By Mark Goldberg, a telecommunications consultant
The headlines were breathless – Canada’s telecom regulator is going to cut the cost of internet services for people living in the far north
What the CRTC didn’t say, and what was entirely missed in the coverage, is the regulator wants customers in the rest of Canada to pay for it.
This is the same regulator that continually chastises Canada’s internet and wireless providers for not doing enough to lower prices while pushing for more investments to connect remote areas. This, despite the federal government’s own data showing cellular and internet prices keep falling while the…
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Following its Jan. 16 launch of a public consultation on implementing a far north internet subsidy, the CRTC last week asked the body it proposes will be administrator of the subsidy how quickly the necessary updates to the National Contribution Fund (NCF) can be made to distribute the funds to internet service providers operating in the far north.
In a letter sent to the Canadian Telecommunications Contribution Consortium (CTCC) — which along with the Central Fund Administrator (CFA) would be tasked with administrating the subsidy under the CRTC’s proposal — the telecom regulator asked…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has contract work for a study on the “promotion, discoverability, and prominence of Canadian content across the broadcasting system.”
The research study, posted to the federal government’s procurement website Monday, will need to look into the “business strategies and practices across the spectrum of media and industry stakeholders and regulatory approaches regarding the discoverability and prominence of audio and audiovisual Canadian content across the Canadian broadcasting system,” the contract says.
The regulator wants to understand, among other things, tools used to promote content; how business models vary between online services, including ad- and subscription-supported content and video-on-demand;…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s plea that the start date be retroactive for its access to Bell’s wireless network on mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) rates flies in the face of the CRTC’s requirement that an agreement for that access first be signed, Bell is arguing to the regulator.
The CRTC ruled this past summer that Quebecor must sign a separate network access agreement on top of a commission-established tariff agreement to access Bell’s network on MVNO rates. Quebecor alleged in a review-and-vary application challenging that decision last month that the regulator failed to consider that Freedom Mobile and…
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The CRTC has approved on an interim basis tariff pages, including terms and conditions, for aggregated wholesale last-mile fibre access to provide competitors with workable access to the fibre networks of Canada’s large telephone companies by Feb. 13.
The telecom regulator in October 2024 set the interim wholesale fibre rates smaller players will pay Bell, Telus and SaskTel to use their last-mile fibre networks. In August 2024, the commission had ordered the large telecoms to provide competitors with workable wholesale access to their fibre networks by the February date.
In…
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Regulator forcing Northwestel to implement auto credits for outages
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC announced Thursday it is now collecting comments on how to implement a monthly internet subsidy for residents of Canada’s far north, the region with some of the most expensive high-speed internet services.
The regulator is contemplating providing the subsidy to internet service providers (ISPs) through the National Contribution Fund (NCF), which would then be delivered to eligible residents in all households of the region with sparse populations and difficult terrain. The NCF relies on ISP contributions and provides the funding for the CRTC’s flagship $750-million Broadband Fund.
The subsidy…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell Media has filed a complaint to the CRTC alleging Rogers wants to give itself an undue preference by replacing two of its newly rebranded channels with the cable company’s newly acquired programming — Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.).
Bell previously had the rights to the Discovery and the I.D. brands, but lost them to Rogers when rights owner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) signed a multi-year licensing deal with the cable giant this past summer. To make up for that, Bell announced in October that it acquired the rights to bring USA…
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The CRTC announced in December it has approved Maritime Broadcasting System Limited (MBS)’s application to acquire five English-language commercial radio stations and a transmitter from Bell Media Radio Atlantic Inc. (Bell Atlantic), in a transaction valued at $4.4 million.
The radio stations include CKTO-FM and CKTY-FM in Truro, Nova Scotia, and CKBC-FM Bathurst, CJCJ-FM Woodstock, and CIKX-FM Grand Falls and its transmitter CIKX-FM-1 Plaster Rock in New Brunswick.
MBS operates 24 radio stations across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island; however, it does not currently operate stations in the markets where it is acquiring these…
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Application comes after CRTC also said Rogers can’t change Corus channel numbers
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled in a confidential decision last month that Rogers must continue carrying certain Corus channels and refrain from altering their channel numbers, even after the cable giant obtained an Ontario court opinion allowing it to make unilateral changes under its carriage agreements, according to new documents filed by Rogers at the Federal Court of Appeal Thursday.
The CRTC’s rulings on November 18 and 29 resulted from a confidential application filed by Rogers earlier this year that sought to have the CRTC lift a standstill and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal ruled Monday that the major foreign streamers may have a legitimate grievance against the imposition by the CRTC of a base financial contribution levied on them to support Canadian content.
The high court granted a hearing to Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and the Canadian affiliate of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) – which represents Netflix, Paramount, Pluto, and Crunchyroll – after the parties filed their own applications against the proposed June decision, which was finalized in August. The court consolidated all the leave applications before making the decision.
In approving the applications,…
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