GENEVA — As the growth in media companies’ spending on content continues to far outstrip growth in those same companies’ revenues, it’s time to consider a new way to think about the value of media, says the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Accenture in a new report published last week.
According to the WEF, in a post on its website September 4, the worldwide value of new media content could quite easily run into the hundreds of billions of dollars every year. For context, traditional Canadian TV companies spent C$4.2 billion on content, according to the latest CRTC…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU — In October of last year, the vast majority of Canadian Internet service providers met or exceeded the maximum download and upload speeds they advertised, according to the second edition of the CRTC’s Measuring Broadband Canada report, released today.
The study was conducted by broadband testing firm SamKnows on behalf of the CRTC, and was based on measurement data collected from October 1 to 31, 2019. Using the data collected from 2,035 “whiteboxes” deployed to Canadian homes, the study examines download and upload speeds, latency, packet loss and web page loading time. Participating ISPs include Bell Aliant,…
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OTTAWA – Last week, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault made it pretty clear, with two tweets, where the government stands when it comes to making the digital giants contribute to culture here.
In the first, he tweeted a Reuters story published by the Globe and Mail which detailed the ongoing skirmish between the government of Australia and Facebook, saying “We remain committed towards ensuring a comprehensive, more equitable digital regulatory framework here in Canada. That includes making sure that Canadian news organizations continue to inform and empower our communities.”
Minister Guilbeault then followed that up with a clarifier,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The laws don’t need an explicit site-blocking provision for it to be used by the Federal Court as a remedy in copyright infringement cases, large broadcasters are arguing in an appeal of the country’s first site-blocking order.
In a joint submission to the court on Tuesday, broadcasters Bell, Rogers and Groupe TVA rejected an argument by TekSavvy, which appealed the November order to block GoldTV, that said site-blocking isn’t in the jurisdiction of the court because it isn’t afforded in the law. The larger broadcasters said the court has much wider latitude to resolve…
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Shaw, Videotron say up to half of legit porting requests were denied
By Greg O’Brien
GATINEAU – Last month, the wireless industry launched new measures to try to stem the rising tide of wireless number porting fraud. It lasted only a week.
Complaints from Videotron and Shaw Communications filed with the CRTC on August 20th said the Canadian wireless industry’s new enhanced process to identify phone numbers which criminals were attempting to steal were far too often rejecting legitimate number porting when customers were attempting to switch from Rogers to Freedom, for example.
Wireless number porting fraud, or SIM-swapping fraud, or port-out scams,…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Interconnecting on your competitor’s network can be a long, protracted process and Videotron, which is trying to get a foothold in northwestern Quebec, is discovering how frustrating it can be.
If it is tedious for a company of the size and sophistication of Videotron, imagine what it is when you are a smaller entity.
In September 2019, Videotron announced it would offer in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue “a full line of telecommunications services, including Internet, television and IP telephone service” by the end of 2019. But, to do so the company had to ride on Cablevision’s network as…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — In the last six hours of its licence, CJMS 1040 AM program director Jocelyn Benoit hosted a special show reminiscing about the station’s 21-year history, interviewing various guests and playing country music hits.
Though he promised the station, based in the Montreal suburb of St-Constant, would live on as an online-only stream run personally by him, it was clear this would be more of a death than a rebirth.
A few seconds after midnight on Sept. 1, Benoit was cut off mid-sentence, and the station went dead on schedule.
Except the next morning, it was back on the…
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By Greg O’Brien
THERE ARE FOUR ways to subscribe to Corus Entertainment channels Adult Swim, Food Network, Global, HGTV, History, National Geographic, Slice, Teletoon, Treehouse, Showcase, W, and YTV through Rogers Communications.
The first three are pretty standard: They can be purchased one at a time; in certain theme packages; or part of a bundle of broadband, TV, home phone, wireless and security, or some combination of those services.
The fourth way, however, is new.
In July, Rogers launched a new video service called Ignite SmartStream. It’s a nifty little device that delivers popular video apps direct to Rogers Ignite broadband customers…
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GATINEAU — Having already revised intervention deadlines twice and suspended other filing procedure dates for its consultation on potential barriers to the deployment of broadband-capable networks in underserved areas in Canada, the CRTC is now asking telecom service providers, incumbents, cable carriers and other intervenors to provide additional information to the proceeding.
In a Commission letter dated August 31, several requests for information are made, related to existing transport services, the economic viability of contemplated transport and access projects, access to dark fibre, rights of way issues, and whether or not the Commission should create an infrastructure database and/or maps…
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TORONTO — On the first day of its new CRTC licence term, OMNI Television today announced it is delivering new daily 30-minute newscasts to allow Filipino and Arabic-speaking Canadian viewers to enjoy local, national and international news in their native languages, starting today.
To support the new newscasts, OMNI created 25 new editorial, digital and video-journalist positions, with OMNI News: Arabic Edition and OMNI News: Filipino Edition being produced in-house at OMNI’s studios in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton. Content such as this were part of the promises the Rogers-owned broadcaster made to earn its licence from the Commission.
“Our new…
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