By Ahmad Hathout
Three television service providers are alleging Rogers is giving itself an undue preference by moving Monday night NHL games to its paid Sportsnet+ premium streaming service.
The move away from the linear Sportsnet platform means the television subscribers of Cogeco, Eastlink, and SaskTel – unlike those of Rogers – must pay an addition $13 per month to get access to games via an add-on that the companies say, in a joint Part 1 application dated Tuesday, should be available at no additional charge through Sportsnet.
Rogers announced the move, which involves more than…
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The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) and the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération) on Wednesday expressed their disappointment that community television was left out of the federal government’s $600-million funding package for the audio and audiovisual sectors announced earlier this week.
“None of the funding targets community television stations, even though the Community Radio Fund of Canada will receive $7.5 million,” reads an English press release from CACTUS and the Fédération.
The two community TV organizations said they welcome the support provided to community radio, which plays an…
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Access Communications Co-operative’s community radio station, AccessNow 91.3, is celebrating 25 years on the air with a live music night at The Artesian performance venue in Regina on Nov. 20.
Access is also marking the station’s anniversary with the launch of a free new app that “lets listeners take Regina’s local voices, independent music, and conversations about culture and the city wherever they are,” a Tuesday press release said. The free AccessNow Radio app can be downloaded on the App Store or Google Play.
Originally owned by non-profit Radius Communications, the station first went on air…
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WildBrain has ended its 2025 lawsuit against Bell in which the media company alleged Bell failed to properly terminate its agreement to carry WildBrain’s children’s channels.
WildBrain filed for a consent order in the Ontario Superior Court earlier this year — electronically filed in September — to withdraw its action against Bell, which agreed on a no-costs basis. When contacted by Cartt, WildBrain’s senior director of global corporate communications, Shaun Smith, said: “Since the channels are no longer operational, we took the decision to discontinue the suit.”
The channels in question — Family Channel, Family Jr.,…
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By Linda Stuart and Ahmad Hathout
Following the federal budget’s release last week, the Department of Canadian Heritage on Sunday announced the details of the government’s previously promised $600-million funding package to support Canada’s audio and audiovisual sectors.
The majority of the funding is to be delivered via the funding programs of the Canada Media Fund, Indigenous Screen Office, Canada Music Fund, Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting program, Canada History Fund, and Telefilm Canada. In addition, Canadian Heritage will deliver funding to various certified independent production funds, as well as the Independent Local News…
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CBC gets two-year renewed commitment worth $300M
By Ahmad Hathout
The Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit will cost an estimated $501 million over five years – and $85 million ongoing – after the inclusion of broadcast news, according to a proposed federal budget released Thursday.
Broadcasters will be entitled to the same temporary enhanced credit rate of 35 per cent and an annual labour expenditure limit of $85,000 per employee. Print journalism will see a renewal of that temporary 35 per cent credit for two more years. The enhanced rate for both print and broadcast will run until the end of 2028,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The sale of Northwestel to a consortium of indigenous buyers may not include the entire asset, the head of Bell said Thursday.
“There’s still the distinct possibility of a transaction to be done, although at this stage, it’s looking like it might take a different form,” Bibic said on a third-quarter earnings conference call.
“It’s unlikely to be the sale of the entire asset, but there is a transaction to be done. If it proceeds, and I think it will, expect it to have the exact same deleveraging impact as the original transaction that we announced a couple of…
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By Connie Thiessen
The CRTC will consider an application for the first-ever radio licence serving the Glencoe/Southwest Middlesex market in southwestern Ontario.
The commission has set a virtual hearing for Jan. 19 to consider an application by Lakeside Radio Broadcasting Corp. for a broadcasting licence to operate an English-language commercial FM station in Glencoe in Middlesex County, ON.
The station would operate at 88.5 MHz (channel 203A) with a maximum effective radiated power (ERP) of 4,500 watts. The applicant proposed 126 hours of local programming per broadcast week, including about 17 hours and 15 minutes of local and regional news,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Timeless and Rogers have agreed on rates for the cable giant to carry OneSoccer, but not yet on packaging.
The CRTC said Friday that, during final offer arbitration (FOA), Timeless agreed to Rogers’s rates to carry the discretionary sports channel. With that, the parties resolved the undue preference complaint Timeless filed against Rogers in 2023. Rogers offered rates similar to those given to comparable services – Sportsnet West, beIN Sports, and Goal TV – and to provide it to Rogers’s entire subscriber base to add on an à la carte basis or as part of a package, according…
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President says Iristel will work to implement alerts
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has denied a request to subsidize small telecoms’ delivery of emergency alerts on LTE or newer networks.
Last year, Iristel argued that the regulator underestimated the cost for smaller carriers to deliver the alerts and filed an application requesting a subsidy from the National Contribution Fund, which bankrolls basic telecom service. In the alternative, Iristel asked that those carriers be exempt from the 2017 policy until they have enrolled at least 50,000 LTE subscribers, which it said would reduce the cost per subscriber. If that is also refused,…
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