WOODSTOCK, ON — Similar to a campaign launched by TekSavvy last month, Execulink Telecom is asking Canadians to write their members of parliament through its petition website that opposes the major telecom providers’ appeal of the CRTC’s lowering of wholesale access rates last year.
The “You Deserve Fair Pricing” website states that, after the CRTC made its decision in August, Execulink passed on the savings to the majority of its Internet customers by significantly reducing their monthly bill, but if the large network operators succeed in their appeal, Execulink will have to raise the price of its packages again.
“We…
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Critics say that claim is misguided
VANCOUVER – Telus’s claim that it has reached, on one of its wireless plans, a 25% reduction in price, as promised to Canadians by the Liberal government, is wrong, according to critics, because the intent was always for a further reduction in prices from December 2019.
This month, Telus created a page on its website advertising that its Peace of Mind plan for a family of four, with 10 GB of data each, with an annual cost of $2,880 meets and beats the Liberal government’s annual goal of reducing wireless prices by 25% –…
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Will the CRTC let Bell buy Groupe V Media?
By Denis Carmel
MONTREAL – Another chapter in the ongoing saga between Québecor and Bell took place on Wednesday when Bell appeared in front of the CRTC to seek permission to buy Groupe V Media (once known as TQS), a French conventional television network operating in the Quebec market.
The transaction has a price tag of $20 million. The sellers are Remstar (45.14%), Fiducie Seismikmax (9.86%), Caisse de Dépôt et de Placement du Québec (15%), Fonds de Solidarité des travailleurs du Québec (15%), and Investissement Québec (15%). Maxime Rémillard, through Remstar and…
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OTTAWA — Ahead of the CRTC’s public hearing next week to review its wireless policies, research firm Abacus Data released results Wednesday of a survey commissioned by Shaw Communications that found 95% of Canadians say regional wireless providers increase competition and provide better service to customers.
Furthermore, 66% of Canadians agree competition from regional wireless companies like Freedom Mobile, Eastlink and Vidéotron has resulted in reduced prices charged by the national carriers, says study.
“One reason Canadians value having strong regional wireless network options is because most see a direct connection between reduced prices charged by the national carriers and increased…
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OTTAWA – The Québec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries (ADISQ) has asked the Governor-in-Council to send back and force a rehearing of a CRTC decision in December that it says unfairly allows Sirius XM Canada to put more money into an English-language fund over a French-language one for Canadian content contributions.
French-language Musicaction and English-language Factor are two funds that receive annual injections of money as Canadian content development expenditures – in this case, a minimum of four per cent of Sirius’s annual revenues. Since its initial licensing in 2005 and until 2012, Sirius XM had been…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC disputed a central claim in Netflix’s submission to the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review panel which suggested the streaming platform had no reliable way to assess whether a movie was certified Canadian content in order to aid in discoverability.
In Netflix’s January 2019 submission, it said there is “no readily accessible database of certified Cancon that allows online services to electronically, and reliably, cross-reference content libraries” for the sake of including certified Canadian content in their search results. Netflix recommended the government or the industry create an electronically accessible database that online services can easily cross-reference…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC’s public hearing into Bell’s proposed acquisition of the V television network and other assets from Groupe V Média takes place this Wednesday in Montreal.
Representatives from Bell, Groupe V Média and Québecor Media and other intervenors are scheduled to appear at the two-day hearing, which will take place at the Palais des congrès de Montréal starting at 9 a.m.
Québecor has been very vocal in its opposition to the V acquisition, going so far as taking out ads (pictured) and creating a special website outlining its concerns regarding what it sees as Bell’s dominance in…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC will hold a non-appearing public hearing in April regarding kids channel ToonAvision’s application to be licensed as a discretionary service.
Having exceeded a threshold of 210,000 subscribers for three consecutive months, the company noted in its application, the currently exempt programming service is seeking a licence to operate as a discretionary channel. ToonAvision is owned by Atlantic Digital Networks and broadcasts out of Dartmouth, N.S. The animation channel launched in June 2018 and is widely distributed on Eastlink and Bell.
Specialty services are exempt from CRTC licencing until they hit 200,000 subscribers.
As part of its licence…
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WOODSTOCK, N.B. – Over 24,000 rural homes and businesses in Nova Scotia will soon have access to much better internet.
Xplornet Communications said today it will build a fibre optic network as part of a plan to connect the people in Cumberland and Colchester (the first two counties you’d drive through coming into the province from New Brunswick), who which currently have limited access to the broadband speeds and unlimited data typically offered in the cities.
The project was made possible because of investments announced today by Xplornet, Develop Nova Scotia, and the Municipalities of Cumberland and Colchester. The project will…
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GATINEAU – Stingray Group’s proposed purchase of two Welland, Ont. Radio stations was approved by the CRTC today.
Stingray announced the deal to buy CIXL-FM (Giant FM) and CKYY-FM (Country 89) from R.B. Communications for $6.5 million in October.
“Stingray Radio proposed a value of the transaction of $6,868,940, which includes working capital amounts of $360,000, as well as an assumed lease valued at $8,940. The applicant proposed a tangible benefits package of $412,136, which is equal to 6% of its proposed value of the transaction,” reads the decision.
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