Bell says it will withdraw court app challenging lack of action on rate-setting before new attach rules
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Tuesday made interim the current wholesale rates competitors pay to attach to the poles owned by Bell and Telus, paving the way for the setting of final rates that will apply retroactively.
The decision, effective today, locks in Bell’s current charges of $1.04 per pole per month in Ontario and Quebec and Telus’s going rate of $1.61 to do so in British Columbia and Alberta as the commission evaluates the telcos’ request to bump up those aging rates.
More importantly…
Continue Reading
By Connie Thiessen
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) and 25 of its radio members – including Rogers Sports & Media, Bell Media, Cogeco, Stingray, Pattison Media and Corus Entertainment – have written to the CRTC asking the commission to tear up its recent notice of consultation on updated rules for the radio and audio sector and start over.
Released on Feb. 20, the consultation will inform work to update the definition of what constitutes Canadian content on radio and audio streaming services. It also outlines a financial contribution framework for broadcasters that the CAB says suggests that…
Continue Reading
Dissenting opinion says process to alert competitors must be better
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC approved Monday a proposal by Northwestel to offer former customers discounts on certain internet packages to bring them back on board.
The promotion, proposed in August, would apply to 12 new internet packages with unlimited data and would run for six months in the far north. Eligible customers are those who had previously been a Northwestel customer for at least a month, who have been gone for at least the same amount of time, and who have been subscribed to another service provider in Northwestel’s operating territory.
The…
Continue Reading
The CRTC last week asked Bell, Rogers and Telus to make available as soon as possible new international roaming offerings the big three telecoms have told the commission they are planning to introduce, and to ensure these new offerings are easily found on their websites.
In response to an October 2024 letter from the CRTC calling on the telecoms to reduce international roaming fees and provide more flexible options, Bell, Rogers and Telus reported to the commission they have introduced or plan to introduce new international roaming offerings that include:
monthly…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Iristel and Bell are again in front of the CRTC about a disagreement over the repayment of amounts owed to the large telco, according to a Part 1 filing made public this week.
Iristel is asking the regulator to force Bell to withdraw a February 21 telephone service disconnection notice, effective March 3, and to accept its plan to pay back amounts it owes. The far north provider said it has been “willing to enter and honour a reasonable deferred payment agreement,” but says Bell has allegedly rejected the proposal.
The CRTC said in a June 27 decision…
Continue Reading
Just the latest company to request a bump up in carriage fee
By Ahmad Hathout
Vues & Voix is asking the CRTC to add three cents to the monthly wholesale carriage fee commanded by its 24-hour radio station Canal M to maintain programming and avoid laying off much-needed paid staff, according to an application made public Thursday.
The company says the station, which creates content for visual- and hearing-impaired Canadians, is facing a “perfect storm” of lower revenues from cord cutting, a higher cost of living, aging digital infrastructure that needs an upgrade, and an increasing population of vulnerable people who have…
Continue Reading
The CRTC on Thursday launched a proceeding into the possible replacement of an existing AM station in Wingham, Ontario using one of the last known FM frequencies in the area.
The commission is seeking comments, due April 7, on the market capacity and the appropriateness of issuing a call for radio applications to serve the area.
The proceeding follows an application by Blackburn Media Inc. to operate an English-language FM station on the 104.3 MHz frequency, instead of its existing AM facility, which it said has experienced failing equipment and infrastructure that are expensive to maintain.
In the event there is no…
Continue Reading
Telus and Rogers have reached a distribution agreement for the latter’s new Food Network, HGTV, Discovery, Investigation Discovery, Bravo and Magnolia channels.
Telus announced Wednesday its Optik TV customers are now getting an exclusive free preview of Rogers’s premium lifestyle and entertainment channels until April 14.
Starting April 11, Optik TV customers will be able to add the individual channels to their existing plan for $5 each or choose from two theme packs: Food & Home for $10 per month, which includes Food Network, Magnolia Network and HGTV; or Discovery & Reality, also $10 per month, which includes Bravo, Discovery and…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal on Tuesday granted Rogers its request to appeal two decisions of the CRTC that froze its ability to move certain Corus channels in its cable packages.
Rogers had provided notice that it was terminating its carriage agreement with Corus by the end of 2024 and, as part of that, wants to remove Corus’s Slice from certain television packages and replace the media company’s Flavour and Home networks with its own Food Network and HGTV so customers, it says, are not scrambling to find the American programming it…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell is accusing the CRTC of putting the cart before the horse when it ordered new pole attachment obligations without first updating the cost for competitors to put their equipment on its structures.
In late January, the CRTC imposed on the legacy telcos – Bell, Telus, and SaskTel – new obligations to speed up the ability of competitors to attach their broadband equipment to the poles: absorb the full cost of “corrective work” or getting poles up to compliance standards; schedule both make-ready and corrective work together on strict timelines set by the commission in…
Continue Reading
