TekSavvy says regulator lacking teeth on the matter
By Ahmad Hathout
Despite CRTC letters asking them to maintain access, Cogeco and Eastlink have told the regulator they intend to move forward with decommissioning legacy facilities that will affect their wholesale customers.
In two recent letters, CRTC staff had asked Cogeco and Eastlink, who are converting their coaxial networks to fibre, to maintain those older facilities for TekSavvy and Fibernetics, respectively, and that it will embark on a review of decommissioning practices. The CRTC staff had asked the cablecos to confirm that access will be preserved.
But the…
Continue Reading
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is asking the CRTC to deregister seven of its FAST channels as online undertakings — which it says were registered in error — or it may be forced to pull the channels from the Canadian market, it says.
The FAST channels include six from SPE affiliate Game Show Network LLC — Game Show Network, GET Comedy, Cinevault, Cinevault Westerns, Cinevault Classics and Crunchyroll (FAST channel) — and Culver Max Entertainment’s Sony KAL.
In a Part 1 application dated March 5 and made public Tuesday, SPE says the seven FAST channels are…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The strings attached to the CRTC’s one-year limit for spoken word programming on the FM dial may end up discouraging radio stations from experimenting with the policy altogether, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is arguing.
In January, the regulator finalized a proposal it made in the fall that will allow licensees of commercial FM radio stations to devote more than 50 per cent of weekly programming to that type of content for a one-year trial period. If before the end of the year, the stations stop broadcasting the requisite amount of spoken…
Continue Reading
MPA-C said it will refile leave application “at the appropriate time”
By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal has turned down applications filed by foreign streamers which argued a CRTC decision forcing them to disclose their Canadian financials preempted their right to confidentiality.
The court ruled late last week that it was “convinced” by the argument of the attorney general, the CRTC’s legal representative, that the leave to appeal applications were premature because the CRTC decision has not been finalized.
“As a general principle, decisions and orders must be final in nature to be considered by courts of law,” the AG…
Continue Reading
The CRTC last week approved separate applications by Coalition M.É.D.I.A and the Quebec English-Language Production Council (QEPC) to have their respective funds certified as independent production funds.
The two funds — the M.É.D.I.A Fund and the Vox Fund — are eligible to receive and administer contributions from BDUs, in addition to being eligible to receive contributions through tangible benefits packages, and are also eligible to receive base contributions from online audiovisual undertakings to support producers from official language minority communities (OLMCs) and diverse communities.
The CRTC notes in separate letters to…
Continue Reading
The CRTC in a letter last week told Eastlink to maintain Fibernetics’s access to its network, after the latter asked the commission to stop Eastlink from decommissioning coaxial facilities that the independent ISP uses to provide service to customers in Sydney, Nova Scotia.
As per Fibernetics’s request, the CRTC has told Eastlink to continue providing wholesale access to Fibernetics either by halting the removal of existing coaxial infrastructure in the Sydney area or by providing wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services using fibre facilities on an aggregated basis. Eastlink is to confirm in…
Continue Reading
In a Part 1 application made public Monday, Ottawa law firm Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP, acting on behalf of French broadcaster SAS Cofites, has asked for Dog & Cat TV to be added to the CRTC’s list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada.
According to the application, the channel’s weekly programming will include 134 hours of lifestyle, human interest, recreation, leisure and reality content, plus 34 hours of long-form documentary programming.
“DOG & CAT TV is the first television service entirely dedicated to everyone who loves dogs and cats. Unlike…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has rejected an application requesting that it say subsidized builds in southwestern Ontario must be open for bundled fibre access.
Ontario-based consulting firm Broadlytics had requested last summer that the regulator find that all builds subsidized by public dollars through the not-for-profit Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) project be made to comply with the regulator’s new wholesale internet framework, which currently requires that telcos – Bell, Telus and SaskTel – provide access to their combined middle and last-mile fibre networks.
But the CRTC on Friday said Bell, the only provider subject to the bundled…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is mandating that all service providers report the origin of nuisance or spam calls, rejecting a request by some smaller service providers to be spared from the new condition of service.
“The Commission considers that excluding specific types of TSPs could leave a loophole for nuisance calls to enter Canada through TSPs excluded from the traceback process,” the CRTC said in a decision Friday.
“Requiring all TSPs that provide voice telecommunications services to participate in the traceback process would enable Commission staff to respond to complaints from customers of any TSP” and “prevent a TSP from ignoring…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) says it is committing to expanding funding eligibility to online streamers and international distributors in what it calls a “meaningful evolution in who gets a seat at the table.”
The fund says it wants to “remove barriers” to the money “for a wider range of creators, platforms, and partners,” which also includes indigenous and equity-deserving communities. This comes as the CRTC works to integrate streamers into the broadcasting system and having them get more involved in Canadian productions.
The CMF goal falls under the “maximize” portion of a four-part, three-year strategic plan, released Thursday.
“The…
Continue Reading
