By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Thursday ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to establish, within six months, the “typical” download and upload speeds their customers can expect to get in their area at pre-sale and then ensure they can deliver on them.
The only reprieve to that is during peak period – established by the commission as between 7 pm at 11 pm local time – inside of which the CRTC acknowledges that there can be significant congestion that will impact speeds.
“Accordingly, for compliance and enforcement purposes, the Commission considers that 100% of the typical download and upload speeds must be…
Continue Reading
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has announced that John Melville will be leaving the company at the end of the year.
The vice president of content development and operations at the not-for-profit media company “been instrumental in the broadcaster/content creation company’s evolution from making media accessible to all Canadians to creating exceptional, award-winning content for AMI-tv, AMI-audio, AMI+ and YouTube,” a statement said.
“Projects greenlit during his tenure at AMI include Underdog Inc., Crip Trip, How We Do It!, Reflections, Audiobook Café, Para Sport Nation, Pretty Blind and Adapting,” the statement added.
Prior to joining AMI in 2011, Melville worked for the Blue Jays Radio network,…
Continue Reading
The CRTC last week in a letter asked several independent service providers for information regarding their retail internet subscriber numbers as the commission continues to monitor market conditions to ensure its wholesale high-speed access (HSA) framework achieves its policy objectives.
The commission directed its request for information to IT2IS Inc. (doing business as Bravo Telecom), Carry Telecom Inc., CIK Telecom Inc., Cipherkey Exchange Corp., Execulink Telecom Inc., Fibernetics Corporation, Frontier Networks Inc., Purple Cow Internet Inc., TekSavvy Solutions Inc. and Vianet Inc. Several other independent ISPs were included on the letter’s distribution list, and the CRTC said…
Continue Reading
ACTRA (the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) is calling for urgent action from the Canadian government to bolster support for the country’s film and television industry — including implementing the CRTC’s 15 per cent Canadian programming expenditure requirement for online streaming services, which the government recently asked the regulator to review.
The performers union is calling on the government to bolster domestic production with stronger, predictable financial support for Canadian producers, stories and creative talent, as well as diversify internationally by attracting more productions and investment from markets around the…
Continue Reading
The CRTC on Monday approved an application by Byrnes Communications to remove a condition of service related to news programming imposed on its English-language commercial radio station CFLZ-FM Fort Erie, operating as 101.1 More FM and serving the Niagara region.
The condition of service — a legacy obligation originally imposed more than 20 years ago on a former station owner in response to that licensee’s lack of local programming — required CFLZ-FM to broadcast at least three hours of news programming each week, with a minimum of 30 per cent devoted to local news of particular relevance…
Continue Reading
By Connie Thiessen
CHCH-TV in Hamilton has cancelled its Saturday evening newscasts at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. as economics force the Channel Zero-owned television station to trim costs.
The station made the announcement over the weekend, with News Director Greg O’Brien writing in a post to its website that while CHCH has historically been able to exceed its licence obligations, the business has been “co-opted by foreign attention miners who care only about enriching themselves by keeping people addicted to their apps, and not about properly informing us.”
“CHCH now competes with these large foreign platforms for the attention of the citizens in our…
Continue Reading
By Connie Thiessen
In a direct response to the dramatic collapse of Canada–U.S. trade negotiations, a broad coalition of Canadian screen sector organizations will publish a full-page advertisement in The Globe and Mail on Saturday thanking Prime Minister Mark Carney, the federal negotiating team, provincial leaders, and political parties of all stripes for holding the line on Canadian cultural sovereignty.
The public campaign – backed by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), ACTRA, the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), and advocacy group Friends of Canadian Media, among many others – comes after Ottawa explicitly rejected U.S. demands to dismantle key…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The extent of spectrum sharing between Bell and Telus increased from 45 per cent to 90 per cent of each company’s total spectrum licence holdings following four new approvals this past fall to subordinate spectrum to each other, the department handling the airwaves confirmed to us.
Cartt obtained a backgrounder document on the state of spectrum sharing between the country’s largest telcos, which dates back to 2008. In it, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), which encourages such sharing, notes that since 2013, the department has approved about 20 separate joint requests from Bell and Telus to share…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell subsidiary Maskatel is asking the CRTC for an eight-month extension to comply with new rules requiring service providers to implement a self-service mechanism to allow customers to make changes to their plans without having to go through a live agent.
Maskatel says in its Part 1 application, made public Wednesday, that “new circumstances” have arisen since the CRTC mandated in April that telecoms institute such a mechanism to alleviate friction for customers. The deadline for the implementation is April 2027, but Maskatel, which offers internet, TV and home phone services in Quebec, wants that…
Continue Reading
SSi Canada says decision ‘makes no real world market sense’
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has approved slightly lower rates for competitor access to Northwestel’s internet transport network, called the Wholesale Connect Service, to balance lower prices Northwestel is offering residential customers.
“The proposed reductions to Northwestel’s Wholesale Connect service rates pass the price floor test and will promote competition,” the regulator said Tuesday. “Moreover, consumers in Northwestel’s serving area will benefit from additional Internet service options and rates.”
In August 2024, Northwestel lowered prices for its 500 Mbps and 300 Mbps internet packages (it also proposed a 700 Mbps speed tier, Continue Reading
