Regulator looking into adapting mandatory distribution, skinny basic to online services
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC launched a proceeding Thursday to examine what types of challenges Canadian broadcasters and producers face when navigating the new broadcasting market and when trying to get their content in front of audiences.
The commission is seeking answers by February 24 to questions related to the specific challenges faced by broadcasters – distinct from individual creators and producers – in having their services and content promoted and discovered; how, if applicable, does the regulatory framework help or hinder that discoverability; whether the commission, if it must, support…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell Media has filed a complaint to the CRTC alleging Rogers wants to give itself an undue preference by replacing two of its newly rebranded channels with the cable company’s newly acquired programming — Discovery and Investigation Discovery (I.D.).
Bell previously had the rights to the Discovery and the I.D. brands, but lost them to Rogers when rights owner Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) signed a multi-year licensing deal with the cable giant this past summer. To make up for that, Bell announced in October that it acquired the rights to bring USA…
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The CRTC announced in December it has approved Maritime Broadcasting System Limited (MBS)’s application to acquire five English-language commercial radio stations and a transmitter from Bell Media Radio Atlantic Inc. (Bell Atlantic), in a transaction valued at $4.4 million.
The radio stations include CKTO-FM and CKTY-FM in Truro, Nova Scotia, and CKBC-FM Bathurst, CJCJ-FM Woodstock, and CIKX-FM Grand Falls and its transmitter CIKX-FM-1 Plaster Rock in New Brunswick.
MBS operates 24 radio stations across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island; however, it does not currently operate stations in the markets where it is acquiring these…
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Telecom says it is willing to pay ‘reasonable charges and rejoin CCTS’
By Ahmad Hathout
Small ISP InnSys Inc. is calling on the CRTC to institute changes at the chief complaints watchdog for telecom and broadcasting matters, a year after it was expelled for failing to comply with some terms of its membership.
The Ontario-based provider of internet, IPTV and home phone services filed Part 1 application made public late last month asking the regulator to consider implementing four changes on the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS): make the watchdog implement a “clear and transparent system that allows ISPs to…
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Indigenous broadcaster APTN announced Monday it is teaming up again with Rogers’s Sportsnet to bring a third season of Hockey Night in Canada in Cree to its viewers as well as three NHL games broadcast in Inuktitut for the first time.
Available on the APTN and APTN Languages channels, Hockey Night in Canada in Cree features play-by-play commentary from Clarence Iron, joined by analysts Earl Wood, John Chabot and Jason Chamakese. Hockey Night in Canada in Inuktitut will be hosted by Pujjuut Kusugak and David Ningeongan.
The games to be broadcast in Plains Cree will feature the Winnipeg Jets vs. the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Competition Bureau is suing Rogers at the Competition Tribunal for allegedly misleading customers by marketing its mobile wireless data as “unlimited” when speeds are throttled after the data cap has been exceeded.
“Rogers has made, and continues to make, representations to the public that convey the materially false or misleading general impression that Rogers Infinite Unlimited Plans offer unlimited and infinite data, allowing consumers to use as much data as they want, free from data limits,” the bureau claims in its tribunal application, filed Monday. “In fact, Rogers is providing plans whose high-speed data is limited to…
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By Connie Thiessen
WildBrain is selling its majority stake in its TV channels in a deal valued at $40 million.
The company announced Wednesday that independent, Halifax-based children’s studio IoM Media Ventures – led by former DHX Media CEO Dana Landry – will acquire 66 2/3 per cent of its television broadcast business, including Family Channel, Family Jr., WildBrainTV and Télémagino, pending CRTC approval.
Under terms of the agreement, WildBrain says it expects to receive more than $40 million over the next four years from the transaction. The deal is expected to close in three to six months, with WildBrain intending to…
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By Connie Thiessen
Total TV and film production volume was down by 18.5 per cent in Canada compared to last year, according to data released by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA).
The report, Profile 2024: An Economic Report on the Screen-based Media Production Industry in Canada, indicates that between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, the media production sector in Canada created 179,130 jobs, and generated $9.58 billion in production volume, contributing $11.04 billion to Canada’s GDP in 2023/24.
Despite pandemic growth in 2021/22 and 2022/23, total production volume declined by 18.5 per cent in 2023/24, which the CMPA says…
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Application comes after CRTC also said Rogers can’t change Corus channel numbers
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC ruled in a confidential decision last month that Rogers must continue carrying certain Corus channels and refrain from altering their channel numbers, even after the cable giant obtained an Ontario court opinion allowing it to make unilateral changes under its carriage agreements, according to new documents filed by Rogers at the Federal Court of Appeal Thursday.
The CRTC’s rulings on November 18 and 29 resulted from a confidential application filed by Rogers earlier this year that sought to have the CRTC lift a standstill and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The House committee on Industry is calling on the CRTC to launch a “full review of the matter of price certainty and the issue of surprise fees increasing during fixed term contracts” and to take regulatory action on it, according to a report that was delivered to the House floor last week.
The report also urges Industry Minister Francois Philippe-Champagne to “use his available powers in the interim to correct these unfair practices,” expresses “disappointment in Rogers Communications Inc. for not proactively disclosing the true costs of their products and services to consumers,” and “notes the detrimental impact…
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