Interveners will have to sign NDA
MONTREAL and OTTAWA — Bell is ready to test an artificial intelligence-based system it has developed for blocking fraudulent phone calls, and says last week’s decision by the CRTC regarding its application brings it a step closer to launching its technology trial.
According to a Bell news release Friday, its AI-based network technology could potentially block an estimated 120 million more scam calls per month than Bell is able to stop using call-blocking methods currently mandated by the CRTC.
“Our industry has made solid progress in combatting these scam calls, and Bell’s innovative new AI…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – When the Competition Bureau filed in November its intervention to the CRTC’s wireless policy review, it was expected that the reactions would be spirited, and they are.
First, some objected because the Bureau (and its specially commissioned Matrix Report) reached conclusions based on confidential information and asked that some information be shared. In that regard, Bell and Rogers got what they wanted while CNOC and Telus are still waiting for word from the Commission when it comes to that data. Telus has warned the Bureau’s intervention should be deleted from the record for…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — Quebecor is demanding the CRTC order CBC/Radio-Canada’s Tou.tv Extra paid streaming service to “cease its activities” because it goes outside the mandate of the public broadcaster and is an unfair competitor against Videotron and other regulated television service providers.
The CRTC isn’t about to go that far, but it has decided to look into whether there is an undue preference case to be made, in particular with a deal Radio-Canada has with Telus that provides Telus’s Quebec customers “exclusive” free access to the service.
Tou.tv Extra is the $7/month paid version of Tou.tv, which offers premium video…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The new year brings many challenges for Steven Guilbeault less than two months after he was sworn in as minister of Canadian Heritage, which was just a month following his debut as a federal politician, bringing the Liberals a win in Laurier-Sainte-Marie when he was elected MP for the downtown Montreal riding previously held by the NDP and the Bloc Québécois.
Co-founder of Quebec’s largest environmental organization, Équiterre, and a former campaign manager for Greenpeace, Guilbeault is tasked with managing a new ecosystem that calls on him to create new regulations for both social media platforms…
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OTTAWA – NBCUniversal will head to Parliament Hill to lobby on favourable tax measures for the company that has created content in the country, as it prepares to push new products in the new year.
It’s the first time the mega media company out of New York (and of course owned by Comcast Corp.) has registered to lobby the feds after having done so with Alberta and Ontario this past fall. The federal registration, effective January 6, targets Canadian Heritage and seeks to “monitor” and “assist” in the “development of policies that encourage and not hamper the development of film…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — Cogeco is closer than ever to launching a wireless service, but it still requires regulatory change before it can do so properly, company CEO Philippe Jetté told journalists on Wednesday as the company held its annual shareholders meeting in Montreal.
It’s one of several dossiers where Cogeco is seeking to either change the rules or fight to maintain them depending on their business interests.
Jetté (pictured, standing), who took over from controlling shareholder Louis Audet (seated) as CEO in 2018, said he is looking forward to presenting his company’s proposal for a “hybrid mobile…
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By Konrad von Finckenstein
THE RECENTLY PUBLISHED mandate letter for the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry (ISI) is extensive and deals with many large and difficult issues including climate change, copyright legislation, and new broadcast and telecom legislation.
The letter also focuses in an unprecedented way on consumer rights and privacy. Indeed, other than cell phone bills, it seems to look at most consumer issues through a privacy lens. It introduces several new terms which need to be conceptualized, explained, and put in context.
The mandate letter, in terms of consumers, provides that the Minister shall:
Use all available instruments, including…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC has agreed to direct the Competition Bureau to disclose certain confidential information that was redacted in the economic report submitted by the Commissioner of Competition in November to the CRTC’s wireless policy review proceeding. That is, the CRTC is agreeing to disclosure requests from Bell and Rogers; but it’s still considering similar requests from Telus and CNOC.
In a letter posted to the CRTC website on January 10, the CRTC says it is of the view that, generally speaking, the public disclosure of the redacted information, as requested by Bell and Rogers, would pose minimal…
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OTTAWA – Following the Liberal government’s election win in October, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has filed new subjects of discussion in its federal lobby files which aim to hold the new government accountable on election promises to tax foreign digital services.
The advocacy group seeks “equal enforcement of the Broadcasting Act” and the “application of the Broadcasting Act to non-traditional media,” according to the December 10 registration under Jacob Homel, a member of the organization.
“Everything from taxes to collecting HST to being liable for what is published on a social media platform – that’s a euphemism for applying the…
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QUEBECOR’S GROUPE TVA FORMALLY filed in December its appeal in Federal Court against a CRTC decision that forced it to continue to provide a sports channel signal to Bell customers.
But the submission to the court came before the Supreme Court of Canada determined in a set of cases late last month how it would exercise its ability to review decisions made by administrative bodies such as the CRTC – otherwise known as the standard of review. Bell was successful in having the highest court in the land reverse a 2016 decision by the CRTC that said it could…
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