CRTC says it improved pace of cost decisions and will announce ‘further improvements in the upcoming weeks’
By Linda Stuart and Ahmad Hathout
Monica Auer, the executive director of the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC), has asked to meet CRTC Chair Vicky Eatrides to discuss concerns about the commission’s decisions regarding reimbursing public- and consumer-interest groups for costs associated with participating in telecom proceedings.
According to an Oct. 5 letter sent to Eatrides and shared with Cartt, FRPC data show 12 public-interest organizations that have made detailed submissions in 19 of the CRTC telecom consultations held…
Continue Reading
Internet service provider Uplink Communications has notified the CRTC it wants to withdraw its complaint against wholesale internet service provider Frontier Networks, saying the two companies are working on a resolution to their dispute.
In August, Aylmer, Ont.-based Uplink filed a Part 1 application asking the telecom regulator to stop Etobicoke-based Frontier from further disconnecting its customers over a payment dispute until it could migrate them to a new provider.
In an Oct. 6 letter, the CRTC acknowledged receipt of Uplink’s emailed request to have the application withdrawn, adding that unless…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC launched a consultation on Tuesday that could see the elimination of certain reporting requirements to better align with the goal of the federal regulatory system to reduce red tape.
The regulator said it holds the preliminary view that certain reporting requirements could be “simplified or removed immediately” without “materially impacting regulator oversight.”
The CRTC currently requires telcos to report semi-annually on 14 different quality of service indicators in areas that are forborne from regulation to ensure competitors receive a minimum standard of service. But “as technology evolves and consumers migrate away from legacy local voice services, it…
Continue Reading
The CRTC has told Groupe TVA it must continue to submit reports twice a month regarding the progress it has made to resolve issues related to closed captioning on its television services.
In a letter dated Oct. 2, the CRTC denied TVA’s request to reduce the frequency of these reports to once per month.
The broadcasting regulator said, since June 2025, it has received numerous complaints from TVA audience members about incorrect or missing closed captioning. TVA told the commission these errors were due to failures in TVA’s closed captioning equipment that occurred following the relocation…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday adopted a proposal from the government’s Communications Research Centre (CRC) and will standardize the information carriers will be required to report to improve mobile wireless coverage mapping.
The regulator will require, at a resolution of 50 metres, annual reporting of three levels of terrestrial service: Level 1, a wireless signal strong enough to support emergency services, namely 911 calls and public alerts; Level 2, a signal strong enough to support the first level plus voice and video calls of at least 3 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload; and Level 3, a signal strong…
Continue Reading
By Howard Law, author of MediaPolicy.ca, and Canada vs. California: How Ottawa took on Netflix and the streaming giants (Lorimer, 2024)
Prime Minister Mark Carney recently granted the New York Times an hour-long interview about where he is taking Canada.
Canadian journalists, who would have loved that kind of access to the prime minister, were irked. What ever happened to Canadians telling Canadian stories?
But to heck with cultural irony. There’s an American audience to be educated about Canada.
An interesting item that emerged from the Times coverage was Carney’s candour about Canada’s warming relationship with the European Union. According…
Continue Reading
Comes after TVA Sports secured NHL rights deal from Rogers
By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s Groupe TVA is stonewalling hotel television service provider Coopérative de câblodistribution Hill Valley over access to TVA Sports, a Part 1 application claims.
Hill Valley claims in the application, made public Friday, that Groupe TVA is still refusing to negotiate for the sports signal, four years after the Federal Court found Hill Valley had, for a time, violated copyright law by projecting a single signal to multiple hotel rooms without authorization.
Still, Groupe TVA allegedly wants nothing to do with Hill Valley, which…
Continue Reading
The CRTC on Monday announced its intention to establish a joint working group (JWG) to support and guide the co-development of an Indigenous Broadcasting Policy and issued a call for members.
The JWG’s mandate will be to support a collaborative co-development approach with First Nations, Inuit and Métis, including broadcasters, content creators and audiences from those groups, the CRTC said.
“In the Commission’s view, this JWG is essential to the co-development of a new policy, affirming its commitment to co-development made in Broadcasting Notice of Proceeding 2019-217 and in the Notice…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled Monday that Videotron will not be compensated for having to relocate its equipment due to work done by the city of Ottawa.
The regulator said a 2008 municipal access agreement (MAA), which provided no compensation provision for such work, applied to the equipment in question. That MAA was signed by the original lines owner, SRDP Telecommunication Inc., which was subsequently absorbed by Videotron through the acquisition of subsidiary Fibrenoire.
Despite a newer MAA that allows for compensation whenever municipal projects force relocation, the CRTC said the equipment in question – at Montreal Road and Woodroffe Avenue…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Corus is suing Telus for $32.5 million after allegedly discovering that the broadcaster had been improperly collecting a wholesale rate discount on the distribution of its channels.
Corus and Telus are currently negotiating the terms on which the latter will continue to distribute the former’s services. The last distribution agreement, which currently governs their relationship, has not yet been renewed past its expiry on December 31, 2023.
Under the current distribution agreement, Telus pays a lower wholesale rate if it rolls Corus’s services in a package with at least five services – “theme packs” and “pick packs” – which…
Continue Reading
