcomed by the industry, organizations that represent small, independent internet service providers have some concerns about how the province’s $4 billion plan to bring high-speed Internet access to the entire province by 2025 will unfold.
“We of course welcome the Ontario government’s substantial investment in extending broadband to everyone across the province,” said Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), in an email to Cartt.ca.
“We question, however, whether a reverse auction approach will generate the best return on the government’s investment. Cheapest is not always best, especially when…
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By Amanda Oye
LARGE INTERNET SERVICE providers have been the recipients of the vast amount of funding from the Universal Broadband Fund that had been allocated as of June 30th, 2021.
Jay Thomson, CEO of the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), compiled publicly available data, which shows Videotron, Cogeco, Bell, Telus and Rogers have been the major winners of UBF funding (see chart below).
The data takes into account two sets of funding. The first is funding from the UBF’s Rapid Response stream and the second is from the Canada-Quebec Operation High-Speed project, which received half of its $826.3-million funding from…
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QUÉBEC CITY — For a rural broadband project costing $127.72 million, Videotron will receive a combined amount of $121 million in funding from the Canadian and Quebec governments, as part of the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed initiative, to deploy high-speed Internet services to 13,300 households in the Abitibi-Témiscaminigue and Nord-du-Québec regions by September 2022.
The announcement was made today by the federal and provincial governments who have committed to providing $826.3 million in combined funding through the Operation High Speed program, first announced in March, to ensure connectivity for 150,000 underserved homes in rural Quebec by September of next year….
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Want faster, cheaper piracy measures
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The country’s largest broadcasters and telecoms want new copyright legislation to include provisions that give the courts the ability to order website-blocking, prevent the CRTC from overruling blocking orders, and to expand authority over other intermediaries to choke off infringers.
Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Cogeco, Quebecor, SaskTel, Eastlink, and the Canadian Communications System Alliance also want the legislation to reflect the courts’ ability to unilaterally order search engines to de-index infringing websites, social media platforms and to force hosts, like Cloudflare, to take down infringing services and not direct users to it,…
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Auction starts today
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The strings attached to the federal government’s 3.5 GHz spectrum, whose auction beginning today will repurpose portions of it for mobile wireless use, include a speed-to-deployment component that complements federal policy to accelerate connectivity throughout the country by the end of the decade.
Winners of the auction, which Innovation Canada said will take “several weeks,” will have to deploy the spectrum largely within the 2030 timeframe for which the federal government hopes to provide access to all Canadians to high-speed internet.
While the focus is largely on what the 3.5 GHz spectrum will do for…
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OTTAWA and QUEBEC CITY — The federal government announced today $289,000 in Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) money has been awarded to Bell Canada to bring high-speed Internet to two rural communities in eastern Ontario, while $10.4 million is being provided through the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed program to Cogeco to deliver broadband to 12 towns in the Montmagny regional county municipality (RCM) near Quebec City.
The UBF funding, provided through the fund’s rapid response stream, will see Bell deliver high-speed broadband to 601 underserved households in the communities of Crysler and St-Albert, located southeast of Ottawa. Bell is investing an…
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QUEBEC CITY and BRUCE COUNTY — On Tuesday and Wednesday, the governments of Canada, Quebec and Ontario announced more rural broadband projects, funded through either the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed program or Ontario’s Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) initiative, with a total value of $58.85 million, including $51.43 million in government funding.
The Quebec projects include:
$31.7 million in Canada-Quebec joint funding for Cogeco to deploy high-speed Internet services to 4,340 homes in 22 communities in the Haut-Saint-François regional county municipality (RCM) and the Val-Saint-François RCM in the Estrie region by September 2022. The total value of the project is…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Like deja vu, the immediate impact of a major decision by the CRTC has unfurled in the days immediately following — but the reactions are the reverse of what happened in August 2019.
When the CRTC that summer decided to slash the bulk internet rates smaller providers pay for large network access – and make the rates retroactive so some serious back pay was supposed to go to those independents – the large telecoms announced cuts to investments, including in rural areas. Smaller providers, rejoicing, immediately slashed retail internet prices.
Following Thursday’s decision to go back…
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OTTAWA – The federal government announced five more rural broadband projects, all from the Universal Broadband Fund’s rapid response stream, on Thursday and Friday, valued at $11.2 million.
The projects are:
$3.2 million for Tbaytel to build broadband to 689 more homes in the communities of Lappe and Toimela, outside of Thunder Bay.
$700,000 to help Cogeco and Bell bring high-speed Internet to 1,111 more homes in Bancroft, Carrying Place and Mountain View. Cogeco will also be investing $324,000 and Bell Canada $1.7 million in filling these opportunities.
$196,000 to help Aldera Communications connect 339 more homes in the remote…
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