By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking Rogers if it would like to withdraw or amend an application related to a years-long dispute involving its access to New Brunswick poles, following the commission’s decision establishing concrete timelines for access to those support structures.
In the summer of 2020, the cable company filed a Part 1 application asking the CRTC to intervene in a dispute in which it alleged that Bell was delaying providing access to parts of the pole it co-owns with the utility, NB Power. Rogers alleged Bell was playing a “gatekeeper role” over access, which it…
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By Connie Thiessen
Quebecor Media has announced it’s cutting 240 jobs, including 140 positions across TVA Group’s broadcasting, publishing and film production divisions.
The restructuring was announced Thursday as Montreal-headquartered TVA Group reported its fiscal 2022 year-end results showing a drop in revenue across all of its business segments. The corporation’s consolidated adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was $19,385,000, compared to $80,283,000 the previous year. Consolidated revenues were down 4.6% overall with the corporation recording a net loss of $0.21 per share, compared to earnings per share of $0.71 for 2021. Q4 revenues of $171.9 million marked a slight year-over-year increase…
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OTTAWA — The Canada Media Fund is later this month launching its national survey to get perspectives from the audiovisual sector on how the current definition of Canadian content should evolve in light of bill C-11, the legislation that will empower the CRTC to force foreign streamers to contribute to domestic content.
The 10-minute survey, which will be open on February 27, was designed in collaboration with firms La Societe des demains and Humain Humain and was “informed by input from the CMF’s annual industry consultations and preliminary in-depth interviews with dozens of individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives,” the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said Monday during a House industry committee hearing that he is “no near” a decision on the spectrum transfer from Shaw to Videotron that would trigger Rogers’s acquisition of Shaw.
The comments were made in a back-and-forth between Champagne and Conservative member of Parliament Ryan Williams, who was asserting that the conditions that the minister said were required on Videotron’s ownership of the Freedom assets – including spectrum ownership of at least 10 years and lower prices applied to other provinces – are not enforceable.
“That’s what you say, but trust me…you’ll be…
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VANCOUVER — Telus last month completed the integration of customers of internet service provider Start.ca after acquiring the small outfit, the company confirmed.
The customer networks of the London, Ont.-based provider of internet, television and home phone services were integrated into Telus last month, “giving customer access to TELUS’ global-leading wireless network, suite of home automation and security, health and entertainment products and services,” Telus told Cartt in a statement.
Richmond, B.C.-based Altima, another ISP that Telus acquired, was integrated into Telus’s network in June 2022.
The purchases further narrow the range of service providers to choose from, as various factors have…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-11 returns to the House of Commons after passing the Senate late Thursday, the industry affected by the online streaming legislation has called on the federal government to ensure the establishment of equal treatment between foreign and Canadian companies toward Canadian content requirements.
“We are very concerned that a provision, which remains in the bill, creates a two-tier system that will hold foreign streamers to a lower standard than Canadian companies,” said the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) in a statement today. “This will result in foreign streamers using fewer Canadian creators in the…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-11 sat on the doorstep of passing third and final reading in the Senate, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez – who introduced the Online Streaming Act a year ago to the day on Feb. 2, 2022 – told a packed audience at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa on Thursday that he expected the bill could return with amendments to the House of Commons, where it passed last June and which could become law by next week.
Should that happen, Rodriguez said it…
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By Richard Stursberg, pictured above, ex-head of Telefilm, English services at the CBC, and Chair of the Canadian Television Fund.
The debate about how to define Canadian content in the future has begun. The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has launched a consultation on the subject. The passage of bill C-11 will require the CRTC to do the same thing.
In a recent article for Cartt.ca, the distinguished communications lawyer, Doug Barrett, argued for the maintenance of the existing definition of Canadian content based on the citizenship of the key members of the creative team. The points system, as…
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Company also said it is confident it will compete against fourth player in Videotron
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Rogers executives said the company expects network resiliency to be a more important factor than price in driving up new subscribers going forward.
The company is coming off a network outage last summer that paralyzed the country, impacting critical institutions like government and banking. The fallout of the outage put a spotlight on the importance of network resiliency and redundance and spawned a commitment from the large carrier to physically separate its mobile and wireline networks and invest $20 billion…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – An association representing independent internet service providers filed a submission to the CRTC yesterday requesting the regulator impose, at least temporarily, discounted wholesale access to incumbent fibre to the building.
The submission by the Competitive Network Operators of Canada is in support of a complaint filed by internet service provider TekSavvy, which alleges that some incumbents are giving to some providers wholesale access to their networks at favourable and unregulated (“off-tariff”) rates over other competitors.
TekSavvy brought the undue preference application in light of Rogers’s proposal to provide Videotron with access to its network…
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