Proceeding on new mobile reporting standard launched
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Thursday that it will begin making certain annual telecom coverage data public.
The previously confidential coverage data includes internet and mobile service by provider, technology and speed down to the 250-metre road segment level, which the regulator said will make it easier for Canadians to easily find services available in their area at a more granular level.
The data will be shared with Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), which will use that it to update its national broadband map.
The decision comes in response to a request by British Columbia’s…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco executives said Thursday that the company will soon launch an Oxio-style brand in the United States, owing to the wholesale internet service’s success in Canada and the need to gain American market share it believes is right there for the taking.
CEO Frederic Perron said on a first-quarter 2026 earnings conference call that its U.S. brand Breezeline will launch an “Oxio-like” fully digital brand in its operating territory next month. Cogeco purchased Montreal-based Oxio’s internet business in 2023 as a digital-only second brand leveraging the wholesale internet access regime.
“We are … super excited about…
Continue Reading
Still had impact on subscriber base
By Ahmad Hathout
The head of Corus said Wednesday that the removal of some of its kids channels has boosted other brands in unprecedented ways.
“Our thoughtful rationalization of our kids specialty portfolio to better reflect viewer demand has resulted in some audience consolidation into our remaining kids brands,” John Gossling said on a first-quarter earnings conference call Wednesday.
“We saw YTV and, for the first time ever, Boomerang position within the top 20 networks this fall,” he continued. “These achievements underscore the effectiveness of our strategic programming decisions and the continued appeal of our brands to…
Continue Reading
The CRTC last week approved the change in ownership and effective control of ethnic radio station CJRJ-AM Vancouver (formerly operating as Spice Radio).
Through the transaction, Spice Radio owner Shushma Datt’s shares in I.T. Productions Ltd. (the station’s licence holder) are being acquired by numbered company 1101651 B.C. Ltd., giving Kulwant Singh Dhesi effective control of the station. CJRJ-AM has been operating as Radio Swift 1200 AM since last summer, serving the local South Asian communities in the Vancouver area.
Given the $2.77 million value of the transaction, as determined by the CRTC,…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Eastlink is expressing disappointment Friday after the CRTC blocked it from destandardizing certain internet speeds for third-party service providers that it no longer offers to its own retail customers.
In March last year, the regional telecom asked the CRTC to allow it to eliminate the 100 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload and the 300/10 Mbps speed tiers from competitor access as it stopped offering those tiers to new retail customers in December 2024. The telecom said the proposal was part of its effort to streamline and consolidate its service offerings.
But the CRTC denied the change Friday on the basis…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC approved Friday a proposal it made this past fall that would allow broadcasters to introduce spoken word programming on the FM dial.
The regulator will allow licensees of commercial FM radio stations to devote more than 50 per cent of weekly programming for that type of content for a one-year trial period.
The companies must notify the commission by letter within 30 days of the end of the broadcast week that they have participated in the trial and whether they intend to continue and for how long. If before the end of one year,…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
A study commissioned by the CRTC, made public Thursday, presses the need for the regulator to allow broadcasters to allocate a portion of their Canadian content expenditures on audience development, such as marketing and promotion.
The Nordicity report, which studied discoverability strategies of Canadian and international players, said Canadian audiences are now viewing content on multiple screens and platforms, which requires marketing budgets to scale appropriately.
“This shift in behaviour stretches the marketing task, requiring larger, smarter, and longer-term investment to sustain interest from early development through release and into catalogue,” the report…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The Quebec Court of Appeal ruled last month that a trial court should consider punitive damages in a proposed class action lawsuit involving the reimbursement of phone unlocking fees.
In February 2024, the Quebec Superior Court authorized a class of plaintiffs to sue Rogers, Bell, Telus, and Quebecor for charging phone unlocking fees to Quebec customers between the period of August 14, 2014 and December 1, 2017.
But the court denied a request to allow the class to seek punitive damages, which would go beyond reimbursement, in part because it believed that the telecoms did not act maliciously. The…
Continue Reading
The CRTC last week approved, by majority decision, a May application from Northwestel proposing to introduce two new 1 Gbps business internet packages to its general tariff.
The new packages include Northwestel’s Cable Business Internet 1 Gbps Unlimited package, with a download speed of 1 Gbps and an upload speed of 40 Mbps, and its FTTP Business Internet 1 Gbps Unlimited package, with symmetrical 1 Gbps download and upload speeds. Both packages are priced at $499 per month.
Northwestel said in its application its 1 Gbps cable business internet package would be…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Apple is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to review whether the CRTC is inappropriately demanding the disclosure of what it calls competitively sensitive financial information as part of the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
The California-based music and TV streaming giant is arguing that the CRTC has not explained in its November decision on the definition of Canadian programming why the streamers need to publicly disclose annual contributions they make to domestic content and their gross Canadian broadcasting revenues.
“The decision to presumptively disclose … has not reasonably been explained to be and is…
Continue Reading
