Rogers in favour of transport subsidies for rural fund
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers and Bell are among those in favour of a “flexible” approach for the use of the Federal government’s yet-to-be-announced $1 billion Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) to support rural backbone, transport and last-mile projects, according to Rogers and a briefing note prepared for the rural economic development minister.
In a stakeholder page on its website, ISED asks those providing feedback on the program’s design to answer questions including: “In situations where government is only funding backbone investments, how could last-mile investments be facilitated?” And, “Are there particular…
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GATINEAU — Telus today received approval from the CRTC for a broadcasting licence to operate a national on-demand TV channel, which according to Telus’s application proposes to air a variety of general interest content.
Update: The wording of this new licence confused us and others a little bit, but we’ve been informed by Telus this is simply a licence to operate its own pay-per-view service.
Some of the English-language programming indicated in the application includes live and tape-delayed professional and amateur sports, and live and tape-delayed special events including programs of comedy sketches, improvisations, unscripted works, stand-up comedy, music and dance,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – For the first time in five years, private conventional TV revenues increased nationwide in 2019, according to CRTC data released earlier this month.
The accumulated broadcasting data from the Regulator for the year ended August 31, 2019, show an increase to $1.55 billion from $1.54 billion in 2018 for all Canadian OTA TV revenue streams, including local and national time sales, network payments, infomercials, syndication, small market and independent local programming funds and government grants. National ad sales grew a healthy 2.5% to $1.05 billion. The 2019 revenue increase effectively stopped a continued revenue slide since…
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OTTAWA — If the CRTC decides to mandate mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) access to incumbent wireless carriers’ networks, the deployment of 5G in Canada is likely to be deferred and curtailed, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers in the second part of a study released today by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA).
Following up on its previous report looking at the impact of mandated MVNOs on Canada’s telecom industry and economy, the second part of PwC’s study explores how wholesale MVNO access could impact Canada’s transition to 5G. The two-part study was commissioned by members of the CWTA. The study…
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TMG CEO says deck is stacked against him
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Telus has filed a complaint against Telelatino Media Group, accusing the ethnic broadcaster of undue preference, undue disadvantage and tied selling, in violation of the CRTC Wholesale Code. Telus is also asking for leniency from the Commission because it has been in non-compliance with BDU regulations because of this dispute.
In its regs, the CRTC says a distributor which carries a third-language, foreign-owned service must also carry, in the same tier, a Canadian service serving the same ethnic group as long as one is available. It’s known as…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – The CRTC team involved in the co-development of a new Indigenous broadcasting policy said it could use a government-commissioned panel report to guide its process, according to a confidential document released to this publication.
The undated document highlights several areas from the report by the broadcasting and telecommunications legislative review panel, released in late January, “which could help guide its own work, particularly where they prove consistent with issues discussed during early engagement sessions.” The three-phase review began in September 2019 with the engagement sessions and will be followed by a public consultation process and then…
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Making competition illegal to support broken business models must be opposed
By Tim Denton
THE BROADCAST AND TELECOM Legislative Review (BTLR) panel report, also known as the Yale Report, went an order of magnitude further than many assumed it would in seeking to expand the power of the CRTC, through the Broadcasting Act.
Not content with placing all full motion video into the jurisdiction of the Commission, it also proposed that written materials (alpha-numeric text) be subject to federal regulatory authority when the content in question is news. It should be noted that Brad Danks did not rely on these recommendations in…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – AFX Communications, a competitive pay telephone service provider (CPTSP) based north of Montreal which offers service in a small portion of Québec, has long received compensation from the incumbent local exchange carrier (in this case Bell) for toll-free calls made from its phones.
In May 2019, AFX filed an application with the CRTC claiming Bell stopped, since March 2019, paying the required $0.80 a call when the payphone was connected to a Bell business line. Bell says the tariff only applies to calls made over a pay telephone access line (PAL) and not to call…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The Community Media Advocacy Centre, a non-profit organization comprised of academics, lawyers, policy consultants and community media practitioners wants more information from the CBC placed on the public record in advance of its delayed licence renewal proceeding.
It is a regular intervenor in CRTC processes and filed its procedural request on July 22nd.
On February 8, 2020, the group sent a procedural request to the CRTC, asking the Commission to “order the CBC to release all Annual Cultural Census reports it has compiled since it first started preparing them in the first quarter of 2018. CMAC further…
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LONGUEUIL, Que. — Independent ISP EBOX today announced it will begin offering Internet, telephone and television services in the Abitibi region of Quebec starting this fall.
This could mean Longueuil, Que.-based EBOX will provide Internet services in Abitibi before Videotron expands into the region, which it plans to do, following the CRTC’s ruling which ordered Bell to give Videotron third-party Internet access to its Cablevision du Nord subsidiary network. The decision actually paved the way for any reseller to come in and lease space on the network.
EBOX already operates as a TPIA provider on four national networks and…
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