Telco says it did not receive any wholesale orders in Quebec
By Ahmad Hathout
Telus is asking the CRTC for a four-month extension to provide competitor access to its last-mile fibre network in British Columbia and Alberta.
The Vancouver-based telecom said in a review-and-vary application made public Wednesday that — after two months of work on the framework since the August decision mandated that access — “it will be impossible to implement an automated and reliable system” by the current deadline of February 13, 2025. It is asking for that to be extended to June 13.
“TELUS’ implementation work so far has made…
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By Connie Thiessen
Corus Entertainment says it’s been able to renegotiate its credit arrangement through the end of March, as the company reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings.
Led by RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities, Corus’s restated credit facility has been amended to reduce its revolving facility limit to $150 million from $300 million, and increase its maximum total debt-to-cash-flow ratio to 5.75 through the end of the year, and 7.25 from January through March. Corus paid down $2.7 million of debt in the fourth quarter and $38.8 million for the year.
Co-CEO John Gossling told a Friday morning conference call…
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The CRTC on Tuesday granted Uvagut TV mandatory distribution on basic TV, beating out its fellow Inuktut-language broadcaster Inuit TV for the spot.
Distributors will need to pay a monthly per subscriber fee of nine cents to carry the channel run by the Nunavut Independent Television Network (NITV), which proposes to run 24 hours a day, for a five-year term until August 2029. Inuit TV had proposed 18 hours a day but said it would have difficultly meeting that threshold in the immediate term.
Uvagut TV has been on the air since January 2021, offering Inuit-made children’s shows,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A television network that focuses on Canadian 2SLGBTQIA+ communities wants the CRTC to broaden its distribution on basic television, or at least set a base wholesale fee for negotiations with distributors.
When the CRTC came to renew the licence for OUTtv in 2022, it granted the service in the English-language market must-offer status – requiring broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) to carry the channel but leaving it to the subscriber to pay for the service – instead of must-carry status with a guaranteed wholesale fee that is available to all subscribers of the BDU. That status will remain until…
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Telecom also wants high court to revisit bias allegations against former chair Scott
By Ahmad Hathout
TekSavvy is asking the Supreme Court of Canada this month to help define the meaning of the terms “method or technique” that were at the centre of a decision by the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) to side with the CRTC in its 2021 determination to quash lower wholesale access rates proposed two years prior.
In simple terms, this is a case about whether the CRTC must follow the rigidness of an established costing methodology to set and justify the rates competitors pay to lease internet…
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Cartt obtained WBD’s filing in non-compete case
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell announced Tuesday it has ended its legal battle with Warner Bros. Discovery, which was accused of violating non-compete covenants when it signed a multi-year deal with Rogers for the rights to the U.S. company’s brands and trademarks.
Simultaneously, Bell announced that the two companies have agreed to “expand” their partnership in Canada by extending Bell’s rights on Crave to HBO and Max Originals – which are not part of the Discovery portfolio Rogers purchased – and inking a new agreement on a co-production commitment to original Canadian content “with global appeal,…
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A Writers Guild of Canada report, published last week, found a decline in the number of episodes across every TV format – a first since it started publishing its “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” report.
Between 2018 and 2023, the report says one-hour drama episodes decreased by 45 per cent; the number of half-hour adult episodes dropped by 16 per cent; episodes of half-hour children’s live-action series decreased by 48 per cent; the number of half-hour animation episodes fell by 79 per cent; the number of 15-minute animation episodes fell by 33 per cent; and the number of 10-minutes-and-under animation episodes…
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Public relations campaign against Online Streaming Act launches
By Ahmad Hathout
Two music organizations have sent a letter to the CRTC disagreeing with what they say is an attempt to apply radio-like regulation to audio streaming services.
Music Canada, which represents major record labels like Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music, and the Digital Media Association (DiMA), a trade group representing the likes of Amazon, Apple, Spotify, and Google’s Youtube, said they were part of CRTC-hosted engagement sessions from September 11 to 18. They said they were then encouraged to write to the regulator any thoughts and clarifications following those meetings.
“From…
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By Ahmad Hathout
An association representing French-language music publishers wants the CRTC to collect and make public data from online streaming services to evaluate how well they are promoting Canadian content as part of its implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
In a Part 1 application published this month, the Association des Professionnels de L’edition Musicale (APEM) is urging the regulator to collect data on a quarterly basis from the streaming services related to the rank, title, artist, release data and origin of listens and impressions (where the music is displayed to the user) of the top musical scores that run…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A Senate bill to impose a nationwide framework regulating advertising for sports betting could reduce those ads at a time when the provinces are still navigating the nascent market and as broadcasters are desperately grasping for any advertising dollars they can get, the head of a major broadcasting group told senators on the Transport and Communications committee Wednesday night.
Bill S-269 would task the minister of Canadian Heritage to consult various government departments to create a national framework “with a view to restricting the use of such advertising, limiting the scope or location … or…
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