OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Public payphones still have a role in Canadian society, and telcos must follow a new series of measures before removing the last public phone in a community, the CRTC said Thursday.
Despite their dwindling usage, payphones are important because of their accessibility, their one-time per-use cost, and unlimited time for local and toll-free calls, the Commission said. It is calling for public input on a proposal that all incumbent telephone companies be obligated to notify communities affected, including municipalities and First Nations, before removing the last public telephone. Telcos would also have to notify communities before removing…
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GATINEAU – Cartt.ca has learned that the next decisions stemming from the CRTC’s massive TV Policy Review (the Let’s Talk TV proceeding) are scheduled to be released on March 12.
But, don’t expect to hear word on a mandated skinny basic or what the new pick and pay rules will be that day because the announcement in two weeks is expected to be all about content only. The decisions on distribution and packaging are tentatively set to be released a week later – on or about March 19, according to sources. That day is not set in stone,…
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TORONTO – Competition in business television is about to get fierce.
On Thursday, Channel Zero and Bloomberg Media will officially announce a new, long-term, exclusive partnership which will see the independent Canadian broadcaster launch a new, Canadian version of the popular business news cable channel early in the second half of 2015. (Bloomberg TV, the financial news channel owned by billionaire entrepreneur and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is currently on the CRTC’s eligible satellite list and is carried by most large and many small distributors in Canada, the notable exceptions being Bell Canada and Vidéotron.)
“It’s a really…
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GATINEAU – Increased network costs, significant growth in bandwidth usage and outdated cost studies are three of the main reasons Shaw Communications has had to raise its Third Party Internet Access rates, the company said in a filing to the CRTC last week.
In response to questions from the Commission on Tariff Notice 22 (TN 22) as well as comments from a number of independent ISPs, the Calgary-based media and communications company offered additional details on the costs behind its TPIA services. In the February 19 submission, Shaw said it only stands to reason that wholesale broadband rates…
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OTTAWA – Bracebridge and Gravenhurst , 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 those areas.
The Commission said Tuesday that it issued the call after receiving an application from Owen Sound-based Bayshore Broadcasting Corporation for a new commercial mainstream music station in that market. The Bracebridge and Gravenhurst area is currently served by CFBG-FM Bracebridge, an English-language commercial radio station operated by Vista Radio Ltd.
Interventions are due by March 26 and the deadline to file replies…
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OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal is being asked to weigh in on an issue that seems to combine a bunch of hot-button issues facing the CRTC: vertical integration, consumer rights, net neutrality, wireless service billing and the blurring line between telecommunications and broadcasting.
And all because of a student from Manitoba.
Bell Mobility has filed for leave to appeal CRTC Broadcasting and Telecom Decision 2015-26, rendered Jan. 29, which orders Bell and Quebecor’s Vidéotron to cease providing mobile video applications that are exempt from counting toward the cap on their wireless data plans….
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TORONTO – As part of a media tour in Toronto last week, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Styles sat down with Cartt.ca to discuss the telecom company’s most recent financial year and its upcoming projects. However, he declined to comment on this spring’s upcoming AWS-3 spectrum auction, of which SaskTel is one of the applicants planning to bid on licences in Saskatchewan.
“We’re prohibited by the federal government to discuss that, while the auction is getting ready to kick off,” Styles (pictured) explained. “I can’t really comment on AWS-3 at all, otherwise I’ll be getting a call.”
As…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has directed all incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) that have support structure services to revise the definition of subscriber drop wire in their respective tariffs.
The decision comes as a result of a show cause proceeding initiated by the Commission last November that urged ILECs to be consistent with the revised definition of subscriber drop wire established for Bell Aliant in a billing dispute between that company and Eastlink over payments for service poles.
As Cartt.ca reported, the Regulator clarified in the Bell Aliant/Eastlink matter that a “service pole” is to include all poles on…
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OTTAWA – Despite assertions from Bell Media and Telus to the contrary, there is nothing “frivolous or vexatious” about its complaint over the tied selling of Bell’s CraveTV streaming service to existing TV subscription services, says the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC).
In a response to the CRTC dated February 17, PIAC-CAC asked the CRTC to both reject requests by Bell and Telus to dismiss its application, and to deny Bell’s alternative request for an extension of time to file an answer. The seven page document goes on to refute Bell’s allegation that the…
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OTTAWA — Bell Media has asked the CRTC to dismiss a complaint filed last week by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and Consumers’ Association of Canada (CAC) that called into question the tied selling of Bell’s CraveTV streaming service to existing TV subscription services.
And in a separate procedural request submitted to the CRTC today, Telus (one of CraveTV’s distributors) asked the Commission “to either return the CraveTV application to PIAC-CAC in order for deficiencies to be remedied or to close the file.”
As reported last week, in one of two applications submitted to the CRTC on February 6,…
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