By Howard Law, author of Canada vs. California, and MediaPolicy.ca
Earlier this month Cartt published “C-11, CRTC, and destabilizing market-driven CanCon,” an opinion piece from Len St-Aubin.
Two years ago St-Aubin and I volleyed back and forth on the merits of the Online Streaming Act as it passed the House of Commons. I suppose the two grumpy old men are back at it again: St-Aubin’s recent column is an indictment of the current regulatory state of affairs and here I am responding.
For the sake of brevity and avoiding repetitious debate, I will…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Timeless Inc. says it always had the authority to make “strategic and organizations changes” when it hired Mediapro to run the day-to-day operations of OneSoccer, disputing Rogers’s claims that Timeless wasn’t controlling the streaming service when it filed an application alleging the cable giant was giving itself an undue preference by refusing to carry the soccer channel.
The claim was made in response to a Part 1 application filed by Rogers this month, which alleges that Mediapro, the Canadian subsidiary of Spain’s GRUP Mediapro, not Canadian-run Timeless, had full control of the service. If that…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers says it cannot be expected to continue negotiations to carry OneSoccer because it believes the service was controlled by a non-Canadian at the time the purported owner, Timeless Inc., filed a complaint with the CRTC alleging the cable giant gave itself an undue preference by refusing to broadcast its programming.
Over a year after the CRTC ruled that Rogers must negotiate with Timeless on OneSoccer’s carriage, the broadcaster has filed a Part 1 application made public Friday alleging the CRTC didn’t have the authority to make that ruling because the soccer service was controlled…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Media company Blue Ant’s request to reduce its obligations to programs of national interest (PNI) from 13.5 to five per cent of annual revenues is “unprecedented” and would spell the loss of an important contribution to the content production system, creatives are saying in submission published Tuesday.
The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) said in an opposing submission to Blue Ant’s July request that the Toronto-based company’s PNI spending is essential to independent productions and the expression of diversity of Canadian and indigenous talent.
“Blue Ant’s historical PNI report is a testimony of the broadcaster’s important…
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The CRTC has asked Rogers and Cogeco to continue to provide competitors access to their networks as the regulator moves to address the impact of copper decommissioning on the wholesale internet market.
On the same day the regulator released its wholesale rate decision, the CRTC sent a letter to various large and regional telecoms Tuesday notifying them that it is asking Rogers and Cogeco to continue to provide competitors access to its older facilities as they move toward pure fibre.
Rogers and TekSavvy asked the CRTC in June to suspend a Part 1 application filed by the independent…
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Competitors are left wondering about rates and implications of five-year access immunity
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Tuesday ordered the largest telephone companies to provide wholesale access to their existing last-mile fibre networks across the country by February 13, 2025, but is shielding from the regime any new builds for five years.
The order is an expansion of the temporary regime ordered in November 2023 that forced Bell and Telus to provide competitors bundled access to their middle- and last-mile fibre networks in Ontario and Quebec, which has been in force since May 7. The CRTC will keep the existing rates…
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By Connie Thiessen
Corus Entertainment has filed a complaint with the CRTC, alleging Rogers’ undue disadvantage in the wake of its merger last year with Shaw Communications, is leading it to engage “in predatory behaviour, enabled by dominant size and scale, to foreclose on potential competition.”
The Part 1 application, published in redacted form on the CRTC website on Monday, focuses specifically on Rogers move to offer the ad-supported version of Disney+ to existing Ignite TV customers, which Corus says is part of an effort to lure subscribers away from its Disney-themed specialty channels. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that Rogers has “actively favoured Disney+ over Corus’ Disney-themed channels when subscribers attempt to search for content;…
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CRTC staff said in a letter last week to Rogers that it is suspending consideration of the cable company’s Part 1 application for an immediate temporary stay of the speed-matching requirement for its recently introduced retail gigabit internet services until Rogers files proposed wholesale tariffs for the new speed tiers.
Rogers filed its interim stay request on July 25, the same day it launched its new gigabit services to retail customers. However, it has not yet filed a tariff application to introduce these new speed tiers at the wholesale level, the commission notes in…
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The CRTC on Monday approved on an exceptional basis a request from Northwestel Inc. to use a portion of the Broadband Fund funding previously allocated to its fibre project in Northwest Territories to rebuild a fibre-to-the-home network in the NWT community of Enterprise, which was damaged by wildfires in August 2023.
The commission has also approved a modified completion date for the project, giving Northwestel an additional year to complete it, since the rebuild is anticipated to begin in 2025.
The Enterprise network is part of a larger project approved for Broadband Fund money in…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers is asking for the CRTC’s assistance in breaking an impasse in which the cable company and the city of Ottawa cannot come to an agreement on certain terms for a new municipal access agreement (MAA).
The parties have been working since their previous 10-year MAA expired at the end of 2020 to resolve particular issues related to matters primarily centered on the cost of relocation.
Rogers writes in its Part 1 application, made public on Friday, that the parties have agreed on many terms of the new MAA, including that relocation costs – with some exceptions – should…
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