By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers has received the final regulatory approval it needs to purchase Bell’s 37.5 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), after the CRTC greenlit its purchase of the corresponding portion of NBA TV on Thursday.
As a result of the approval, Rogers now owns 75 per cent of Toronto Raptors Network Ltd. (TRNL), which it valued at $37.2 million for the sake of determining tangible benefits. It offered to pay $3.7 million (10 per cent) to the broadcasting system as a condition of approval, which the CRTC accepted.
The CRTC divided those amounts as follows: 80…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC should specifically tailor its broadband transparency efforts on certain technologies that have been shown to demonstrate more variation in internet speeds, such as satellite and fixed-wireless services, according to Bell executives.
Otherwise, if the CRTC must impose standardized transparency language to make it easier for consumers to choose services, it can force internet service providers to change their “up-to” or “maximum” language to “typical” because that’s what most service providers are already offering on wireline.
“We’d be well within … the margins by which what we advertise as a maximum speed would be advertised as a typical…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Cogeco representatives on Tuesday implored a panel of CRTC commissioners to carefully examine the cost-benefit analysis of implementing a broadband label that they say has been largely ineffective in the purchasing decisions of their American customers.
The regional cable company, which has a division called Breezeline in the United States, says such a proposed label – which would resemble a nutrition label on foods and include information beyond just download and upload speeds – would just serve to confuse customers.
“The reality is that we already provide consumers with the information they need to make informed purchasing decisions –…
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The CRTC has asked Telus via a June 5 letter to provide a public summary of a 911 service outage Telus experienced from March 22-24 this year that impacted wireless 911 calls trying to connect to the public safety answering point (PSAP) in Brandon, Manitoba.
The commission initially requested information regarding the outage from Telus in an April 11 letter asking for weekly progress reports on the Vancouver-based telecom’s investigation of the cause of the outage, steps taken to resolve the outage, the impact of the outage, and plans put in place…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is expanding eligibility for the independent news fund by including Corus’s 15 Global stations into the fold.
Because Corus is a large media company vis-à-vis other eligible services – and would likely receive the majority of the funding – the CRTC said it is also instituting a funding cap of 45 per cent to any one entity to ensure the other recipients of the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF) are not adversely affected by its inclusion.
“The Commission notes that Corus plays an important role in producing and broadcasting locally reflective and locally relevant news and information…
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Rogers said Wednesday that it has received all sports league approvals to buy Bell’s 37.5 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).
The cable giant got approvals from the NHL, NBA, CFL, MLS, and the American Hockey League (AHL) to become 75 per cent owners — which it values at $15 billion — in the sports empire.
The company now requires CRTC approval “to acquire an additional indirect interest in Toronto Raptors Network Ltd (NBA TV Canada), representing a very small portion of the transaction,” it said in a press release.
“We’re pleased to have league…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) has been granted Wednesday a discontinuance of its legal challenge against a CRTC decision that temporarily relieved Corus of some of its regulatory obligations.
The ruling was a consent judgment, meaning the justice acted on an agreement by both parties – the CMPA and Corus – to end the litigation on a without-costs basis.
The decision stands in contrast to what the trade group for independent producers told Cartt in late March, which was that it was going to pursue the legal challenge that sought to argue that the CRTC…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has contract work to purchase Canadian music data for its public database.
The contract, opened for bids Tuesday and valued at $95,000, seeks a supplier from which to purchase data and metadata to supplement its existing bank of information which it says is “incomplete or insufficient” to assist it in classifying Canadian content.
The supplied information “is meant to be integrated seamlessly within a data management tool procured from a third-party Contractor allowing CRTC staff to handle, validate, and certify high volumes of Canadian content using data and metadata on an ongoing basis,” the contract reads.
“On a…
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Canada’s telecommunications sector contributed $87.3 billion in direct GDP and supported 661,000 jobs across industries in 2024, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report (PwC) released Tuesday morning.
The report, Enabling Canada’s Economic Independence and Global Competitiveness Through Telecommunications, was commissioned by the Canadian Telecommunications Association (CTA), which represents carriers, equipment manufacturers and other companies that build, maintain and operate telecom networks in Canada, including Bell, Rogers, Videotron, SaskTel, Eastlink, Tbaytel, Xplore, Ericsson Canada and Nokia Canada.
The $87.3 billion in GDP contributed by Canada’s telecom sector includes $30.1 billion in immediate direct…
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The parties are currently engaged in a carriage dispute
By Ahmad Hathout
Corus is suing Telus in the Ontario Superior Court for allegedly breaking its distribution agreement by withholding and refusing to repay roughly $2.5 million in service fees.
Corus filed the claim this week revealing the parties are currently engaged in a dispute over the terms for carrying Corus’s services, which Telus continues to distribute per a regulatory standstill.
Crucially, the existing agreement, which continues to govern the parties during the dispute, includes a section that stipulates that Telus “shall not deduct or set-off any amounts for any reason from Service Fees…
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