OTTAWA – Mississauga-based telecom service provider Axsit is in breach of its obligations to customers and Commissioner of Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS), says the CCTS.
Axsit, which offers VoIP phone service to residential and home office customers, joined CCTS in April 2013 as is required by the CRTC in order for it to participate in the complaint-resolution processes established by CCTS.
CCTS said that it received a complaint from an Axsit customer in January 2016 alleging that the company had billed the customer for long distance charges for calls which had actually been made fraudulently by a third party. Following…
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Growing in small market Quebec
MONTREAL – It only started in 2012, but Quebec’s Attraction Radio has already grown, entirely through acquisitions, to become one of the top radio broadcast owners in Quebec, based on a business model of small-market stations each maintaining their own identity and local management.
On Tuesday, the CRTC published the latest acquisition by this group, of CIPC-FM Port-Cartier (Radioactive 99.1) and CKCN-FM (PUR FM 94.1) in nearby Sept-Îles, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, 500 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.
Both stations were owned by four shareholders, Yvan Beaulieu, Jean Laverdière, Luc Hovington and…
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Nextologies is changing the economics of signal transport
SLAVA LEVIN WANTS to show me something.
We walk through his new building in Markham, past his master control which now offers 107 TV channels to Canadian distributors (making ECG the largest broadcaster in Canada, by number of channels), past one of his studios where a Canadian Filipino-language talk show is being shot, and through a tech-cluttered storage area to a set of tight, narrow stairs and then a ladder.
We’re now on the roof among 27 satellite dishes pointed out to the present and future of far lower-cost signal transport than the TV…
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OTTAWA – Certain types of differential pricing should be banned because they can harm competition, stifle innovation and increase prices, said the Competition Bureau in response to the CRTC’s plan to review the controversial practice.
Differential pricing occurs when an internet service provider (ISP) charges one price for customers to consume one type of content, and another price for other types of content, a move that can influence the fundamental choices that consumers make.
In its submission to the Commission, the Bureau advocates that differential pricing where ISPs receive financial benefit from content providers for favouring their content should be prohibited. An…
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MARKHAM, ON – Canadian radio industry veteran Chuck McCoy will receive the 2016 Hall of Fame Award from the Ontario Association of Broadcasters at the organization’s fall conference in November.
A Board nominated honour, the OAB Hall of Fame is presented to individuals who have spent most of their careers working for private broadcasters and demonstrated a commitment to the highest standards of broadcast excellence.
With 51 years in the Canadian broadcasting industry, McCoy began his professional career on-air in 1965. His on-air hosting included stops at four stations, culminating with five years at the iconic 1050 CHUM. Over the span…
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GATINEAU – In an unsurprising decision, the CRTC denied Bell Canada’s request to review and vary the decision which gives third party independent Internet service providers access to incumbent networks’ newest fibre infrastructure.
Bell had submitted a Part 1 application to the CRTC to review and vary Telecom Regulatory Policy 2015-326 that states incumbent telecom providers must introduce a “disaggregated wholesale broadband access service” (DBS) so that independent ISPs gain access to FTTH (fibre to the home) facilities.
In a nutshell, Bell believes the CRTC’s decision has unfairly changed the rules governing fibre-to-the-home broadband networks by mandating…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – SiriusXM Canada is among six Canadian companies that have paid a total of $1.23M as part of settlements over violations to Canada's telemarketing rules, the CRTC said Wednesday.
Further to an investigation, the CRTC’s chief compliance and enforcement officer found that SiriusXM Canada hired telemarketers to conduct calls on its behalf, and that the telemarketers in turn called Canadians who were registered on the company’s internal do not call list. The company has paid a $650,000 penalty.
Raid Inc. paid a $500,000 penalty after the marketer hired call centres to make calls on behalf of its clients, without ensuring…
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WINNIPEG – MTS said Wednesday that it has received a final order from the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench approving its proposed $3.9 billion acquisition by BCE.
The transaction, expected to close in late 2016 or early 2017, remains subject to regulatory approvals from the CRTC, the Competition Bureau, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) and the satisfaction or waiver of other customary closing conditions.
"We are pleased to receive the approval of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench for our proposed transaction with BCE," said MTS president and CEO Jay Forbes, in a statement. "This builds…
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OTTAWA – The federal government has finally kicked off its search for a new vice-chairperson of broadcasting, some seven months after former chair Tom Pentefountas vacated the role.
According to the posting, the incumbent is responsible for assisting the CRTC chairperson in providing effective leadership to the Commission, assuming responsibility for broadcasting issues, and for providing support to the management of the administrative tribunal.
Candidates must apply online by July 19, 2016 via the Governor in Council website.
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Clearcable Summit
HAMILTON – The CRTC’s basic service obligation hearing often bogged down in consumer minutiae centering on what those in rural areas “should” be using with a bigger/better broadband connection potentially funded by the public purse or funds pulled from contributions by network owners (which, of course, come from the monthly bills paid by all of us).
Are we talking about rolling out deeper, faster connectivity just so that everyone down every last country road can stream the new season of Orange Is The New Black in 4K? My answer (in my head anyway) was: “Who cares? That’s censorship. People…
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