OTTAWA – The CRTC has turned down a Bell Canada request to review and vary an earlier Commission decision requiring the company to implement an outside meet-me point to support competitor interconnection to its disaggregated wholesale high-speed access (HAS) service.
An outside meet-me point provides competitors with an external interconnection point to connect with the disaggregated wholesale HSA service through a fibre termination at a pedestal or a splicing enclosure located outside the central office or cable head-end.
The Commission dismissed the request Wednesday after determining that it did not err in fact or in law, despite Bell’s assertions to the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has sided with Rogers in its dispute with the Iristel group of companies over an alleged case of traffic stimulation.
In December 2016, Rogers asked the Commission to intervene after it accused Iristel of “being unjustly enriched by gaming the regulatory framework for local competition” by profiting from the higher local termination charges applicable in the Northwest Territories. Iristel denied the claims.
On Wednesday, the CRTC determined that Iristel had given itself an undue preference and subjected Rogers to a corresponding undue disadvantage.
“The Commission therefore directs Iristel and any of its affiliates, within 30 days…
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TORONTO – Regulators must help to save Canadian voices from extinction as television evolves in a new digital world, says a new report from the C.D Howe Institute.
In Strengthening Canadian Television Content: Creation, Discovery and Export in a Digital World, authors Lawson Hunter, Kenneth Engelhart and Peter Miller find the future of television and Canadian content is up in the air in a world where TV is delivered over the Internet, bypassing Canadian regulations.
Internet-delivered TV’s increasing popularity could lead to a significant decline in the amount of available Canadian television content, at least in the regulated system, says…
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But this still isn’t the end of it. Bell appeal to Commission awaits a decision
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal ruled today that the CRTC does, in fact, have the jurisdiction to make new rules for an individual program, despite the “irony” of deploying rules which are normally used to protect and promote Canadian content to instead promote the airing of American advertising.
As readers may recall, in January of 2015 the Commission made a decision stemming from its Let’s Talk TV policy review process that revoked the Canadian broadcast rightsholder’s ability to simultaneously substitute its signal over the…
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EDMONTON – Edmonton’s new French-language community FM radio station is one step closer to fruition after receiving over $600,000 in federal funding.
The Société radio communautaire du grand Edmonton Society said Monday that it received $400,000 from Western Economic Diversification Canada and almost $296,000 from Canadian Heritage for the new station Radio Cité.
The station aims to serve 38,000 potential listeners with local community programming plus offer advertising options to help promote the 325 businesses and community organizations delivering programs and services in French within the greater Edmonton area. It received CRTC approval in January 2017 to operate at 97.9 MHz.
“All…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC is seeking feedback as it prepares for a review of the reseller registration obligation.
The Commission currently requires Canadian carriers and non-carriers (also known as resellers) to fulfill various obligations as a condition of offering and providing telecommunications services, including the obligation to register.
Resellers that provide interexchange services, local exchange services (also known as local telephone services), wireless voice services, local voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, Internet access services, and payphone services will still be required to register, the CRTC said Friday. The review will consider whether the registration obligation should apply, for example,…
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SEATTLE – Amazon Prime Video in late September first announced it had picked up the BBC and AMC crime drama McMafia for 200 territories, excluding the U.S. and Canada, where AMC was to air the eight-part crime drama.
However, Amazon on Thursday announced it will exclusively stream McMafia in Canada on its local Amazon Prime Video platform from January 2, a day after the world premiere on BBC in the UK.
McMafia, based on a best-selling non-fiction book, is a co-production involving the BBC, AMC Network and Cuba Pictures, and is distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide. A spokesperson for BBC Worldwide…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has promoted Claude Doucet to Secretary General.
Doucet (pictured), formerly executive director of communications and external relations at the Commission, took on the role on an acting basis in September after Danielle May-Cuconato left for a position at Public Works Canada. Executive director broadcasting Scott Hutton and executive director telecom Chris Seidl also filled in while a permanent replacement was being sought.
In a note to staff on Thursday, CRTC chair and CEO Ian Scott said that the recruitment process attracted a number of highly qualified internal and external candidates.
“As a seasoned senior executive in the federal government,…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian government underscored its support of net neutrality on the same day as the Federal Communications Commission voted to roll back U.S. laws implemented in 2015 under then-president Barack Obama on the issue.
In a brief statement, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains said that the Feds back “an open Internet where Canadians have the ability to access the content of their choice in accordance with Canadian laws.”
“Net neutrality is one of the critical issues of our times, much like freedom of the press and freedom of expression before it”, Minister Bains said in a…
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Oh, and is it time for Bell Media and Corus to merge?
NETFLIX IS THE NUMBER one TV channel in Canada. Quibble with old definitions of an OTT and TV network if you like, but our big, linear networks are nowhere near as big anymore in the face of the global juggernaut that is Netflix. It’s been that way since last fall, and it’s not even close.
Who says this? Our largest pure-play media company: Corus Entertainment. In its December 1st submission to CRTC on the federal government’s call for comments on future distribution models, the company states on page three:…
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