GATINEAU and TORONTO – The CRTC officially revoked, at Bell Media’s request, the broadcasting licences of Book Television and Fashion Television Channel on Thursday.
Both will cease operations at 11:59 p.m. on February 21.
Fashion Television Channel and Book Television were launched in 2000 by CHUM Ltd. at a time when specialty television was exploding in Canada and around the world. Book TV was a place to, well, learn about the written word and featured author and broadcaster Daniel Richler as a host and editor in chief when it launched.
Fashion Television Channel built on the extraordinary international success of the CHUM…
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Advanced service joins all-in-one-video push
By Greg O’Brien
MONTREAL – This week, Cogeco Connexion became the latest company to tell consumers if they want all of their video in one place, epico is the best place to find it.
After an extended trial period with employees (1,200 of the company’s 2,000 Canadian employees have it in their homes) and a handful of customers (over 12,000 customers now have epico), the company took the wrapper off the newest, and for now the most advanced, pay-TV system in Canada. We’re calling it that because its Android TV operator tier operating system from MediaKind gives…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Québecor CEO Pierre-Karl Péladeau took centre-stage at the CRTC’s hearing into the broadcasting licence renewals for the CBC and reiterated his company’s complaint (which it is advertising here, and in other places) that the public broadcaster must be made complementary to the private broadcasting system, which means the CRTC must put an end to the CBC’s pursuit of advertising.
This is something the Canadian Association of Broadcasters also asked for on Monday.
Péladeau (screen-capped above from his appearance today) also complained over-the-top service Tou.TV Extra is operating in contravention of the regulatory and legislative framework…
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TORONTO — Distributel Communications today announced it has acquired independent telecom provider Primus Telecommunications, a Canadian subsidiary of Atlanta-based Fusion Connect, for an undisclosed amount.
“Bringing Primus into the Distributel family will mean more options, increased innovation and better value for Canadians and ultimately a better alternative for our country,” says Matt Stein, CEO of Distributel, in the company’s press release announcing the transaction. “We are thrilled to bring Primus under Canadian ownership and accelerate the pace of growth for both companies.”
Distributel says the acquisition allows the company to enhance its product range with Primus’ offerings which include a…
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GATINEAU – Monday morning started with the presentation from a new Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB). When their intervention was filed in February 2020, the CAB was a shadow of itself, with skeleton staff and scope yet a year later the newly appointed president, Kevin Desjardins made his first presentation in front of the CRTC.
It should be noted that the main private broadcasters had intervened but had not indicated that they wanted to appear except for Québecor, which will appear Tuesday.
The presentation gave way to the usual boasting:” According to CRTC Data, while the CBC’s share of “contributions to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s largest telecoms are telling the Supreme Court of Canada a lower court fumbled a decision in favour of lower wholesale rates by attributing a line of reasoning that was allegedly never made by the CRTC, abrogating its responsibilities to review the correctness of the regulator’s decision.
That line of reasoning is based on how the CRTC structured its decision in the summer of 2019, when it ordered a lower rate at which smaller telecoms pay for and sell bandwidth from the larger telecoms. At issue in front of the Federal Court of Appeal was whether…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – At 3:44 p.m. on Friday, January 15, the CRTC lawyer joked: “The moment you have long been waiting for,” before going with reading a long list of undertakings, which is of course the information CBC executives had agreed to provide to the Commission, on or before February 3.
It marked the end of a long week where CRTC commissioners and senior staff at the CBC verbally wrestled to provide this process a fulsome record without giving away too much. And now, the leadership of the Corporation, to counter-quote CEO Catherine Tait, can go back to…
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ISED officials said areas with 5/1 Mbps are already served
By Ahmad Hathout
BRITISH COLUMBIA’S BIG $45.4-million broadband project which is expected to run a 3,400-kilometre stretch of underwater fibre cable along the province’s coast was reduced from Connect to Innovate funding because some communities already met an old guideline for broadband connectivity.
When officials from Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) came to do a due diligence assessment of the Connected Coast project, they found some communities had met the Connect to Innovate (CTI) program’s “served” criteria – those communities that had speeds of 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload…
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By Denis Carmel
AFTER WRAPPING UP THE portion of the hearing which programming dominated discussion, the CRTC hearing examining the renewal of the CBC/Radio-Canada broadcasting licences saw B.C. and Yukon regional commissioner Claire Anderson take over on Thursday, driving the dialogue down the roads of diversity and relevance, accessibility of programming and ratings classification
Anderson (above) introduced herself as a citizen of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation and she was taking part from Whitehorse, Yukon. “We are here to discuss how the public broadcaster can become even more representative of all Canadians over the next licence term,” she said. She…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – While day one of the hearing into the renewal of the CBC’s broadcasting licences was devoted to the 40,000-foot view with the chairman, days two and three flew a little lower, even skimming the regulatory weeds.
The second day of the hearing – and a little bit on Wednesday morning – were devoted to news at CBC/Radio-Canada.
“When I started at CBC/Radio-Canada, I was reminded that Canadians have two jobs—their own, and running the CBC,” said CBC president and CEO Catherine Tait. That is especially true of news at the corporation, so it was the topic…
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