By Ahmad Hathout
CRTC commissioners Nirmala Naidoo and Ellen Desmond have been reappointed by Order in Council last week to their respective posts for another five years.
The terms for Naidoo, commissioner for Alberta and the Northwest Territories, and Desmond, commissioner for the Atlantic region and Nunavut, are effective on July 20.
Naidoo and Desmond filled the vacant positions after the departure of commissioners Christopher MacDonald and Linda Vennard, respectively, in June 2020.
Naidoo was an award-winning television anchor, journalist and communications expert in a past life. Desmond is a lawyer by trade and was the director of legal and administration with…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Two of Canada’s largest telecoms are warning the CRTC against implementing a uniform internet subsidy for the far north or risk increasing internet service prices in rest of the country. Others are saying the subsidy contribution would be a negligible amount to support those in need of affordable services.
The CRTC last month proposed a monthly subsidy to be distributed by internet service providers (ISP) to all households in the far north. The contributions would come from the National Contribution Fund (NCF), which subsists on ISP contributions.
The concern, outlined by some providers in submissions to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Thursday it is considering reducing the financial obligations on traditional commercial radio broadcasters while maintaining content requirements to level the playing field with online streamers.
“The Commission acknowledges that some view content requirements as a heavy regulatory imposition. At the same time, the Commission recognizes that content requirements do not appear to work in an online context. As such, to help level the playing field and respond to the changing landscape, the Commission is of the preliminary view that traditional audio undertakings should be relieved of some of the other regulatory burdens they are subject…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has ordered Telus on Wednesday to provide additional monetary compensation to customers in certain remote British Columbia regions who will lose access to landline service dependent on spectrum licenses the telco will lose next month.
The Vancouver-based telecom, which is the dominant provider in the affected region, has been relying on the 3.5 GHz spectrum to provide landline services to 115 customers in the Alexis Creek, North Kamloops, and the Tahsis exchanges. But the telco, which was granted two extensions on the use of the licenses, will lose access to them next month when Industry Canada…
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The Société professionnelle des auteurs, compositeurs du Québec et des artistes entrepreneurs (SPACQ-AE) has launched MUSIQC, a free music listening space dedicated to promoting and showcasing French-language music.
Acting as a discoverability portal, MUSIQC leverages users’ pre-existing subscriptions to online music services to offer them a way to discover, rediscover and listen to French-language works, at no additional cost, by providing a wide selection of playlists curated by a specialized, dedicated and human programming team, a SPACQ-AE press release says.
MUSIQC was created in response to the challenges faced by francophone music in a globalized market dominated…
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The CRTC on Tuesday opened a proceeding to review Rogers Communications’ acquisition of NBA TV (Canada) as part of the cable giant’s larger acquisition of Bell Canada’s 37.5-per-cent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE).
After announcing its proposed $4.7-billion deal with Bell in September, Rogers applied in November for authority to acquire control of Toronto Raptors Network Ltd. (TRNL), licensee of the English-language NBA TV (Canada) discretionary service, according to the CRTC’s broadcasting notice of consultation posted to its website Feb. 18.
The proposed change in ownership and effective control of NBA…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell is laying the blame at the feet of Rogers for why it is not carrying certain channels that utilize American programming rights the cable company obtained in the summer.
The broadcaster alleged to Cartt late last week that it is Rogers that isn’t budging on negotiations with respect to the carriage of Rogers’s Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.) and other channels.
“The assertion that Bell is refusing to carry these channels is incorrect,” a Bell spokesperson told us. “We have offered to carry these channels a la carte and we are open to them making a reasonable offer,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Thursday approved the transfer of 21 English-language commercial radio stations in British Columbia to Vista Radio.
“The Commission finds that approving this transaction is in the public interest, as it will help ensure that the stations continue to serve the various communities in British Columbia,” the commission said in its decision. “These stations will be operated by a new commercial licensee who is committed to showcasing a diversity of voices and emerging Canadian musical artists and providing local programming to the communities.”
The regulator also approved licences, until August 31, 2030, for Vista to operate these…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle said in many words Thursday he expects the CRTC to reaffirm its decision to allow the three largest telecoms in the country to have access to the wholesale internet regime, and that some of the company’s decisions in the east will depend on it.
“We’re going to make the bold assumption,” Entwistle began during a fourth-quarter conference call with analysts, “that regulatory decisions pronounced by the CRTC after a comprehensive and rigorous and exhaustive process, where the diversity of voices was consulted in terms of all stakeholder constituency groups, where the documentation of the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is accusing Bell of refusing to carry channels crafted out of new American rights it acquired in the summer.
The cable giant alleges its Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.) channels are being subject to a double standard by the rival broadcaster: while Bell, the second-largest broadcaster, complains that Rogers wants to push its new USA Network and Oxygen True Crime channels down the dial, the former allegedly doesn’t even want to carry the channels that are intended to replace them.
“Granting Bell’s requested relief is unquestionably not in the public interest and would perpetuate asymmetrical treatment of Bell…
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