Needs local data for a proper analysis
OTTAWA – It’s rare for a bureaucratic back-and-forth to be quite so public, but with so much at stake, the Commissioner for Competition doesn’t want to take no for an answer when it comes to the granular market data he wants from Canadian wireless companies.
As part of its submission to the CRTC’s review of mobile wireless services, the Competition Bureau wants to do a detailed study on what happened in regions and cities (not just in provinces and nationally) when new wireless competitors to the Big Three (Rogers, Bell and Telus) were introduced….
Continue Reading
QUISPAMSIS, NB – The Canadian Communication Systems Alliance said Monday voting is now open for the 2019 edition of the Tuned-in Canada: the CCSA Awards.
The awards are a nationwide, annual competition highlighting the excellent work performed by CCSA members – independent, local providers of internet, television and telephone services across Canada.
Canadians are invited to visit Tuned-in Canada 2019 to cast a vote for nominees in the following three categories:
1. Best people: on-camera community channel personality2. Best story: giving back3. Best photo: connecting Canadians
Voting takes place on the Tuned-in Canada website, and voters can cast…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – New area codes are coming to Alberta and Saskatchewan in 2021.
The CRTC said Friday that area code 368 will be rolled out across the region currently served by 403, 587, 780, and 825 in Alberta starting May 15, 2021 by implementing a distributed overlay of the new area code, meaning that the area codes will coexist and will cover the same geographic area.
The Commission also approved the 403/587/780/825 relief planning committee’s report, including the proposed planning document and relief implementation plan.
In Saskatchewan, the CRTC determined that relief for area…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Super Channel will have some explaining to do before the CRTC will renew its broadcasting licence.
The channel’s parent, Allarco Entertainment Limited Partnership, is one of seven entities whose applications will be considered at hearing at CRTC headquarters scheduled for July 11, 2019.
Since Allarco’s renewal application was published for comment, the CRTC said that it has received interventions that raised issues regarding instances of apparent non-compliance, ranging from the distribution of Canadian programs, the eligibility and late payment of certain Canadian programming expenditures, to the eligibility of certain expenditures devoted to regional outreach programs.
“The Commission is particularly…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The next test of Canada’s National Public Alerting System has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 8, though Ontario and Quebec will not take part due to issues with ongoing flooding in parts of those provinces.
Conducted by provincial emergency management organizations, test alerts should appear on every updated and compatible mobile device connected to a LTE wireless network in participating provinces and territories and will be simultaneously distributed on radio and television. The messages will be identified as test alerts and will not require Canadians to take action.
The alerts will be sent out according to the following…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL — Leclerc Communication has decided to abandon its deal to acquire two Quebec radio stations after the CRTC refused to approve a key part of the deal on Tuesday.
Leclerc had sought an exception to the CRTC's common ownership policy in order to control a third French-language FM radio station in Quebec City — top-rated talk station CHOI-FM. It had agreed to acquire CHOI and Montreal's CKLX-FM from RNC Media for $19 million last year.
At the CRTC hearing in February, Leclerc vice-president Jean-François Leclerc made clear that if the request for an exception to the…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – An application by the SouthWestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT) petitioning the CRTC to reconsider how it qualifies rural regions to receive broadband funding was denied by the Commission on Monday.
As Cartt.ca reported in December, SWIFT took issue with the portion of the CRTC’s $750 million rural broadband fund that proposed the use of hexagon methodology to determine geographic eligibility for fixed broadband Internet access service projects.
SWIFT submitted that there was substantial doubt in both law and fact as to the correctness of the Commission’s determinations, asserting that they were likely…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – When Bell applied for an injunction back on April 11th against Quebecor’s decision to remove TVA Sports from Bell TV customers, it also filed an application to be reviewed in Québec’s Superior Court on the merits later.
On Friday, April 26th Bell modified that application. The details of the original became known as they had been overlooked earlier this month.
Bell had complained Quebecor’s public statements harmed its reputation and filed various examples of company CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau’s publicity campaign against the company and CRTC regulations – and cited relevant legislation which were allegedly breached, reads the court…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a request by Northwestel seeking to review and vary a determination that set out certain network quality metrics for basic broadband Internet service.
As Cartt.ca reported last July, TD CRTC 2018-241 further defined the universal service objective by establishing the broadband quality of service that should be provided to all Canadians. As part of that, it established a round-trip latency threshold of 50 milliseconds to define high-quality fixed broadband Internet access service.
In November, Northwestel filed an application asking the CRTC review and vary the decision, claiming that the latency threshold determination implies that any fixed broadband…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC awarded two new FM radio licences on Thursday, one for Listowel, ON and another for Afton Station, NS.
The new Listowel station, operated by Five Amigos Broadcasting Inc., will operate at 100.1 MHz (channel 261B1) and serve the municipality of North Perth with an Adult Contemporary music format targeting adults aged 18 to 54.
Despite interventions from radio broadcasters with stations in the neighbouring communities of Wingham and Mount Forest, the CRTC noted that there are currently no other commercial FM stations that are specifically licensed to serve Listowel, adding that “the proposed station would add to…
Continue Reading
