GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today it has approved an application by Stingray Group to change the broadcaster’s Stingray Hits channel into a French-language service.
When the CRTC issued a licence in March 2020 for the previously exempt Stingray Hits channel, it was designated as an English-language discretionary service by the Commission.
In January 2021, Stingray submitted an application to amend Stingray Hits’s licence (which expires August 31, 2025) so it would be designated as a French-language service. Stingray indicated its intention was always to offer Stingray Hits as a pop music video clip service for the Francophone market.
In approving the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government has heard rural broadband stakeholders that download speeds of 50 Mbps may already be insufficient and that federal programs are falling short of their needs, according to notes Cartt.ca obtained from a roundtable held in late January.
The roundtable was hosted on January 29 by Minister of Rural Economic Development Maryam Monsef and touched on major areas of concern for connectivity in rural regions. The participants were not named in the notes.
“The 50/10 standard will soon be eclipsed by the need for additional speed and capacity, if it hasn’t been already,” the meeting…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The CRTC requires a reassessment of its role as a telecom regulator following its decision last week to reverse its 2019 decision to set lower wholesale broadband rates for third-party internet access providers, NDP telecommunications critic Brian Masse told Cartt.ca during a news conference on Tuesday.
“There is such a variance amongst the predictabilities necessary for a modern administrator that it requires a review,” he said. “The leadership has undermined itself.”
However, the Windsor West MP stopped short of joining several independent ISPs who called for Scott’s removal as CRTC chief.
“He’s put himself in…
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WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Saying it is surprised and disappointed by the CRTC’s decision last week to overturn its August 2019 ruling to lower wholesale Internet rates, independent carrier Execulink Telecom said today it is now considering its next steps in the wake of the Commission’s decision.
“At this time, Execulink is evaluating its market and pricing strategy in light of the CRTC’s new regulatory direction that inhibits competitor success, and the outcome for its customers,” reads the company’s press release.
After the Commission originally decided in 2019 to lower the wholesale fees independent ISPs have to pay the large incumbents,…
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GATINEAU — In a ruling today regarding a dispute between Videotron and Bell subsidiary Cablevision du Nord, the CRTC is directing Cablevision to finish upgrading its routers in Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda at its own expense by September 1, in order to add the capacity for its third-party Internet access (TPIA) service requested by Videotron.
The CRTC’s latest involvement in the dispute relates to an argument between the two companies over who should pay for upgrading the routers at the points of interconnection (POIs) in Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda, located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of western Quebec, a region where Videotron…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today it is amending the exemption order for still image programming service undertakings to include low-motion programming services, to allow, in addition to background music, sounds that are related to the broadcast images, and to allow spoken words that are promotional in nature.
The Commission defines low-motion programming as: “A program that features extended coverage of an ordinary event or scene with no or limited video editing or camera movement.”
This clears the way for “slow TV” such as Stingray’s Naturescape
For more information on the CRTC’s new Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2021-185 and the revised exemption…
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Government must look before it leaps with C-10
By Monica Auer
THE DECISION BY THE Minister of Canadian Heritage several weeks ago to drop explicit protection for user-generated content uploaded to social media sites from Bill C-10 led to more attention being focussed on the new Broadcasting Act it would create.
In plain language, the Minister’s change means that while users themselves would not be subject to that Act, it would govern social media services “whose broadcasting consists only of” user-uploaded content. Even if the CRTC is unlikely to demand content posted by millions of Canadians on Facebook or YouTube meet its…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Four hours worth of meetings on Friday and Monday barely advanced the progress of Bill C-10 at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and as more time passes and so little is done, there is real risk now of the bill simply withering and dying.
The Friday meeting dealt with only two amendments, both of which were defeated, and three amendments that were ruled out of scope by the chair of the Committee, Liberal MP Scott Simms.
We thought the Committee might have returned to its normal business of clause-by-clause consideration and, oddly, most of the talking…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Like deja vu, the immediate impact of a major decision by the CRTC has unfurled in the days immediately following — but the reactions are the reverse of what happened in August 2019.
When the CRTC that summer decided to slash the bulk internet rates smaller providers pay for large network access – and make the rates retroactive so some serious back pay was supposed to go to those independents – the large telecoms announced cuts to investments, including in rural areas. Smaller providers, rejoicing, immediately slashed retail internet prices.
Following Thursday’s decision to go back…
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And an expedited decision
GATINEAU — In a Part 1 application filed last week with the CRTC, Bell Mobility is asking for a new permanent roaming test to be applied when Videotron uses Bell’s wholesale roaming service.
This is the latest in a dispute between Bell and Videotron over wholesale roaming, in which Bell has previously accused Videotron of allowing a number of its subscribers to roam permanently on Bell’s network. It follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Bell in Quebec’s Superior Court seeking $50 million to be paid by Videotron for Bell’s loss of profit and additional…
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