OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC fleshed out more details on its Broadband Fund Thursday, a $750 million initiative designed to improve broadband Internet access services in underserved areas and help meet its universal service objective first set out in 2016.
The Commission described the criteria that it will use to evaluate applications for funding, adding that it will begin accepting applicants in 2019. TRP CRTC 2018-377 also details the fund’s governance, operating and accountability frameworks, though specifics such as an application guide, application forms and eligibility maps will be released in the coming months.
“For the main component of the Fund, the…
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OTTAWA – Three of Canada’s largest wired and wireless operators, and one independent, assembled on Parliament Hill Wednesday afternoon to discuss revisions to the Copyright Act.
Independent ISP Teksavvy had the stage first and vice-president of regulatory and carrier affairs, Andy Kaplan-Myrth, reiterated his company’s commitment to network neutrality and the privacy rights of their customers, including when it comes to copyright. He reminded the politicians on the committee TekSavvy’s appearance at the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, was as a far different operator than the likes of Bell, Rogers and Shaw. Teksavvy is just an ISP and…
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RADIO RATINGS ANALYSIS is a complex task, as we’ve been saying. For radio station promotion departments getting their quarterly analysis in Canada's five largest markets, it's about toying with the numbers — age, gender, time of day, relative growth — until your station becomes number one, or at least number one in categories advertisers like.
But what about longer-term trends? We took Numeris top-line ratings data over the past seven years to capture portraits of stations in those five major markets who made changes to their programming, and what happened to their audience as a result.
For the sake of a…
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OTTAWA – The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications started to examine how the three federal communications statutes (the Telecommunications Act, the Broadcasting Act, and the Radiocommunication Act) can be modernized In light of the evolution of the broadcasting and telecommunications sectors in the last decades.
Last week they heard from university professors and today, Konrad von Finckenstein, former chair of the CRTC, and the Commissioner of Competition met the committee.
Von Finckenstein submitted six points for the Committee to examine. “First, in the reform of our communication legislation, examine everything from an Internet-centric point of view. To borrow a…
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OTTAWA – Despite issuing over 100 updates and wireless alerts warning of high-risk emergencies, Canadians still have questions about how the national public alerting system works and which devices are compatible, says CRTC chief consumer officer Scott Shortliffe.
Speaking Monday before the Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence, Shortliffe said that the system, publicly branded as Alert Ready, has been used successfully to warn of dangerously high water levels and flooding in Alberta, wildfires in Saskatchewan, Amber Alerts in Ontario and Saskatchewan, and drinking water advisories in several communities. On Friday, it also warned of tornado watches in…
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OTTAWA – After having paused for Parliament’s summer recess, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology reconvened in the nation’s capital on Wednesday to continue its statutory review of the Copyright Act.
Representatives from the Canadian Network Operators Consortium, Société des auteurs de radio, télévision et cinema, the Movie Theatre Association of Canada and the Professional Music Publishers' Association faced the committee this week. (Some larger organizations will face the committee next week from the likes of Bell, Quebecor, Rogers, Stingray Digital, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, Teksavvy and Shaw Communications.)
Canadian Network Operators Consortium (a group of independent ISPs)…
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WHEN NOW-FORMER Heritage Minister Melanie Joly announced the launch of public consultations with consumers and creators to bring Canada’s cultural properties (everything from the Broadcasting Act to the CRTC) into the digital age, there was great excitement.
That was in April, 2016, nearly two and a half years ago.
Her extensive consultations led to the publication of the Creative Canada Policy Framework in September, 2017, which included a request to the CRTC to examine future programming distribution models and report back to her by June 1, 2018. The Commission used a variety of consultation tools in preparing…
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GATINEAU – In the continuing saga of the skinny (a.k.a. lower-cost data only) wireless, the CRTC must be wondering if it would not have just been easier to mandate MVNO.
In the latest request for information, Cartt.ca had noted the tone of the letter and the volume of information requested. The three incumbent national wireless players seem to heed the message and proposed to double the amount of data originally offered.
But what we had missed was the questions asked to the three incumbent national wireless players were also asked of the Competition Bureau.
The Questions
Indicate whether lower-cost data only…
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ST ANDREWS, N.B. – Atlantic region and Nunavut CRTC commissioner Christopher MacDonald said Monday the structure and governance of its new $750 million broadband fund established with the Commission’s 2016 Universal Service Objective policy will be announced soon, with a call for funding applications to come in 2019.
Back in 2016, the Commission set targets for basic telecommunications services that Canadians need to participate in the digital economy:
speeds of 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download/10 Mbps upload for fixed broadband Internet access services. In 2015, 82% of Canadians already had access to speeds of 50 Mbps download/10 Mbps upload for…
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RADIO RATINGS ANALYSIS is a complex task, as we noted last week. For radio station promotion departments getting their quarterly analysis in Canada's five largest markets, it's about toying with the numbers — age, gender, time of day, relative growth — until your station becomes number one, or at least number one in categories advertisers like.
But what about longer-term trends? We took Numeris top-line ratings data over the past seven years to capture portraits of stations in those five major markets who made changes to their programming, and what happened to their audience as a result.
For the sake of…
Continue Reading
