OTTAWA – The CRTC has dismissed complaints from Wind Mobile regarding its roaming arrangements with Rogers.
The wireless newcomer accused Rogers of undue preference over its handling of call transitions, known as handoffs, in a complaint last October. As Cartt.ca reported, Wind alleged that Rogers provided seamless (soft) handoffs for its own discount Chatr brand, while not doing the same for Wind, meaning that its customers experienced dropped calls when moving out of a Wind network zone and into a Rogers area.
The Commission said Friday that the roaming agreement negotiated between Wind and Rogers does not include seamless…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canada’s television services are back in business. CRTC figures released Thursday in a press release, (based largely on data from individual companies which we actually broke down here and here way back in January), show that the return of the advertising market translated into some, albeit modest, profits at conventional broadcasters, though the country’s specialty and pay broadcasters fared better.
According to the Commission’s count, revenue at the country’s private conventional television climbed 9% to approximately $2.15 billion in 2010 broadcast year, while expenses increased 1.7%. This resulted in profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) rebounding from a deficit of $116.6 million in…
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TORONTO – In its effort to set universal broadband Internet speeds for all of Canada, the CRTC set far too low a target when it announced in early May in its "obligation to serve" proceeding decision it expects all Canadians to have access to 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds by 2015. That was the view expressed by at least two panel speakers at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday during the “Connecting Canadians” session.
“This is just my opinion, but I do think (the CRTC’s Internet speed target) is too low,” said Daniel O’Connell, president of…
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OTTAWA – With just a few weeks left to go before the CRTC’s widely anticipated hearing on vertical integration, the Commission has provided interveners with a sneak peek into what exactly it plans to focus on.
The Regulator posted its agenda and issued a letter on Monday saying that its panel intends to focus on five key areas:
1. Perceived problems and benefits with respect to the Canadian broadcasting system resulting from vertical integration;
2. Concerns with respect to exclusivity of content distribution, including distribution over mobile and broadband platforms;
3. Requirement for protection of independent broadcasters or independent distributors;
4. Adequacy of current ex…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has asked for comments as it ponders an exemption order respecting satellite relay distribution undertakings (SRDUs), and on the transport of Canadian pay and specialty services by SRDUs, whether licensed or exempt.
SRDUs are licensed undertakings that generally function as wholesalers by transporting broadcasting services and making those services available to broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs), which then offer them to subscribers. Canada currently has two licensed SRDUs – Shaw Satellite Services Inc., and Bell ExpressVu.
The Commission said Friday that it would like industry feedback on the following questions:
– Should the Commission exempt SRDUs from licensing…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Diffusion said that it is “pleased” that the CRTC has promised to review its application for two new traffic-oriented radio stations “without delay.”
As Cartt.ca reported, the radio division of Coegco Inc. is seeking licences to operate two AM specialty traffic news stations in the Greater Montréal area under a cooperation agreement with the ministère des Transports du Québec.
The move is part of the provincial government’s measures to reduce the impact of the major work on the Greater Montréal area road network over the next few years which it estimates will impact some 1.3 million road…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC will examine a number of new specialty TV channel and radio applications this July.
The applications, made public Thursday, include a new French-language channel from Astral called Tele-Vitesse that would showcase the vehicles and technologies that make speed possible; three new Hindi movie channels from Asian Television Network International; a Spanish-language children’s channel from Telelatino Network; and a new animated channel to be known as Teletoon Kapow!
Intervention and comments are due by June 20, and the non-appearing hearing is scheduled for July 18, 2011 in Gatineau.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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OTTAWA – The country’s big Internet service providers will be required to provide static Internet protocol (IP) address allocation for their third-party Internet access (TPIA) services, the CRTC has ruled.
A static IP address is a number that is assigned to a device, such as a computer, to be its permanent address on the Internet. An ISP assigns the address when it provides an Internet access service to an end-user.
Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron originally told the Commission that it is unclear whether the managed router solution they use to provide static IP addresses for business customers would work for their TPIA…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium Inc. (CNOC) to merge the retail component of usage-based billing (UBB) with the residential proceeding.
In a letter to the Commission earlier this month, CNOC said that if the business wholesale and residential wholesale proceedings are kept separate, parties will have to repeat many of their submissions in both proceedings, “resulting in confusion, unfairness, and inefficiency”.
The group also argued that the parties participating in the business wholesale proceeding are at a disadvantage because that proceeding does not include an oral hearing; that separate proceedings will result…
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GATINEAU – The definition of just what a new Canadian artist can be defined as was adopted by the CRTC today at the same time the Commission made public two studies that said those developing musicians are getting enough air time.
This took a while though as the proceeding dates back to the 2006 commercial radio policy which spawned a call for comments on an emerging artist definition in 2008.
“The Canadian radio industry is actively supporting new emerging artists, who promise to contribute to a vibrant music industry in the coming years,” said Konrad von Finckenstein,…
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