Commissioner says CRTC could have suggested further solution for leftover customers
By Ahmad Hathout
Ztar Mobile Canada, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), has been denied an application to access Rogers’s system to port over its customers’ phone numbers to another network.
For 20 years, Ztar has operated brands including Good2Go Mobile, SpeakOut Wireless, and Ztar Mobile, reselling services through Rogers’s 3G network. But in late 2024, Rogers informed Ztar that it would not be renewing their resale agreement, claiming the reseller had millions of dollars in outstanding amounts it owed and the cable giant, in any case, was looking to decommission…
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Deaf documentary filmmaker Alvin Witcher, owner of Cambridge, Ont.-based production company PAH Media, last month won the best feature documentary award for his film Gary Malkowski: A Deaf Legacy in Ontario at the Clin d’Oeil Festival in Reims, France.
The festival is the largest in the world dedicated to sign language arts, celebrating Deaf culture and creativity.
Witcher’s 81-minute documentary traces the groundbreaking journey of Gary Malkowski, the first Deaf Member of Provincial Parliament in Ontario, using archival footage, personal stories and interviews to explore the barriers Malkowski faced in the 1990s and the determination that drove him to fight for Deaf rights,…
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TekSavvy says decision sets bad precedent for competitors
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled Friday that Cogeco’s decommissioning of its legacy hybrid-coaxial network in four Ontario cities did not give it an undue advantage or unduly disadvantage TekSavvy because competitive alternatives exist.
TekSavvy had requested in March that the CRTC order Cogeco to maintain its legacy hybrid-coax network or mandate access to its fibre replacement at cable rates in Chatham, Windsor, Burlington and Kingston. It warned that the decommissioning of older cable networks – coupled with the fact that cablecos are not mandated to provide regulated…
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FRPC and PIAC request for oral hearing also denied
The CRTC last week denied a request from Telus asking for the regulator to separate its inquiry into whether new fees introduced by the largest telecoms are offside of the Wireless Code.
Telus had requested that the regulator first establish whether a violation has occurred and then determine whether an administrative monetary penalty (AMP) is required and what that should be. At issue are Bell’s new $40 device handling fee, Telus’s $15 charge for SIM cards, and Rogers’s $40 device…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday launched a show-cause proceeding requiring Bell to show why its practice of selling locked devices isn’t a violation of the Wireless Code.
In the meantime, the regulator is suspending section F.1 of the Wireless Code, which explicitly states that carriers must sell devices in an unlocked state. As a result, carriers will be allowed to sell locked devices provided they automatically unlock them within two business days after purchase.
“Service providers must also make reasonable efforts to inform customers about how long devices will be locked for, what receiving a locked device…
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A coalition of screen sector organizations is asking the federal government to uphold a requirement that streamers contribute financially to Canadian content.
The open letter is in response to the government’s June 3 announcement that it was directing the CRTC to revisit a decision that increased foreign streamers’ obligations to CanCon, would provide the CRTC with new policy directions, and would inject $600 million into the system. The government, through the attorney general, later clarified that it intended to target the five-per-cent base contribution in the directions.
“While we…
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Heritage commitee recommended collecting data to address media deserts
By Ahmad Hathout
As the news industry faces an uncertain future, a team of researchers is working to map all news outlets in the country in part to help guide public funds where they are needed most, assist in combating mis- and disinformation, and make reliable news outlets more discoverable.
The government-funded project will utilize advancements in artificial intelligence to help plot Canadian news outlets across the country, which will then go through human verification at the local level, including by library workers in those communities. The result will be a website with…
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The CRTC on Monday announced it has administratively renewed the broadcasting licences for various television programming undertakings, networks and broadcasting distribution undertakings from Sept. 1, 2026 to Aug. 31, 2027.
These licence renewals cover the large broadcasting groups of Bell, Rogers, Quebecor, Corus and Blue Ant, as well as smaller broadcasters including APTN, Accessible Media, Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), OUTtv, Pelmorex Weather Networks, Stingray, Super Channel, TLN Media Group, TV5 Quebec Canada and ZoomerMedia, and BDUs operated by Cogeco, SaskTel and Telus.
The broadcasting regulator said the administrative renewals are necessary to allow the various undertakings to…
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By Connie Thiessen
Chris MacDonald, the former CRTC commissioner for Atlantic Canada and Nunavut and a longtime Rogers Communications senior manager, has passed away following an undisclosed illness. He was 44.
While still studying business administration at UNB (University of New Brunswick), MacDonald began his career as a research assistant and later executive assistant to New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord.
He joined Rogers in 2005 as a strategic account manager, moving his way up to market manager for Atlantic Canada and then senior manager of sales for fiber solutions and small business over the next decade.
He was appointed to the CRTC in 2015 to a five-year…
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By Howard Law, author of MediaPolicy.ca, and Canada vs. California: How Ottawa took on Netflix and the streaming giants (Lorimer, 2024)
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,'” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t—till I tell you. I meant ‘there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!'”
“But ‘glory’ doesn’t mean ‘a nice knock-down argument,'” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question…
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