Two top bureaucrats retiring at Canadian Heritage
By Denis Carmel
NO, BILL C-10 WON’T lead to the sale of Canadian broadcasters to foreign interests, Department of Canadian Heritage officials told the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Monday morning.
The bill, as proposed, contemplates the removal of the portion of the Broadcasting Act which says companies in the system must be majority Canadian-owned and -controlled, which has raised opposition from some quarters. When asked Monday during the committee meeting into C-10, the bill which would amend the Act, by Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson if this means Canadian broadcasters could be sold off to…
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VANCOUVER and GATINEAU — Independent service provider Novus Entertainment is asking the CRTC for help to gain timely access to a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) development in Coquitlam, B.C., and other future MDU developments by Beedie Living and related companies.
A member of the Canadian Communications Systems Alliance (CCSA), Novus provides telephone, TV and Internet services exclusively to residents of MDU buildings, primarily in and around Metro Vancouver, and is looking to expand its business.
The Coquitlam development in question in Novus’ Part 1 application, submitted March 1, is The Heights on Austin, to which Novus says it has so far…
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GATINEAU – On January 19, 2021, WildBrain Television, which owns kids and family-focused specialty services aimed at children filed an application with the CRTC against Cogeco Cable, claiming the BDU did not follow the principles of the TV Wholesale Code and the standstill obligations which forbids the discontinuation of service carriage during negotiations.
However, an intervention filed in support of Wildbrain’s complaint explores a deeper issue: The code is broken because large distributors like Cogeco hold too much power over smaller broadcasters like Wildbrain, which owns Family Channel, Family CHRGD, Family Junior and Telemagino.
Wildbrain’s complaint is a central…
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Would speed rights of way access, reduce costs
TORONTO – The Ontario introduced the Supporting Broadband and Infrastructure Expansion Act, 2021 on Thursday – which aims to help connect more communities more quickly to high-speed internet.
The legislation “proposes to reduce costs to broadband providers associated with attaching broadband wirelines to hydro utility poles, and would provide timely access to poles and to municipal rights of way to install broadband on municipal land,” reads the press release.
As many as 700,000 households and businesses in Ontario lack access to adequate broadband speeds, says the province, or have no internet connection at all.
If…
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GATINEAU – With the latest and greatest smartphones now costing more than $2,000, Rogers Communications launched new device financing plans in July 2019, which would let customers spread the cost of a new handset over 36 months, paying $0 up front, if they wanted.
Rogers (and Telus and Ice Wireless, which followed their competitor’s lead) was convinced the device financing plans were on side with the CRTC’s Wireless Code of Conduct because the no-interest financed phones were not tied to a wireless service plan. If customers wanted to leave for another provider, all they had to do was…
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By Len St-Aubin
IN THE GUISE OF “broadcasting policy”, Bill C-10, An Act to Amend the Broadcasting Act, is really about promoting Canadian content in online media. To do that, it would expand the Broadcasting Act to capture virtually all online (internet) audio and video.
My previous articles discussed how Bill C-10 and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s forecast Cancon contributions risk highly problematic outcomes for Canadian broadcasting, for the internet in Canada and for Canadians. A third proposed an alternative approach.
This article returns to the impact on private sector television and revisits potential outcomes in light of market…
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OTTAWA — On the one-year anniversary of the CRTC’s denial of a request by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the National Pensioners Federation (NPF) to require Telus flanker brand Koodo Mobile and other wireless service providers to provide paper bills upon request, the federal cabinet announced today it will not rescind the Commission’s decision nor refer it to back for reconsideration – because the Regulator is actually studying the matter already.
After the CRTC denied their joint application on March 3, 2020, PIAC and the NPF filed a petition to the Governor in Council on June…
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GATINEAU — Having been notified last week by the Canadian Numbering Administrator (CNA) that the projected exhaust date (PED) for phone numbers in the 343/613 area code has advanced by 16 months, the CRTC has authorized the CNA to activate what’s called a jeopardy condition plan to deal with the problem.
The 343/613 area codes cover the Ottawa area and eastern Ontario, including the cities of Kingston, Belleville, Brockville, Pembroke, Bancroft and Cornwall. (The 343 area code was added to the 613 region almost 11 years ago, in May 2010.)
The CNA’s January 2021 Relief-Numbering Resource Utilization Forecast (R-NRUF) shows that…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Quebecor’s telecom arm Vidéotron is suing a trio of companies for allegedly conspiring to redistribute, without authorization, its TVA television signals in Quebec hotels, new court documents claim.
Videotron has filed new court documents in federal court in Montreal last week alleging the three companies have concocted a scheme whereby one company would purchase television service from Videotron with the intention of routing it to hotel customers of another company to maximize revenue from the single subscription, infringing on its copyright and bypassing its protections.
The regional telecom claims that Libeo Inc. develops and distributes Konek Technologies…
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Leaning into LEO and leaning on government
By Bill Roberts
ONE OF THE FEW POSITIVE side effects of the Covid-19 pandemic is that it has forced everyone to recognize the importance of access to broadband.
It has also underscored the serious problem of the digital divides, be it an affordability divide or the lack of reliable, robust, fast broadband in rural and remote areas. According to CRTC data, 87% of Canadians have access to excellent broadband speeds with unlimited data, but only 45% of rural Canada and 35% of Indigenous communities have that same access, and less have unlimited data options.
Canada has…
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