OTTAWA – The CRTC announced Monday it has renewed the broadcasting licence for SaskTel’s terrestrial on-demand service SaskTel Pay-Per-View until Aug. 31, 2028.
The licence for SaskTel’s pay-per-view service was due to expire Dec. 31, 2023, having been administratively renewed by the CRTC three times since August 2021, which is when the service’s licence was originally scheduled to expire.
The CRTC explained in its decision Monday, after SaskTel Pay-Per-View’s licence was renewed in 2014, the commission created the category of on-demand services by consolidating what were formerly known as pay-per-view and video-on-demand services.
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to review whether the CRTC was allowed to automatically renew its broadcasting licences without notice or consultation.
The CRTC approved all of the broadcaster’s 66 television and specialty channel licences until August 2026 on an administrative renewal basis. But Bell still had an outstanding appeal in the form of Part 1 applications to the CRTC asking it to reduce the regulatory burdens on it because the financial climate for broadcasters has changed from when the licences were last renewed for a five-year term in 2017.
“There…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has asked Bell and its subsidiary Northwestel to maintain services to Iristel until it can make a decision on an interconnection dispute that is threatening to terminate an agreement within 10 days.
Iristel filed an urgent Part 1 application earlier this month asking the regulator to force Bell to continue providing it interconnection services in northern Quebec after the telco sent a 30-day disconnection notice on September 21 because of unpaid dues.
Iristel said it stopped paying certain fees to Bell because it alleges the telco is violating the tariff the CRTC approved that stipulates…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Iristel wants the CRTC to get involved in a dispute related to a voice network interconnection agreement that Bell is allegedly threatening to cut off if the north service provider doesn’t pay its dues.
Iristel said in a Part 1 application filed Tuesday that Bell has allegedly violated access services rules by not fulfilling an arrangement in which it allegedly agreed to provide an interconnection point at Kuujjuaq in northern Quebec. Iristel said since 2015, it has reluctantly agreed to an interim agreement in which it would route traffic to Kuujjuaq point through a single exchange…
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OTTAWA – Following the British Columbia government’s Part 1 application filed last month requesting the CRTC mandate a testing environment for Canada’s next-generation 911 (NG911) networks, a group of representatives of Canadian public safety answering points (PSAPs) has filed its own Part 1 asking for a commission decision in support of a pre-production NG911 network and quality assurance program.
Signatories to the application — dated Sept. 22, filed with the CRTC on October 4 and posted on the CRTC’s website Tuesday — include representatives from Barrie Fire Dept., BC Emergency Health Services, City…
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Regulator credits Quebecor for lowering prices in market
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Quebecor will need to use the rate proposed by Bell for access to the telco’s national wireless network, the CRTC ruled Tuesday.
The regulator selected Bell’s price per gigabyte of data after the two parties could not on their own agree to commercial terms for access by Quebecor’s mobile virtual network operator business to Bell’s national wireless network.
“That rate best meets the evaluation criteria, and will promote competition, affordability, and continued investment by both companies in their networks,” the regulator said in a statement.
“With access to larger networks, regional…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Representatives from the country’s largest independent internet service provider spoke directly with CRTC chair Vicky Eatrides in February about acquisitions that have swept the industry in recent months, according to documents obtained by Cartt.
Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s vice president of regulatory and carrier affairs, sat down with the head of the regulator to talk about an “overview of market conditions for retail internet services,” including “observed pricing trends,” and a discussion “regarding the recent acquisitions in the market,” according to an outline of the morning meeting held on February 15 and obtained via access to information…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has set Friday who will be subject to regulation under the new Broadcasting Act regulations as part of its implementation of the new Online Streaming Act, setting the threshold at $10 million and higher in annual broadcasting revenues in Canada.
The new entities will need to register by November 28, 2023, so that the regulator can keep tabs on them.
Registering requires the entities to provide their basic information like name, phone number, mailing and email addresses, what services they offer and out of where they are incorporated.
The CRTC said it will publish the list…
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OTTAWA – British Columbia has filed a Part 1 application to the CRTC requesting that the regulator consider mandating an environment where testing can be done on the next generation 911 networks.
The new emergency networks set up by Bell and Telus, which will be able to carry images and videos from distressed callers, don’t have a pre-live testing environment to iron out any kinks before being operational, BC said.
The implication of that, the province argues, is that complex troubleshooting issues and upgrades will have to be done with multiple service providers live, which could be highly disruptive to critical…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC communicated with Canadian Heritage over months about the information it was going use in its messaging about the Online Streaming Act, but that was not for soliciting comment or approval, the regulator told Cartt.
Earlier this year, Conservative member of Parliament Martin Shields of Bow River, Alberta, tabled a request for the government to provide detailed communications between the regulator and the department about the legislation that requires online streaming services to contribute to Canadian content.
The Conservatives have accused the independent regulator of parroting government talking points about the legislation after…
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