By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has failed to justify its decision to inadequately increase and cap the reimbursement amounts public interest groups can claim for their participation in telecom proceedings, according to a review-and-vary application filed this month.
In August, the CRTC increased to and capped at $75,000 the amount each public interest participant can receive per file, starting with claims made after that decision. The regulator said this higher rate reflects the rate of inflation since 2010 (45.44 per cent), and said parties can plead for amounts above that cap only when the CRTC initiates a notice…
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Purple Cow Internet has a mobile wireless business in Atlantic Canada.
The Halifax-based internet service provider announced Friday that Purple Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), now has plans starting at $40 per month with 10 GB of data at full speed and going up to a $60 plan with 100 GB of data at full speed. All plans come with unlimited talk and text.
Subscribers will get full national network coverage using capacity from an unnamed incumbent. Customers, who will get local support, can bring their own device and phone number.
“Atlantic Canadians have spent decades as an afterthought to…
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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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