GATINEAU – When the CRTC awarded a national, multilingual multiethnic discretionary service with mandatory carriage on basic to Rogers in May 2019, it surely knew its decision would not be met with unanimous agreement.
So, nobody was surprised when CORRCAN Media Group, Ethnic Channels Group, Independent Community Television Montreal and TLN Media Group each appealed the decision to the Federal Cabinet, an option which is provided for in the Broadcasting Act.
On August 9th, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) filed with the Clerk of the Privy Council comments in support of the four petitions asking…
Continue Reading
ON AUGUST 7, THE Globe and Mail published an opinion piece by the University of Ottawa’s Michael Geist, entitled “Election 2019: Return of the Netflix tax debate”. The Writers Guild of Canada has long differed with professor Geist on the subject of cultural policy, but in this case he not only reaches conclusions with which we strongly disagree, but gets a number of his facts wrong in the process.
First, Geist implies that the government convened the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review panel because a $500-million commitment from Netflix for production in Canada “failed to stem…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – As Cartt.ca has reported earlier, Bell and Québecor tell a radically different story when it comes to Québecor division Vidéotron’s desire to offer TPIA service via Bell division Cablevision du Nord – and those differences are even more evident in Quebecor’s reply to the CRTC, filed on August 6th.
One of the arguments made by Québecor is that competition and its benefits – something the Competition Bureau said in its Broadband Report released this week is a necessity – does not exist in the northwestern quadrant of Québec, seeing as how Abitibi-Témiscamingue is only served by Télébec…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Second quarter revenues for Quebecor came in at $1.06 billion, up 1.8% for the same quarter of 2018 after the company added 38,300 new wireless subscribers.
Adjusted EBITDA for the period ended June 30th was $455 million, up 6.8% and net income attributable to shareholders was $140.2 million in the quarter, well ahead of last year’s $42 million.
Cable and wireless division Vidéotron significantly increased its revenues from mobile telephony by 11.9% and Internet access by 2.6% in the second quarter of 2019. Vidéotron's total average billing per unit ("ABPU") was $50.20 in the second quarter of 2019, compared…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC said this morning prices for most communications services decreased in 2018.
According to the CRTC's Communications Monitoring Report pricing publication issued today, the national monthly average reported price for wireless, Internet, television and home phone services (combined) was 11% lower in 2018 than in 2016.
The most significant price reduction was in the mobile wireless market. In the four mobile packages analyzed by the Commission, prices dipped by an average of 28% from 2016 to 2018, with the most significant drop being for services offering 5 gigabytes (GB) of data or more.
For example, reads the Commission press…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – According to a new submission to the CRTC, Vidéotron has misrepresented talks that have taken place in order for it to possibly become a third-party ISP on the network of Cablevision du Nord, a division of Bell Canada.
In a reply to the Commission filed in response to Vidéotron’s recent Part 1 complaint, which we outlined here, Cablevision has a far different story to tell about what’s going on when it comes to Vidéotron’s apparent efforts to become a TV and broadband competitor in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec.
“First, Cablevision’s TPIA service…
Continue Reading
Extra data price beats Koodo, Virgin
TORONTO – Rogers Communications today announced its Fido brand is eliminating data overage fees with the launch of Data Overage Protection, a new feature which will be included in new Fido data, talk and text plans starting today.
Customers will receive an SMS notification when they reach 90% of their limit and another at 100% when their data is paused. If customers want more data, they can immediately buy 1GB for $15 right from their smartphone. The maximum any carrier can charge in terms of overage fees, inside Canada is $50/month, a limit which is…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Media’s OMNI Television is asking its stakeholders, partners and supporters to lend their voices of support as the federal cabinet considers three appeals of the CRTC decision granting the TV channel a license renewal.
TLN Media, as we reported yesterday, has launched its own campaign seeking support.
OMNI supporters can click-send a letter to their local MP through www.supportomnitv.ca and can also share positive messages of support on social media with the suggested hashtag #SupportOMNITV. The company launched the campaign July 25.
The website also includes key points on why the CRTC decided in…
Continue Reading
VANCOUVER – Here’s one move that helps puts Telus onside with the CRTC’s Internet Code of conduct – for customers who renew or sign up for one or two year contracts at least.
The company today announced customers can now enjoy unlimited home internet data, no matter to which home broadband speed package they subscribe.
Last week, the CRTC told large broadband providers they had to warn customers when they were coming to the limit of their monthly data plans to avoid pesky data bill shocks, but this move mitigates that risk and that regulatory demand…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – It took a lot of asking and there was a lot of complaining along the way (as we reported), but the Competition Bureau is getting what it says it needs from Canada’s wireless carriers as the CRTC reviews the mobile market, which will culminate with a public proceeding coming in January.
On Friday, the CRTC directed wireless carriers to disclose to the Commissioner of Competition most information filed in confidence on the record of the mobile wireless review proceeding.
“The information to be disclosed comprises all responses filed in confidence in relation to the Commission’s requests for information dated…
Continue Reading
