By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday set the final wholesale access rates to the bundled fibre networks of the incumbent telcos, keeping them “similar” to the existing rates set in 2024 because of their success in inducing new offerings in the market.
“The final rates set in this order are similar to those interim rates, which dozens of competitors have successfully been using to bring new offers to market and attract tens of thousands of new customers,” the CRTC said Friday.
Indeed, the final rates are mostly only slightly changed. For access to Bell’s FTTP facilities, between 3 Mbps and 1.5…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is ordering telecoms to ensure, by next year, that they have self-service mechanisms allowing internet and wireless customers to make changes or cancel plans without having to go through a customer service representative.
To ensure a balance between customer access and service provider flexibility, the regulator on Friday broadly defined the mechanism as one that is “easy to use and enables a customer to perform actions in relation” to their plan, “without interacting with a live customer service representative, for example, through an app, a website or by email.”
The CRTC is also requiring telecoms to provide…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled Thursday that Rogers does not need to continue putting money into the Shaw Rocket Fund past August 2025, rejecting the fund’s request to extend that date by at least a year.
The Certified Independent Product Fund (CIPF), which bankrolls children’s programming, had asked the CRTC last summer to stop Rogers from pulling the plug on the funding, which was a condition of its acquisition of Shaw. The fund argued that the CRTC’s 2023 renewal of Rogers’s licence to August 31, 2026 is just an extension of the current licence term, which means…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cabinet has declined to overturn petitions challenging the CRTC’s decision to allow the three largest telecommunications companies access to the wholesale internet framework, arguing the regulator has instituted investment protections and has an opportunity to solidify the balance between that and competition by setting final access rates.
“The Governor in Council considers that bringing down costs for Canadians is a key priority and that restricting larger telecommunications service providers from accessing mandated wholesale high-speed access services, as requested in the petitions, would reduce the level of competition and consumer options in the retail high-speed Internet services market,” said…
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Rogers lower capital spending for “foreseeable future”
By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers expects its sports and media business to exceed $25 billion following the purchase of the remaining 25 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), which it targets for closing later this year.
The call and put options for the purchase and sale, respectively, are coming due in July for Rogers to nab Kilmer Sports’s equity in the empire that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Argonauts, and Toronto Football Club. (Rogers became a 75-per-cent owner when it purchased Bell’s 37.5 per cent stake in the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
For the second time in as many weeks, the CRTC has increased the carriage rate for channels considered of exceptional importance.
Operated by not-for-profit TV5 Quebec Canada, TV5/Unis TV, which reflect the international Francophone and Canadian Francophone markets, respectively, will get an additional two cents for a carry rate of 30 cents per subscriber, per month. The rate will remain effective until the next licence renewal date in August.
The regulator justified its decision by noting TV5 has been running deficits since the 2022-2023 broadcast year and has since exhausted all of its financial reserves, thanks in part to…
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Twelve roles impacted by the cancellations, CEO says
By Linda Stuart
The Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) announced Tuesday it is ending production of its two nightly political news programs — PrimeTime Politics and L’Essentiel — as the not-for-profit media organization is faced with “accelerating revenue decline and continued uncertainty in the broadcasting landscape,” it said.
The announcement comes after the CRTC last week approved a three-cent increase in the price broadcasters must pay to carry the CPAC service.
“The CRTC’s recent approval of a 3-cent rate increase, set to take effect this September, is helpful in the short-term…
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By Connie Thiessen
Evanov Radio Group is divesting another station, announcing Monday that Torres Media intends to acquire CHSV-FM Hudson/Saint-Lazare, Que., pending CRTC approval.
Currently branded as Lite 106.7 – Montreal’s Favourites, Evanov launched the station in 2015 with a Soft Adult Contemporary format.
“Transferring our only English-language commercial station in Quebec to another independent broadcaster is the right outcome for the station and the community it serves,” Evanov Communications President Paul Evanov said in an announcement. “Torres Media’s deep roots in Canadian independent radio and focus on local content is a natural fit, and we are confident the station will thrive under their stewardship.”
CHSV-FM would become Torres Media’s sixth radio station and second…
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Heritage committee recommends copyright protections for content scooped up by bots
By Ahmad Hathout
Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) inquired about what an “opt-out” mechanism would look like for AI-generated news summaries on platforms such as Google, according to a document obtained by Cartt, before the standing committee on Canadian Heritage recommended copyright protections for news content scooped up by bots.
The department, which has been touting Canada’s commitment to AI research and development, had prepared a note ahead of a meeting last fall with News Media Canada, the association for Canadian media that has been sounding the…
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Canada’s film and television production industry generated $10.17 billion in production volume in the 2024-25 fiscal year, a 4.6-per-cent increase year over year, according to the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA)’s annual economic report, Profile 2025, released Monday.
The sector also contributed $11.72 billion to Canada’s GDP, and created 181,360 jobs across Canadian television and theatrical feature film production, broadcaster in-house production, and foreign location and service (FLS) production during the fiscal year, according to the report, which covers the period between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
The report showed…
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