Competition Bureau has its worries, too
GATINEAU – In the summer Rogers Wireless introduced 36-month device financing plans into the Canadian wireless marketplace.
The service providers which introduced these new plans (Telus quickly followed suit, and then Bell and Ice Wireless had begun or where about to launch three-year device plans) were hailed by some as increasing smartphone affordability and generally being pro-consumer. Others hailed in the opposite direction.
On August 2nd, as we reported, the CRTC sent a letter to providers to cease that practice and then on August 30th, Continue Reading
GATINEAU – As part of the unrelenting effort by Canada and other jurisdictions to put an end to fraud and scam calls, last December, the CRTC launched a proceeding that would see the Implementation of universal network-level blocking of calls with blatantly illegitimate caller identification.
The deadline for telcos to have that in place, if they don’t already, is December 19th.
This summer, however, Bell suggested going even further and, as Cartt.ca reported, applied for Commission approval for a pilot project which would use artificial intelligence to build on universal network blocking tools to stop certain verified fraudulent and…
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GATINEAU – Corus has recently filed an application to the CRTC to amend its conditions of licence to be allowed to delay spending on Canadian Programming Expenditures for 2020.
By condition of licence, Corus must devote 30% of the previous year’s gross revenues to the acquisition of or investment in Canadian programming. Also, by condition of licence, Corus can underspend any given year’s expectations by 5%, but that must be reinvested the following year.
Better than anticipated ad and subscription revenues, however, have left the company in a bit of a financial bind, it has told the CRTC.
A Corus spokesperson told…
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WOODSTOCK, Ont. – Execulink Telecom announced Friday it is lowering prices on for most customers where it is a third party internet access provider.
To give customers an even better experience, all plans will now include unlimited data usage with no activation fees, the company announced.
This follows the decision of other independent ISPs such as TekSavvy and Distributel, who announced they were dropping prices thanks to the CRTC’s decision to lower the wholesale fees such independents have to pay to the large incumbent broadband players.
Of course those incumbents are appealing that decision to the Federal Court.
“We…
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GATINEAU – The first call for applications for Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and all other satellite-communications-dependent communities in Canada closed on October 3.
While the CRTC confirmed that it has received 15 applications for funding, these applications were filed confidentially and will not be made public by the Commission.
Northwestel, however, made a sunmary of its own application public and Iristel has shared its application with Cartt.ca, defining the companies’ visions for bringing 50/10 Mbps Internet with unlimited data options to every community in Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
We asked a handful of other companies for their applications, too, but…
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Alleges monopoly in northern of Quebec
OTTAWA – After asking the CRTC to force Bell to provide access to its cable network in the region of Abitibi-Témiscaminque (which is branded Cablevision), Vidéotron and five residents of that remote region of Québec (Including outgoing MP, Christine Moore), wrote Jeanne Pratt, senior deputy commissioner-mergers and monopolistic practices branch at the Competition Bureau asking her to investigate Bell under sections 75 and 79 of the Competition Act.
Section 75 states the Commissioner may apply to the Competition Tribunal which, if it finds that
“(a) a person is substantially affected in his business or is…
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OTTAWA — Canada’s broadcasters are committing themselves to achieving gender parity in TV and film production, where 50% of key creative roles will be held by women by 2025.
On Tuesday, the CRTC posted the results so far from its Women in Production initiative to promote gender parity, which included the formation of a steering committee and the convening of a summit in December 2018 that brought together executives from Canada’s largest public and private broadcasters. Those broadcasters have now published their respective action plans for achieving gender parity in key creative positions, such as producer, director, writer, showrunner,…
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OTTAWA – Reactions were quick after the Federal Court’s Friday announcement to grant a temporary stay of the CRTC’s third party internet access rates decision.
On September 13, the cable companies (Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Vidéotron and Eastlink) filed a leave to appeal CRTC Telecom Order 2019-288, which lowered the rates independent ISPs must pay to access incumbent networks and forced those incumbents to reimburse the independents hundreds of millions of retroactive fees. They also requested an interim stay of the CRTC Order, request that was granted on September 27.
“We’re disappointed that the…
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TORONTO – After 14 years leading provincial public broadcaster TV Ontario, Lisa De Wilde (right) announced today she will depart at the end of October, the end of her current contract term.
De Wilde is the second senior Ontario public broadcast executive to depart, following TFO’s Glenn O’Farrell, who left his job as CEO in August. Both are long-time Liberal supporters, so it’s perhaps no surprise they decided to leave at this point in time. De Wilde was also rumoured earlier this year to be in the running to take over as head of the National…
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OTTAWA – On Friday, the Federal Court of Appeal granted a temporary stay of CRTC Telecom Order 2019-288, the decision which set new, lower, wholesale rates for third party internet access providers and also forced the incumbent network operators to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in retroactive fees to the independent resellers.
Cable companies Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Videoton and Eastlink were the first to file for a stay as well as for leave to appeal the CRTC decision, as we reported here. Bell Canada has also filed its own appeal application…
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