Commission may launch public consultation on matter
OTTAWA – The CRTC is asking the country’s largest internet service providers via letter for comment on whether it should mandate participation in a data project in collaboration with Innovation Canada to track fixed wireless internet performance.
Participation is currently voluntary and requires that the fixed wireless service providers contacting all of its subscribers on the federal objective speeds of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps and higher and providing them material asking them if they are willing to participate in the study.
But the commission said that, while there have been a number of…
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Regulator argued Rogers’s investment capacity won’t be harmed
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has selected Quebecor’s price to access Rogers’s wireless network for the purposes of building out its mobile virtual network operator business, the regulator announced Monday afternoon.
The two parties were granted a final offer arbitration hearing in May after they couldn’t hammer out a deal on their own. The process involves the two sides presenting their own price offer for access and the regulator choosing one.
The CRTC ruled that despite its finding that both offers would have satisfied the policy objectives, it was Quebecor’s offer that…
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Bell alleges it has approached Rogers about terms and didn’t hear back
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers is accusing Bell and Telus of delaying its requests to attach wireless equipment on their poles and is asking the CRTC to make an interim order granting those requests on an expedited basis.
Rogers said in a Part 1 application filed earlier this month and published Wednesday that Telus had invited it to apply for attachment permits last year, but “abruptly changed its position” on the basis that the CRTC said it would be reviewing the wireless attachment framework in a decision on wireline…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has issued a contract Friday for analysts and managers to assist it in managing the workload of implementing legislation that requires online streamers to contribute to Canadian content.
The regulator said it requires the ability to call upon one to eight professionals per year to support its work.
The regulator is now seeking to be able to call upon an intermediate statistical analyst, three senior statistical analysts, a junior project manager, an intermediate project manager, a senior project manager, a senior subject matter expert and a senior technical writer for its consumer, research and communications…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said Tuesday that it will be requesting confidential information from the parties in its review of the internet framework to support the Competition Bureau’s study on the state of the wireline internet market.
The commission had previously ordered already-collected confidential information be forwarded to the Competition Bureau in early June.
On Tuesday, the regulator said in a letter that the bureau requested that it “issue additional specific RFIs and order the disclosure to him of any confidential information filed in the responses to those RFIs… he be given 100 days from receipt of that…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Two public interest groups are asking the CRTC to consolidate multiple broadcaster requests of the commission to lessen their local television regulatory obligations and consider several options to tackle the issue.
The Forum for Research and Policy in Communications and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre filed an application Friday asking the regulator to bring together the seven relief applications brought forth by Bell, Corus, Rogers and Quebecor and provide one notice of consultation on them.
The groups then ask for a preparatory conference of interested participants so that the number of issues can be kept at a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Corus CEO Doug Murphy reiterated Thursday the need for the CRTC to take immediate action on lessening Canadian content requirements ahead of the implementation of a new Broadcasting Act policy to force foreign streamers to contribute to those requirements.
Praising the death of the old Broadcasting Act and the introduction of three consultations on the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, Murphy said the CRTC needs to set its sights on the now as broadcasters are being squeezed financially.
“We continue to urge the regulator through those consultations and other forums to revisit the obligations on Canadian…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC said SiriusXM cannot defer its obligations to funds supporting Canadian content from the 2021-2022 year because it hasn’t shown a financial need to do so.
The satellite and online radio service requested a deferral due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It proposed paying its shortfalls incrementally, with 50 per cent paid by August 2024 and other 50 per cent by August 2025.
But the CRTC said revenues have largely rebounded since the start of the pandemic. It also said SiriusXM, which is predominantly subscription-based, “enjoyed more stability in revenue” compared to the rest of the…
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TVA union asking CRTC to stop Quebecor from closing newscasts
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell said if Quebecor follows through on an announcement to end two newscasts without commission approval, the CRTC has no choice but to fine the company due to repeated violations of its conditions of licence, according to an intervention in the case.
On June 2, Quebecor’s TVA made the decision to this week end the two CFCM-DT weekend newscasts in Quebec, one day after it filed a Part 1 application asking the CRTC to remove that obligation due to financial constraints. The CRTC followed up with a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Quebecor’s TVA told Cartt that it wishes to work in collaboration with the CRTC to find a way to sustain its local programming, after the commission expressed concern that the Montreal-based company is planning to scale back two of its news programs on weekends in Quebec.
The CRTC set a deadline of July 4 for comments on Quebecor’s Part 1 application requesting the commission remove a requirement that it run two newscast on weekends in Quebec. But a day after filing its application, Quebecor announced it intended to eliminate the programs this week…
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