By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has turned down a 2023 application that asked it to align the rates competitors pay Bell for disaggregated and aggregated fibre access.
Quebecor’s application, which hoped for an update to rates established in 2017, was opposed by Bell and Rogers for a reason that the CRTC would adopt Tuesday: the regulator is already reviewing how to update the disaggregated regime, which forces competitors to get their own transport/traffic facilities to obtain access to the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) portion of the legacy telcos’ network.
“The proceeding initiated by Telecom Notice of Consultation Continue Reading
President says organization will submit a comprehensive application “promptly”
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has denied Vues & Voix a three-cent increase in the rate broadcasters must pay to carry its 24-hour French-language radio station Canal M, saying there is insufficient evidence to justify it.
The discretionary service, which provides news and current affairs programming for the accessibility community and for people with disabilities, requested a three-cent rate increase – from four cents to seven cents per subscriber, per month – due to financial pressure. The not-for-profit said it has had to implement significant budget cuts, which resulted in…
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The CRTC last week announced the establishment of a CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC) ad hoc relief planning committee (RPC) to examine options and make recommendations for providing numbering relief to the area codes 368, 403, 587, 780 and 825 in Alberta.
The Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA) has advised the CRTC that the existing area codes in Alberta are projected to exhaust by February 2029.
The 403 area code covers southern Alberta including Calgary, while the 780 area code covers the northern part of the province including Edmonton.
Area codes 368, 587 and 825 are overlay area codes that…
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Brad Danks | CEO, OUTtv Media Global
Part 7 – CARTT Series: Beyond the Walled Garden
Read – Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
At this year’s European Film Market in Berlin, a high-level panel titled “Balancing Cultural Diversity, Artistic Freedom and Competitiveness in the Platform Era” felt like a genuine policy turning point. European Parliament First Vice-President Sabine Verheyen summed up the moment: “If a handful of players decide which stories are visible, whose voices are amplified, and which languages are profitable, cultural diversity is no longer guaranteed,…
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Brad Danks | CEO, OUTtv Media Global
Part 6 – CARTT Series: Beyond the Walled Garden
Read – Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Moving toward global distribution doesn’t make the domestic market irrelevant. In fact, the opposite is true: countries that export the most media usually have the strongest homegrown broadcasting institutions. Export success isn’t just supported by a solid domestic base, it depends on it.
Domestic strength isn’t about protectionism. It’s the industrial backbone that allows us to achieve both cultural goals and export ambitions.
The International Evidence
This pattern…
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Expects mandatory roaming and tower sharing to be feasible in all cases
By Ahmad Hathout
The department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) has launched a consultation this week on a set of proposals to streamline the tower build process and updated the conditions of licence to find that mandatory roaming and tower sharing are technically feasible in all cases.
Through a consultation document released Monday, ISED is asking for comments about the following proposed measures: whether it should allow telecoms, tower owners and broadcasters to forego public consutlation and notification to a land use authority (LUA) if the proposed tower…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Akash Broadcasting Inc. has filed a notice of discontinuance at the Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday to pull back its case challenging a CRTC decision to deny its buy of AM radio station CKMX in Calgary.
The operator of ethnic stations was granted a hearing at the high court in December and was supposed to file a requisition for a hearing date by tomorrow.
A question to Akash and its law firm as to why it discontinued the application was not returned.
Akash entered into an agreement with Bell in 2024 to acquire the assets of the station,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal said Monday that the CRTC did not err by forcing Rogers to negotiate a deal through staff-assisted mediation or go to final offer arbitration (FOA) to carry OneSoccer.
In a decision from the bench after a hearing Monday, the court said the CRTC was not wrong in deciding that Rogers’s proposed remedy – to negotiate a deal privately – was unlikely to be acceptable to OneSoccer parent Timeless Inc., and that staff-assisted dispute resolution, requested by Timeless, was required.
The cable giant said in its original appeal application that it proposed…
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The CRTC has told Bell via a letter that the telco’s introduction of a $40 device handling fee charged to customers purchasing a new device along with their wireless plan may be in violation of the commission’s new rules eliminating activation, modification and cancellation fees.
In a letter dated May 6, Scott Hutton, the CRTC’s vice president of consumer, analytics and strategy, said he had been informed of the new Bell Mobility practice and it did not appear the new fee falls under the exemption in the new regulatory policy — which comes…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC confirmed Monday that carrier access agreements must be signed before mandated wireless service can be provided to competitors.
With that, the regulator rejected Quebecor’s request to vary that same finding in the summer of 2024 on the basis that signing a separate access agreement with Bell was unnecessary because the terms of that access were already established when the CRTC picked Bell’s rate at final offer arbitration (FOA) on October 10, 2023, and that Quebecor’s subsidiaries had already been roaming on the telco’s network as MVNOs. Quebecor, which alleged Bell was forcing it…
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