The CRTC has asked Bell Canada for additional information regarding the factors that may have contributed to a 911 network outage that affected all of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island on Jan. 31, 2023, which Bell subsequently reported in its annual 911 outage report for that year.
The issue reportedly occurred due to network changes with respect to implementation of 10-digit dialling required to support the 988 service on the Atlantic 911 tandems. Both the primary and secondary Atlantic 911 tandems were rendered unable to process 911 calls originating in the Maritimes, resulting in 911 callers in…
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The CRTC has asked Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for clarification on whether Canadian news is still being made available on its platforms in Canada — despite the social media giant not paying to host Canadian news links, which is a violation of the Online News Act.
The commission previously asked Meta in October what measures it is taking to comply with the Act, and has now sent additional questions to the company in a follow-up letter dated Nov. 25 and addressed to Meta’s public policy director, Dan Ball.
“You have described measures…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday launched a trio of consultations to “improve” the wireless and internet codes by making it easier for Canadians to switch plans or providers.
The consultations can be broken down into three major categories: more transparent communications from service providers, the elimination of certain fees associated with switching, and self-service options for customers to easily cancel or modify their contracts.
For the first bucket, the CRTC is looking into providing Canadians with a 90-day notice before their contracts – which cannot exceed 24 months – come to an end; requiring a notice before the end of…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Thursday launched a consultation into whether it should ban Rogers, Bell and Telus from using the bundled fibre networks of the large telcos in Ontario and Quebec.
The commission is asking whether it’s in the public interest to change its November 2023 decision that temporarily allowed competitors to force negotiations to access both the traffic transport and last-mile fibre facilities of Bell and Telus in those provinces.
The deadline for comment is December 12.
The consultation comes at the recommendation of federal cabinet, which expressed concern that this policy could be detrimental to smaller…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking the public about whether it should expand its Canadian content points system, which certifies productions based on certain positions held by Canadians, as well as how it should rejig the Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) and programs of national interest (PNI) systems to support content in a new regulatory environment.
The existing points system requires a minimum of six points out of 10, with each position in a Canadian production having a varying number of points based on the role’s importance. The system captures live action, continuous action animated productions and animation productions. It requires…
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Applicants claim regulatory asymmetry between wireless and wireline policies
By Ahmad Hathout
A consortium of competitors is asking the CRTC to consider banning Rogers, Bell and Telus from accessing the wholesale internet regime regardless of technology and geography.
The regulator announced last week it is launching a public consultation, at the behest of the federal cabinet, to review whether the Big 3 should be banned from accessing at least the last-mile fibre regime – which includes the middle- and last-mile facilities of Bell and Telus in Quebec and Ontario. The concern is that smaller players would not be able…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Wednesday approved a proposal by the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) to expand its mandate to accept applications for public interest participation in proceedings involving the Online News Act.
The regulator is directing the BPF, which funds that participation, to file amendments to its by-laws and articles of incorporation to reflect the change by December 6.
The commission said it is comfortable with the BPF’s existing structure and processes to properly distribute the funds, even though the organization is now handling matters with two separate pieces of legislation. The concern has been that the money may get…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking Canada’s major telecommunications service providers to explain how their employees are informing customers about the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), after the regulatory said it found an unsatisfactory number of survey participants even knew it existed.
The regulator commissioned a survey by Nanos Research, which found only 2 per cent of participants who had an unresolved complaint were made aware of the organization by their service provider. The research was delivered in March.
“This finding is supported by consumer feedback data in the CCTS’s annual reports from 2015 to 2023, which shows…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has launched a proceeding into the planned operation of a temporary fund intended to put base contribution money from streamers toward the programming of commercial radio broadcasters outside of major metro markets.
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) was required to file to the CRTC a detailed operational plan for the so-called Commercial Radio News Fund (CRNF), which will handle money from the five per cent base contribution large foreign and standalone Canadian streamers are required to put into the broadcasting system to float key programming, including local news. The target markets for…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Monday approved an application by Google to be exempted from the Online News Act for a period of five years in exchange for releasing the $100 million it allocated to host Canadian news content.
The decision triggers a 60-day timer for Google to release the money to the Canadian Journalism Collective (CJC), the news rep that Google agreed to work with on the distribution in June.
Google held an open call, as it’s required under the new law, between February 28 and April 30 to field prospective eligible news businesses that want a piece…
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