Telecoms note spectrum cap kept prices reasonable
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada released the results of the 3.8 GHz spectrum auction Thursday, with Cogeco getting a piece as it prepares mobile wireless market entry and Quebecor capturing a slice for its western Canada push.
Telus took home the largest number of licences with 1430 for a price of $620 million to cover 33 million Canadians. Bell was next with a spend of $518 million for 939 licences with expected population coverage of 34.6 million Canadians. Rogers spent $475 million for 860 licences with expected population coverage of 35 million. Videotron…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Netflix floated the idea Thursday that the commission could tie any required foreign financial contribution to Canadian content funds to planned investments rather than previous year’s revenues to encourage spending in the country.
“Rather than tying the percentages to revenue them to expected expenditure or planned expenditure, and so every dollar you earn doesn’t necessarily translate into a trade-off between operating income or profit and contribution to the system,” said Dean Garfield, the streaming company’s vice president of public policy.
“It creates that incentive to actually invest and grow without worrying that, ‘oh…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A representative from music and podcast streaming service Spotify told the CRTC Wednesday that the platform hopes the idea that online streamers should make a base financial contribution to Canadian content doesn’t spread to other jurisdictions.
“You are the only country in the world that is looking at those contributions, at least at this stage, and we actually hope that this is not going to spread to other countries because we will be in real difficulty,” Olivia Regnier, senior director of public policy for Spotify, told the commission.
“Now, we understand the situation, we understand the rationale…
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Rogers and Cogeco urge lowering regulatory burden and need to sustain local news
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Representatives from Rogers argued Tuesday that if online streamers are not required to commit a base financial contribution to the enhancement of Canadian content, traditional Canadian broadcasters must not be required to do the same.
Broadcasting distribution undertakings are required to commit a certain percentage of their previous year’s revenues toward Canadian content funds – for example, a chunk of the base 5 per cent goes toward the Canada Media Fund every year. The CRTC is now asking whether it should similarly require a…
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TORONTO – Credit ratings agency DBRS Morningstar announced Tuesday it has downgraded Corus Entertainment’s issuer rating to BB (low) from BB and also its senior unsecured notes to BB (low).
“The credit rating downgrades reflect DBRS Morningstar’s concerns that Corus’ near- to medium-term earnings will remain under pressure as a result of a contraction in advertising revenue affected by the confluence of several factors, including a softening economic outlook, strike activity (now resolved) affecting content creation, and an increasingly competitive entertainment landscape,” reads a DBRS Morningstar press release.
The agency, however, has…
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By Ahmad Hathout
KITCHENER, On – Bell has filed this week an application to the CRTC requesting the regulator get involved in a dispute over disrupted access to a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) building in Kitchener.
The telecom alleges that on or around September 24, the owner or manager of the 12-unit legacy MDU at 203 Mausser Ave. had cut its in-building copper wiring, which caused an outage for some residents.
Bell alleges a letter from the owner/manager dated August 21 was circulated to tenants of the building, but not the telco, saying it was unilaterally removing all of Bell’s wiring and to…
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WHITEHORSE, Yukon – Bell’s Northwestel is now the telephone service provider in Atlin, British Columbia after agreeing to take over the transport link from the incumbent Telus.
Telus told the CRTC during the April hearing on the far north that it had an agreement in principle that would see the transfer of the incumbency to Northwestel. The move made sense because Telus did not have its own transport route for that community, instead leasing a stretch of 1,300 kilometres from Northwestel.
“Atlin is a part of the north, it just makes sense for them to be a part…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell said Tuesday it wants foreign streamers to partner with the domestic broadcasters to co-produce and distribute Canadian content at home and abroad.
Representatives from the broadcaster said on the second day of the CRTC’s examination of the implementation of contributions to Canadian content funds that it is challenging to monetize CanCon because it’s distributed over a small population.
While Bell said a growth in production funds will help make more content, there’s also the opportunity to nudge for cooperation with the digital platforms.
“We’ve tried on several occasions to co-produce, to look for opportunities to make true…
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TORONTO – As the CRTC’s three-week hearing on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act got underway Monday in Gatineau, the Motion Picture Association – Canada (MPA-Canada) published results of a new survey it commissioned from spark*insights that shows Canadians see global studios and streaming companies as valuable contributors to Canada’s film and TV sector.
MPA-Canada advocates for the major international producers and distributors of movies, TV and streaming programming in Canada. Some of the global studios it serves include Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery (HBO).
According to spark*insights’s…
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Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously said the CMPA does not believe there should be a mandatory base contribution. In reality, it is asking for a mandatory base of no less than five per cent.
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said Monday that the stonewalling of the federal government by foreign platforms on legislation that would require them to pay to host news links will likely mean that they will also scoff at any requirement for them to pay a base contribution to Canadian content.
The CRTC is proposing a mandatory base…
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