MONTREAL – Bell has unveiled new products and support services to help make mobile communications more accessible for customers with speech, cognitive, physical, hearing and vision related disabilities.
The products include screen readers and hearing aid compatibility, video conferencing, assisted messaging and voice calling services, all designed to help customers take full advantage of their smart devices. They include:
– Doro 824 and Doro 824C smartphones
Tailored to customers with moderate visual, cognitive and physical needs, the Android powered Doro 824 is a smartphone featuring easy tap targets and icons, large text, bright colours, hearing aid compatibility, and a dedicated emergency button.
The fully…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – More than five years after the CRTC issued its deferral accounts decision, some 287 rural and remote communities in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec now have access to broadband Internet services.
Under a plan approved by the Commission in 2010, Bell Canada, MTS Allstream and Telus spent $422 million on broadband expansion to rural and remote communities using technologies such as digital subscriber line, fixed wireless and high-speed packet access. Bell connected 112 communities and MTS connected 16 in 2014. Telus finalized its expansion to 159 communities in December 2015.
“We are pleased that three of Canada’s…
Continue Reading
MP fumes his local anchors are now in Toronto
OTTAWA – The ongoing local television struggles were the topic of the day at the Heritage Committee this week as it kicked off its study on the media and local communities (just three short weeks after the CRTC did the exact same thing).
Officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Competition Bureau and the CRTC were at the inaugural meeting to provide MPs with background on the challenges facing the industry.
The nearly two-hour long session was mainly about giving and receiving information on the struggles of local TV, including…
Continue Reading
Rejects newspaper report on investor Catalyst Group concerns
TORONTO – Late Tuesday, Corus Entertainment slammed a newspaper report which quoted one of the company’s shareholders saying it had serious concerns over disclosure of information to minority shareholders currently deciding whether or not to support the $2.65 billion purchase of Shaw Media.
Corus issued a press release saying the National Post story featured “a number of misleading claims by The Catalyst Capital Group (“Catalyst”) regarding Corus’ proposed acquisition of Shaw Media Inc. (“Shaw Media”).”
The release then re-stated the company’s belief that the acquisition is “a game-changing opportunity to…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Many of the 40 companies and individuals who filed interventions in response to the CRTC’s call for comments on the proposed $2.65 billion purchase of Shaw Media Inc. by Corus Entertainment say at the very least the CRTC should hold a public hearing on it – while some said that the sheer size of the deal and the increased concentration of media under one roof means the Commission must apply its tangible benefits policy, too.
The Commission’s tangible benefits policy usually calls for 10% of the value of any TV…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC today announced that it has received 12 applications to operate radio stations serving urban Indigenous Canadians in major markets.
The regulator has received two applications for stations in Vancouver, three for Calgary, three for Edmonton, two for Toronto and two for Ottawa. Five organizations have submitted applications: the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta, Watwatay Native Communications Society, Northern Native Broadcasting, VMS Media Group Ltd. and First Peoples Radio Inc.
Frequencies became available in these markets after the CRTC revoked, in June 2015, Aboriginal Voices Radio’s licences for its radio stations. The…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – The CRTC has unveiled a new online tool designed to help connect Canadians with the phone, mobile, Internet and TV service provider that best meets their needs.
The new Communication Service Providers in Canada online tool, launched just days ahead of the Commission's skinny basic TV deadline of March 1st, allows consumers to search for providers in their area, includes facts about switching providers, and links to third-party websites that rate and compare the quality and value of various communication packages.
Anyone can provide information to help update the Communications Service list by logging onto the web link.
“During our consultations…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC has denied a request by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) to mandate both full Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) national wholesale access services and wholesale tower and site sharing services.
CNOC made the request last August, asking the CRTC to “review and vary” its Regulatory framework for wholesale mobile wireless services (a.k.a. Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2015-177). That policy decision, issued in May 2015, saw the Commission opt to regulate wholesale roaming services but continue to forbear from the regulation of MVNO and tower and site sharing services. CNOC submitted that multiple issues, including…
Continue Reading
CALGARY – Two weeks ahead of the CRTC’s March 1st deadline for all Canadian carriers to offer a stripped down “skinny” starter TV package to customers, Shaw Cable this week soft-launched Limited TV, its $25/month group of local broadcast stations and mandated must-carry channels.
As readers can see from the image (and this link), the package (this is what a customer from Edmonton would see on the Shaw web site) includes all Canadian broadcast stations (in HD and SD), as well as must carries APTN, AMI, Voiceprint, TVA and the Weather Network.
Expect other carriers to follow…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais brushed aside certain complaints and complainants Wednesday (saying they come from entitled establishment groups unwilling to change) in a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto where he addressed the Commission’s recent policy decisions and public proceedings.
Blais (pictured above on BNN after his speech) addressed the various grievances lobbed towards the Commission and its recent regulatory actions, quoting author Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: “Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you’re wrong,” noting that his Regulator can relate.
“Some disapprove of the course the CRTC…
Continue Reading
