OTTAWA – Can Canada maintain a rights market of its own for cultural content in the face of rampant and rapid technological change? If so, how? Should we? At what costs? What would any new rules say?
These very difficult, complex questions, along with Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s recent announcement that our aged legislation covering Canadian content rules will soon be getting an overhaul, were front and centre during the first morning of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Biennial conference into new developments in communications law and policy at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.
For example,…
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MONTREAL – The federal government and CRTC should allow “competitive pressure” to spur the telecommunications industry’s investments in new broadband infrastructure, and not repeat the “mistakes" caused by intervening in the wireless sector, says a new report released Thursday by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).
“Critics who note that access to high-speed Internet is limited in some regions of Canada, or among less advantaged socioeconomic groups, invariably conclude that government intervention will be necessary to close the gap, but what they consider a market failure is actually just the normal course of technology adoption”, reads the 2016 edition of The State of Competition in…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Telecommunications service providers cannot charge for a service that is not, and cannot be, provided following a cancellation, the CRTC stressed Thursday.
The Commission made the comments after issuing two decisions relating to its prohibition of 30-day cancellation policies, a move designed to make it easier for consumers to switch service providers. In the first decision, the Commission denied a request by Telus to direct Shaw Communications to cease requiring the payment of liquidated damages when small business customers cancel retail local voice or Internet services before service installation work has begun.
Noting that Telus’ focus on a single service…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – Despite a decrease in expenses, Canadian conventional television stations saw profits continue their downward slide in 2015, according to the CRTC’s latest statistical and financial report for this sector released Wednesday.
According to Conventional Television – Statistical and Financial Summaries 2011-2015, profits before interest and taxes (PBIT) for private local TV stations declined from -$138.7 million to -$140.9 million, and the PBIT margin decreased from -7.7% to -8%.
Revenues fell by 2.6% (or $46.6 million) from $1.8 billion in 2014 to $1.76 billion for the broadcast year ended August 31, 2015. While revenues from the sale of local advertising…
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OTTAWA – The local news business, while still attracting eyeballs, has ceased working from a financial perspective, Bell Canada told a Parliamentary committee on Tuesday. Echoing its appearance in front of the CRTC earlier this year, the company argued in front of MPs that creating a fund dedicated to local news programming would definitely help counteract falling advertising revenue.
Speaking at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, Wendy Freeman, president at CTV News, noted that 2011 advertising revenue from private Canadian conventional TV stations has declined by $325 million, $91 million at Bell Media…
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MONTREAL and WINNIPEG – BCE Inc. is buying Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS) in a transaction valued at $3.9 billion, the companies announced early Monday.
The combined company's Manitoba operations will be known as Bell MTS, recognizing the power of the MTS brand in the province. Winnipeg becomes Western Canada headquarters for Bell and, with the addition of MTS's 2,700 employees, Bell's Western team grows to 6,900 people.
Bell pledged to invest $1 billion in capital throughout Manitoba after the transaction closes to extend the availability of its Gigabit Fibe Internet, rollout Fibe TV and expand its LTE wireless network. MTS' data…
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OTTAWA – Sudbury, ON could soon have a new radio station after the CRTC issued a call for comments on market capacity and on the appropriateness of issuing a call for radio applications to serve the area.
The Commission said Friday that it issued the call after receiving an application from Larche Communications Inc. for a new English-language commercial radio station to serve that market. Based in Midland, ON, Larche currently operates four radio stations in Ontario including KICX 91.7 FM in Sudbury.
Interventions are due by June 1 and the deadline to file replies is June 10, 2016. Following receipt of…
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GATINEAU – The telecommunications regulator should let market forces and targeted government funding finish the broadband job, according to Quebecor Media. The company told the CRTC on Thursday that it should coordinate efforts on affordability and adoption with the federal government, something other companies have also said during the hearing.
Manon Brouillette, president and CEO of Quebecor’s cable, broadband and wireless division Vidéotron, noted during her opening remarks that private sector efforts along with government programs are showing results. In fact, she said that by 2017, 97% of Canadians will have access to broadband as a result of the Connecting…
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OTTAWA – Quebec City may soon have a new radio station after the CRTC issued a call for comments on market capacity and on the appropriateness of issuing a call for radio applications to serve the area.
The Commission said Thursday that it issued the call after receiving an application from Dufferin Communications Inc. for an English-language commercial radio station, as well as an application from Gilles Lapointe and Nelson Sergerie (OBCI) for a French-language commercial radio station in that market. Both applicants proposed to use 105.7 MHz FM, one of the last known FM frequencies available in the region.
Interventions are due by May 30…
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TORONTO – Just ahead of its Discoverability Summit next month, the CRTC and NFB announced plans to co-host a youth edition on Monday at the CBC Atrium in Toronto.
The event will feature discussions with millennials on how they consume and discover content, and the ideas and strategies generated from the Youth Summit will not only help experts and leaders better understand this generation, but directly be embedded into the program for the Discoverability Summit on May 10 – 11, 2016.
Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly will be a guest of honour at the event,…
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