The Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC) announced Thursday the addition of three new members to its board of directors.
Gina Power is a former programming and operations director at The Walt Disney Company in Canada, who currently teaches entertainment law at Yorkville University. She is also the board director for Women in Film and Television, Atlantic Canada.
“Serving on the CRFC Board is a genuine privilege. I look forward to contributing to a future where every community has the resources to tell its own story; a future where local stories are not merely preserved but flourish,” she said in a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Service providers making under $25 million in revenue will not have to contribute to the National Contribution Fund (NCF) or pay annual telecom fees, the CRTC ruled Wednesday.
The regulator bumped up the threshold from $10 million of previous year’s revenues to $25 million for such fees, striking a balance, it said, between relieving an administrative and financial burden on smaller providers and only slightly increasing – by less than one per cent – the amounts to be paid by the rest of the pool to the NCF, which funds the regulator’s flagship Broadband Fund program.
Because the threshold…
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The CRTC on Wednesday issued a call for applications for FM radio stations to serve indigenous communities in Ottawa and Toronto, following First Peoples Radio’s exit from those markets last year.
The commission’s view is there is a need for radio stations to serve the interests of those communities, and its preliminary view is these markets should be served by radio stations operated by and for indigenous peoples.
The CRTC proposes that only one station should be licensed in each of the Ottawa and Toronto markets to serve their…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday turned down Cogeco’s request to argue that the CRTC neglected to consider the editorial impact of allowing Quebecor’s internet station QUB Radio to operate on the traditional FM airwaves.
The court did not provide the reasons.
Cogeco filed the leave to appeal application in November, claiming the CRTC did not adequately weigh the impact of Quebecor’s influence on editorial voices when, in a decision the month prior, it found no issue with a commercial arrangement that allowed QUB Radio to continue operating in the primetime hours,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday launched a consultation to review whether the fee structure of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) burdens smaller telecoms.
Specifically, the regulator holds the preliminary views that the watchdog’s fee structure may “disproportionately” harm smaller telecoms, new market entrants and regional players compared to larger ones; and that there may not be an effective mechanism for these telecoms to have the fees related to complaints reviewed before being forced to pay or lose membership, which is a requirement of the CRTC.
“If these two views are accurate, they limit the efficient resolution of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell has filed a Part 1 application, made public Friday, requesting an urgent order from the CRTC to, within two weeks, force Telus to make available adequate systems to launch its internet services in western Canada.
The urgent interim relief application follows an interim decision by the CRTC on February 5 requiring Bell to rollback updates to its systems that Telus had alleged was making Bell’s wholesale fibre systems unworkable as of January 14. Bell had alleged in response to Telus’s complaint that the Vancouver-based telecom had itself been doing what…
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The CRTC on Wednesday directed Bell and Telus to each provide Quebecor and Rogers with a list of all of the locations where their FTTP services are available by March 13 and after concluding reasonable non-disclosure agreements with the parties.
This decision approves a September 2024 application from Quebecor that asked the CRTC to tell legacy telcos to disclose their lists of FTTP locations in full to Quebecor, after each of the incumbents allegedly informed Quebecor they were willing to disclose their FTTP locations in Quebec if Quebecor identified its own wireline incumbent footprint in…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers wants the CRTC to revisit an October decision approving a tariff that would force the cable giant to go through Telus to get compensated for moving its transmission lines at the behest of government entities, claiming that this would drastically reduce the amount third parties get for relocation.
Being forced to go through Telus to get compensated for moving its transmission lines – as opposed to directly negotiating with the government – will mean being undercompensated because Telus can only negotiate with the government the cost of moving its own transmission lines and not those of third-party…
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The CRTC last week said it is temporarily suspending the requirement for wireless and internet service providers to submit annual reports measuring their compliance with the Wireless Code and the Internet Code, as the telecom regulator prepares to launch a new proceeding regarding its plan to streamline and simplify the codes.
As set out in its Consumer Protections Action Plan, the CRTC intends to combine the Wireless Code, the Internet Code, the Deposit and Disconnection Code and the Television Service Provider Code into a single code that is more clear, simple and consistent…
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The CRTC last week approved the acquisition of Quebec radio station CJAN-FM Val-des-Sources by Résonance Média Inc. from Coopérative Web Média des Sources.
The commission also approved Résonance’s request for a new broadcasting licence to continue operating the station. The broadcasting regulator said the transaction is in the public interest and will help ensure the French-language station continues to provide local programming to the community of Val-des-Sources.
Based on the transaction value of $258,453, Résonance is required to pay tangible benefits totalling $15,507 in equal installments over seven consecutive broadcasting years, allocated to…
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