By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has rejected a Rogers application asking the regulator to reconsider mandating access by enterprise business and internet of things applications to the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) regime.
Rogers argued in its January application – backed by other big telecoms including Bell – that when the CRTC affirmed its preliminary view to open those segments to the mandated access regime to curb market concentration, it allegedly failed to consider that the market for these services “is likely one of the most competitive.” They argued there is sufficient…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has made more flexible what qualifies as “Canadian” in the audio-visual space, as it increases the number of positions to qualify in live action and animated productions and shifts the rubric to a percentage-based evaluation system that moves with how much of the copyright Canadians own.
The commission confirmed Tuesday a preliminary view from almost exactly a year ago that the previous 10-point system should be expanded to a 15-point system, with the addition of key creative positions including showrunner; heads of departments in costume design, hair, and make-up; and visual effects and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) is asking the CRTC to reduce what it calls outdated and unnecessary reporting requirements and hasten ownership transaction applications.
According to the letter, sent Thursday, Canadian broadcasters must submit dozens of reports to the regulator on a monthly and annual basis, “many of which are duplicative or overlap to a considerable extent” because their necessity have “never been reassessed.”
These reports, as outlined in the letter, include annual financial and monthly television programming log evaluation reports, local TV news audits, independent and regional production reports, women in production reports, emerging and indigenous artist…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell wants the CRTC to end a mandate that requires it to provide copper-based voice services in two small Ontario towns upon the installation of subsidized fibre networks.
The telco says in a Part 1 application made public Monday that it is “neither efficient nor in the interest of consumers” in Nairn and Fingal “to continue to impose an obligation to serve over an increasingly end-of-life copper network when consumers can obtain more reliable service using the more modern (and government-subsidized) networks while also contributing to the continued expansion and operation of those networks.”
Bell has historically been the…
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The CRTC last week approved an application by Vista Radio to acquire CJGY-FM Grande Prairie (Reach 96.3 FM) in Alberta and its rebroadcasting transmitters in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John, B.C., from Golden West Broadcasting.
In its decision to approve the change in ownership of the Christian music format station, the CRTC said Vista Radio had proposed a value of the transaction of $1,531,576 and had requested an exception to the payment of tangible benefits to allow all of its proposed $98,000 contribution to go to the British Columbia…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cable companies will have to tough out the extended implementation time of the next-generation 911 networks after the CRTC rejected Monday a review-and-vary application from Rogers and Quebecor that said an extension was undue because they have to pay for two different emergency networks simultaneously until the old one is phased out.
Rogers and Quebecor filed the application in April, arguing that the CRTC’s extension by two years to fully replace the old system is unjust because no one in the proceeding asked for an extension that long and it would cost cablecos millions of…
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Being one of the major telecoms to receive funding from Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT) to build broadband networks in southwestern Ontario, Bell is being asked by the CRTC to respond to questions relating to a Part 1 application from consulting firm Broadlytics that requested the CRTC clarify that SWIFT-funded builds are subject to the commission’s aggregated wholesale access framework for fibre facilities.
The CRTC made its information request to Bell via a Nov. 3 letter, after the telecom giant did not intervene in the commission’s proceeding on…
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The CRTC said in a letter last Friday it is temporarily suspending the Nov. 4 implementation deadline for its new telecom service outage reporting requirements as it considers an Oct. 7 review-and-vary application jointly filed by major telecoms Rogers, Bell, Telus, Eastlink, Cogeco, Quebecor and SaskTel.
The group has requested changes be made to the new outage reporting requirements to address operational challenges and to reduce the administrative burden on them, while also asking the CRTC to extend the implementation deadline.
The CRTC is granting an extension,…
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The CRTC in an Oct. 30 letter has asked Bell and Telus to provide information in response to allegations of tariff violations the companies may have committed contrary to the commission’s wholesale fibre access regulatory policy.
It isn’t clear who complained against whom initially, but the telecom regulator gave Bell and Telus until Oct. 31 to provide copies of all communications between the two companies relating to any dispute involving the provision of wholesale high-speed access (HSA) fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) services at speeds of 1.5 Gbps or higher since Oct. 1, 2025.
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC denied Friday an application by Rogers to convert its rebroadcasting transmitter into a commercial radio station because it would have an undue economic impact on the incumbent stations.
The regulator received an application from Durham Radio in January 2024 requesting a licence amendment to operate a rebroadcasting transmitter serving Vancouver, which is intended to improve and expand coverage of its CIWV-FM station within its existing licensed area.
The application triggered interest from Rogers, which sought to convert its rebroadcasting transmitter, CKKS-FM-2 Vancouver, into a standalone station. The media giant argued that the reach of the new station…
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