OTTAWA – The CRTC has dismissed, in part, a complaint against the Bell Fund by a group of broadcasters and the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) over the composition of its Board of Directors and the guidelines of its new TV Program.
In its first decision of the calendar year on Tuesday, the Commission determined that the manner in which the Bell Fund has structured its TV Program is consistent with the CRTC’s policies and requirements of Certified Independent Production Funds (CIPFs), and therefore do not need to be revised at this time.
However, it did direct the Fund…
Continue Reading
TWO YEARS AGO, on December 21, 2016, the CRTC acknowledged the increasing importance of Internet services to Canadians in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2016-496, in which the Commission defined fixed and mobile wireless broadband Internet access services as basic telecommunications services.
The Commission also established several new expectations for ISPs to address consumer complaints related to bill shock and contract clarity.
As a result, all ISPs that provide retail fixed broadband Internet services to individual and small business customers now must ensure their contracts and related documents clearly explain, in plain language (i) the services included in the contract (ii) any limits…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Stingray subsidiary Stingray Radio is buying CHOO-FM in Drumheller, AB from Golden West Broadcasting. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The AC station is branded as 99.5 Drum FM. The transaction is scheduled to close in mid-2019 pending CRTC approval.
“The acquisition of CHOO-FM offers an excellent opportunity for Stingray to add an FM station in Drumheller that will perfectly complement our Real Country-branded CKDQ-AM,” said Stingray’s radio operations president Ian Lurie, in the news release. “The stations, under one ownership, can now focus on best serving listeners and clients in a small market environment where resources…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) is crediting government policies that promote facilities-based competition for Canada’s status as a “global 4G superpower with the fastest wireless networks in the G7.”
The lobby group, which represents companies that provide wireless services and products, referenced reports such as November’s Ookla Speedtest Global Index that found that Canadian wireless networks have download speeds that are 144.3% faster than the global average, making Canada's networks the fourth fastest in the world and tops amongst G7 nations.
CWTA president and CEO Robert Ghiz also highlighted CRTC data from its 2018 Communications Monitoring…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC is seeking feedback on a new production report to be completed annually by the large English- and French-language ownership groups in place of the current programs of national interest (PNI) report.
The new report, which would only apply to licensed services, would include all Canadian programming expenditure categories, except news and sports programming.
The Commission said that it is considering expanding the key creative roles in the report to include ‘showrunner’, for example, and is also asking for input on draft templates that include Canadian programming expenditures by region and language, as well as programming produced by Indigenous and official…
Continue Reading
By Denis Carmel
The First Law of Economists: For every economist, there exists an equal and opposite economist; The Second Law of Economists: They’re both wrong…
An economist is someone who doesn’t know what he’s talking about — and make you feel it’s your fault…
AS WE NOTED EARLIER, ’tis the season of the Price Comparison Reports. We had mentioned the CRTC Telecommunications Monitoring Report (which was released Thursday), the OECD Digital Economy Outlook Data (not quite yet) and the price comparison report commissioned by Innovation, Science and Economic Development – which is now produced by…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Canadians’ increasing use of Internet and mobile services helped to drive up telecommunications revenues 3.2% to $50.3 billion in 2017, slightly faster than the five-year average annual growth rate of 2.9%, the CRTC said Thursday.
In the telecom portion of its 2018 Communications Monitoring Report (CMR), the Commission said that over half (58.2%) of the total revenue share was earned by the country’s large incumbent TSPs, while 34.0% was generated by cable-based carriers, which it defines as the former cable monopolies that currently also provide telecommunications services. Resellers earned 3.6%, other service providers generated 3.2%, and small…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – Prices advertised by Canada’s Internet service providers should include all mandatory fees, and “unlimited” services should actually be unlimited, says the Competition Bureau.
In its comments on the CRTC's proposed code for Internet services, the Bureau detailed five recommendations that it said will benefit both consumers and competition.
The recommendations are:
– Customers should receive quotes that are clear, simple and standardized;
– Advertised prices should include all mandatory fees;
– Services represented as “unlimited” should actually be unlimited;
– The code should be competitively neutral, without being overly burdensome; and,
– The code should be reviewed regularly, and at the same time as…
Continue Reading
Asks for Review & Vary
GATINEAU – A large consortium of Ontario communities and other groups, together known as SouthWestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT) has filed an application with the CRTC in the hopes the Regulator will reconsider how it qualifies rural regions to receive millions of dollars in funding to deliver broadband to its residents.
In an application filed Wednesday with the Commission, SWIFT’s leadership believes the Commission’s recently outlined $750 million rural broadband fund, with its decision to rely “exclusively on error prone indicators of maximum theoretical link speeds captured in the ISED’s…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC Communications Monitoring Report (CMR) on the telecom industry will be released Thursday, says the Commission.
According to a sneak peek on the Commission's Facebook page, telecom revenues rose 3.2% in 2017. This upset a few people on Facebook, judging by the comments.
Check back Thursday for Cartt.ca’s coverage of the report.
Continue Reading
