By Ahmad Hathout
Major foreign streamers are asking the Federal Court of Appeal to review the CRTC’s decision to force them to disclose certain financial information that the regulator says is in the public interest.
The Canadian affiliate of the Motion Picture Association (MPAC) and its members, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Paramount+, are arguing that, by declaring certain financial information “public,” the CRTC is effectively pre-empting their ability to designate certain competitively sensitive information as confidential as is their right under section 25.3 of the Broadcasting Act, which was amended by the Online Streaming Act that…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Akash Broadcasting Inc. has been granted a hearing at the Federal Court of Appeal over a decision by the CRTC to reject its buy of AM radio station CKMX in Calgary.
Akash, an operator of ethnic stations, had entered into an agreement with Bell in 2024 to acquire the assets of the station, which has been off-air since June 2023. It then went to the CRTC for approval of the transaction.
In October, the CRTC denied the application because it came while the commission reviewed applications for another commercial radio station in the city. Akash’s application came approximately two…
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The CRTC is seeking a data service to monitor and measure competitive forces in the Canadian internet services market, following its new regulatory policy mandating wholesale access to the large telephone companies’ last-mile fibre networks across the country.
The telecom regulator has pre-identified Boston-based Opensignal as the supplier of the data service, but has issued an advance contract award notice (ACAN) to allow other interested suppliers to submit bids.
The CRTC and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) are looking to contract a company to provide timely and granular ISP…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Wednesday it will expect online streaming undertakings to provide described video for new, third-party and legacy programs and described audio for news and information programs.
The policy, part of the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, will apply only to English- and French-language scripted pre-recorded programs and partially scripted live events of national interest, such as the Academy Awards and the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
New original programs are those that are created or commissioned by the streamer and made available on its platform; third-party programs are those created by other companies but is being made available…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Monday that there isn’t enough evidence on the record to show that Bell is imposing on Quebecor an undue disadvantage by allegedly forcing disproportionate wholesale transport charges on its subsidiary.
Quebecor filed an application over two years ago claiming that Bell has been forcing its subsidiary, Fibernoire, to renew a wholesale fibre transport agreement on terms that would allegedly subject it to an undue disadvantage: better prices in exchange for a long-term contract and a commitment to minimum annual revenues – which Bell says is a common practice that provides revenue and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Apple has filed a letter to the Federal Court of Appeal requesting that the panel of justices review a recent CRTC decision that it believes could bolster its challenge to the commission’s own base contribution ruling.
In the letter dated December 11, the tech giant alleges that the CRTC has handicapped the attorney general – its legal counsel at the court – by stating in paragraph 4 of its November decision on the definition of Canadian content that the commission believes defining such programs is “a necessary step before establishing financial or…
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The CRTC said Friday that Wingham, Ontario can sustain at least one additional FM radio station.
The decision comes after the regulator launched a proceeding to replace an existing AM station in the small community earlier this year. The proceeding followed an application by Blackburn Media Inc. to operate an English-language FM station on the 104.3 MHz frequency, instead of its existing AM facility, which it said has experienced failing equipment and infrastructure that are expensive to maintain.
The application required that the CRTC consult the public and then make a determination if adding a station would harm…
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The CRTC has notified Telus that it must immediately stop selling locked cellphones, after the commission became aware the Vancouver-based telecom has been selling its customers phones that are locked for up to 60 days after purchase.
In a letter Tuesday, the CRTC also directed Telus to unlock, free of charge, any cellphone still locked to its network and notify affected customers that it has done so.
This missive to Telus follows a similar one sent to Bell in late November in which the CRTC directed Bell to stop its practice…
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Follows other telecoms asking for change in reporting thresholds
By Ahmad Hathout
Telesat is asking the CRTC to clarify if satellite transport providers are subject to its new outage reporting rules and, if so, to amend them because they are not privy to some of the information the regulator is asking for.
In a review and vary application made public on Monday, the Ottawa-based company said because it doesn’t provide services directly to retail customers, it cannot comply with the CRTC’s new rules that establish a new threshold for reporting to official bodies. It is asking for a new set of reporting…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking Rogers to provide an opinion about whether returning to service providers uncommitted money from the service provider-supported Broadband Fund at the end of year would alleviate some of its concerns.
Rogers filed a Part 1 application this summer asking the regulator to review the way the National Contribution Fund (NCF) manages the program, arguing that service providers must set aside large amounts of money for collection when the fund doesn’t always deliver the amounts it has already collected, which is currently set at $150 million per year. It is asking the…
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