MONTREAL – Bell Canada announced Friday it has completed the acquisition of French-language conventional TV network V and ad-supported VOD service Noovo.ca from Groupe V Média.
“Bell Media has the commitment and resources to invest in French-language content necessary to take V forward, and to bring much-needed consumer choice and competition to Québec’s television sector,” said Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of BCE and Bell Canada in the press release.
A legal wrench in the works remains, however, in a possible legal challenge by Quebecor Media of the CRTC decision which allowed Bell Media to purchase V. The company recently…
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By Ken Kelley
OTTAWA – An exchange between a Telus executive and a Calgary MP got a little heated late Thursday during a virtual meeting of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology
The bulk of the tension stemmed from a line of questioning directed at Telus EVP and chief customer officer Tony Geheran by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner (Calgary Nose Hill).
After asking the executive for the company’s cost per gigabyte when it comes to serving its customers (something Geheran said he didn’t have at hand and offered to send after the meeting) and noting that the figure doesn’t seem…
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Only 50 communities, 25,000 households, have so far been connected under Connect to Innovate
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The federal government has denied the vast majority of the nearly 900 applications it has received for the $585 million Connect to Innovate rural broadband program, according to an order paper answer from the rural economic development minister last month.
So far, the program has received and assessed all 892 project applications, with 874 of those receiving a response and 610 denied funds, according to the answer.
“It’s shockingly high,” Brian Masse, NDP MP and innovation critic, said in an interview with Cartt.ca about…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – In a somewhat unusual move when it comes to a conference call with financial analysts, but perhaps not for one of two of Montreal’s perennial corporate rivals, Quebecor’s president Pierre Karl Péladeau thumbed his nose directly at Bell Canada over his company’s wireless performance in the first quarter of 2020.
“It is worth noting that our wireless subscriber growth, at over 39,000 new lines this quarter, is almost twice that of Bell even though they have a national footprint and we are only in Quebec,” Péladeau said Thursday during his company’s quarterly conference call. Mentioning…
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GATINEAU – After being told in a letter from CRTC staff that the Commission would not be pursuing an investigation into contact-tracing applications, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre today demanded certain procedural rights its original application requires.
First, PIAC notes the CRTC has not yet posted the May 4 application publicly on its website, which is required by section 23 of its Rules of Practice and Procedure and wants to see it on crtc.gc.ca immediately.
Plus, the advocacy group said it wants the full Commission, not just staff, to issue a ruling on its application, which was opposed…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC won’t open a proceeding to investigate the role and responsibilities of telecom service providers when it comes to contact-tracing applications currently being developed by government authorities to help in the fight against the spread of Covid-19.
In a letter Wednesday to the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), the Commission said it would not give further consideration to PIAC’s Part 1 application filed on May 4. The Commission’s decision comes a day after Bell and Telus submitted letters to support a previous May 7th letter from Rogers which asked the Commission to dismiss PIAC’s application.
In…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC will reimburse almost $124,000 to telemarketers after the total amount paid for violations in 2019-20 exceeded its estimated regulatory costs.
The Commission said Wednesday that $3,423,472 was paid under the Unsolicited Telecommunications Fees Regulations last fiscal year, which is $123,472 more than the $3.3 million it estimated in telemarketing regulatory costs. In accordance with the formula set out in subsection 4(2) of the Regulations, the CRTC must refund the overage amount.
The Commission also estimated its telemarketing regulatory costs for fiscal year 2020-21 to be $3.3 million. Costs to enforce the national Do Not Call List…
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GATINEAU — Rogers, Bell and Telus are asking the CRTC to dismiss a recent Part 1 application from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) that asks the Commission to investigate and clarify the rules and responsibilities telecom service providers have regarding Covid-19 contact-tracing apps.
In a letter to the Commission dated May 7, Rogers submitted the initial request to have PIAC’s application dismissed, arguing the concerns about privacy and oversight raised by PIAC in its application are already being addressed by Canada’s privacy commissioners in a joint statement outlining the principles expected to be adhered to by governments…
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Why the mechanism may be required under international treaties to protect copyrights
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A bevy of organizations representing copyright holders spanning several continents are asking Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal to allow them to argue the merits of site blocking to protect their content rights online, suggesting the mechanism may actually be required of Canada under international treaty obligations.
A dozen organizations – including book publishers, research and educational journals, music industry groups and sports networks including DAZN and the English Premier League – wish to argue as interveners that TekSavvy’s appeal against a website blocking…
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OTTAWA — The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) reported early Tuesday a 12% decrease in the number of complaints it received from Canadian telecom and TV customers between August 1, 2019 and January 31, 2020, following a 44% increase for that same six-month period last year.
The CCTS accepted a total of 8,621 complaints in the time frame and resolved 90% of all complaints. There were 46 confirmed wireless code breaches, five TV service provider code breaches and three deposit and disconnection code breaches.
The main contributors to the decline were Cogeco and Bell, with Cogeco recording a 75%…
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