OTTAWA – The CRTC yesterday informed the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) it will not consider the organization’s recent request for an order for CRTC chair Ian Scott to recuse himself, or be recused, from deciding telecommunications matters affecting service-based competition.
The Commission further informed CNOC it will not be posting the request on its website as a Part 1 application “as the decision of a Member of the Commission to recuse themselves in respect of a matter is a decision that only the Member can make and does not engage the Commission’s processes,” a letter from the…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC today dismissed an undue preference and undue disadvantage complaint from Telus against TLN Media Group.
The complaint was made in July 2020. Telus was seeking to distribute some of TLN Media Group’s third-language services, however, “the parties have been engaging in challenging negotiations,” the CRTC’s decision says.
Under the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, Telus must carry one Canadian third-language service for every non-Canadian third-language service it offers. If possible, the services are supposed to be in the same principal language.
Telus previously carried TLN, which had Italian-language programming, to meet this requirement, however the programming service became an…
Continue Reading
Also urges everyone to keep the C-11 debate “on facts”
By Amanda OYE
MINISTER OF CANADIAN HERITAGE Pablo Rodriguez (above, right) wants his daughter to grow up with Canadian music and Canadian productions – and the newly announced Bill C-11 can help ensure this, he said today, during a fireside chat on the final day of the Canadian Media Producers Association’s Prime Time conference.
Rodriguez joined Erin Haskett (above left), president and executive producer at Lark Productions, for a conversation that addressed a range of topics including the importance of Bill C-11 (also known as the Online Streaming Act), and gave…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC announced today some Canadians are now eligible to receive paper bills from their communications service provider upon request, at no charge.
Customers who qualify include those who self-identify as persons with disabilities, those who do not have home Internet access or mobile data services and seniors who are aged 65 or older.
Service providers should include this information on their websites and must update their systems as well as train their customer service representatives on the change, a CRTC press release says. Major providers are to report to the CRTC within 90 days on how they…
Continue Reading
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Should Northwestel (NWTel) be able to lower its Internet access rates? Intuitively, considering its rates are exceedingly high, we would be inclined to say yes but … it is not that simple.
As NWTel reminds us in its application to the CRTC in December 2021, “We are the only company in Canada to have retail rate regulation of our Internet services.”
BCE owned NWTel, which serves Canada’s North, is regulated differently than other telecom companies – a reflection its own specific circumstances.
Because of the high cost of providing service, it receives significant subsidies from southern telcos but is…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – CRTC chair Ian Scott (above) found himself in the position of defending recent Commission decisions as well as his meeting with then chief operating officer of Bell, Mirko Bibic when he appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology on Tuesday.
Scott spoke to the parliamentary committee about the CRTC’s ongoing work in support of competition as well as investment in the marketplace so all Canadians have access to broadband and wireless services.
“We understand your concerns about the affordability of these vital services for the Canadian population, and we share those concerns,” he said. “We’ve been working…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) filed an application to the CRTC yesterday seeking an order that CRTC chair Ian Scott recuse himself, or be recused, from deciding matters that affect service-based competition pending the results of an appeal that raises allegations of bias, among other things.
CNOC is referring to TekSavvy’s appeal of a CRTC decision made in May 2021 on a review and vary application. The decision reversed a previous CRTC decision (Telecom Order 2019-288), which lowered the wholesale third-party Internet access rates companies like TekSavvy pay carriers such as Bell and Rogers for…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The federal government today introduced what it is calling the Online Streaming Act, or Bill C-11, which, while cutting it close, fulfills its promise to reintroduce legislation to amend the Broadcasting Act within its first 100 days.
Bill C-11 is very similar to Bill C-10, which died when the Liberals called an election last August. The main aims are still centred around including online streamers in the act by adding “online undertakings” to its scope, creating an equitable system and providing the CRTC with more powers and flexibility.
The proposed amendments are “about updating our…
Continue Reading
TESLIN, YT and FORT LIARD, NT — Bell Canada subsidiary Northwestel announced today the launch of fibre-to-the-home service to homes and businesses in Teslin, Yukon Territory and Fort Liard, Northwest Territories.
Residential customers in the two communities now have access to unlimited data, speeds of up to 250 Mbps and the new digital streaming TV service Northwestel TV Plus, says a press release. High-speed unlimited Internet is also available now to businesses in the two communities.
“Available Internet speeds in Teslin and Fort Liard now far surpass the CRTC’s universal service objective of 50 Mbps. Internet rates in the two communities…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – BCE is asking the CRTC to order Videotron to remove the service Vrai for its broadcasting distribution undertaking (BDU) offer, according to a Part 1 application filed by BCE last November that was posted by the Commission today.
In the application, BCE claims Videotron’s Vrai is non-compliant with the CRTC’s hybrid video-on-demand (HVOD) exemption order.
Videotron launched Vrai last August, which was initially only available to Helix customers. Soon after, BCE filed a Part 1 application with the CRTC that alleged Videotron was in violation of the exemption order by not offering any Internet direct to consumer…
Continue Reading
