By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada and the CRTC have released an advance notice today stating they intend to award a $1.5-million contract to a broadband measurement company to collect performance data on fixed-wireless speed claims of up to 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload – the federal objective.
In the notice, ISED said it is seeking only data from wireless service providers claiming to provide Internet service of “up to” 50/10 to households over wireless signals for verification purposes. The contractor will test performance by metric, time, location, service plan, distance to service towers and technology, according to…
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OTTAWA – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) today requested the CRTC immediately open an inquiry into the Rogers network outage impacting Canadians across the country starting around 4:30 a.m. ET this morning.
In a letter submitted to the CRTC, signed by PIAC’s executive director and general counsel John Lawford, and obtained by Cartt.ca, PIAC further requested the CRTC launch a public notice to examine whether Canadian telecommunications providers “should be required to provide a baseline of emergency planning, refund requirements, notice and transparency and other consumer protections, interconnection, wholesale and other requirements as conditions of service to operate…
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Mostly francophones from Québec
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – After a group of 60 people, including Radio-Canada personalities, sent an open letter to the CBC/Radio-Canada asking it to refuse to comply to the sanctions imposed by the CRTC on the use of the “N-word” on-air, more people and groups came out against the decision.
Some are asking the public broadcaster to pushback, some are demanding the Minister of Canadian Heritage or the Prime Minister to take a stand.
The Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, representing journalists in Québec, said through its president “All dialogue is healthy for a society, the…
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OTTAWA – Bell Mobility is asking the CRTC to review and vary its recent decision directing Bell, Rogers and Telus to make changes to the proposed terms and conditions outlined in their GSM-based wholesale mobile wireless roaming tariffs that incorporate seamless hand-off and 5G roaming.
Telecom Decision CRTC 2022-102 was issued April 6, 2022, in connection with the tariffs filed by Bell, Rogers and Telus in relation to a previous CRTC decision (TRP 2021-130) on implementing a regulated mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) system, which included determinations regarding seamless roaming.
Bell is arguing CRTC 2022-102 reaches beyond the scope of the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC today launched a consultation on whether stock footage costs should continue to be included in the criteria used for Canadian program certification.
Both the Commission and the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) have specific criteria for determining whether a production can be certified as “Canadian”. This includes (for both) a minimum 75% expenditure threshold paid to Canadians or Canadian businesses operating in the country for specific services costs.
Right now, the Commission categorizes stock footage as a “services” cost, which means it counts within the 75% expenditure threshold.
The Commission’s call for comments notes CAVCO announced in…
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60 persons, including leading Radio-Canada talent, ask the public broadcaster to disavow decision
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Last week, between St-Jean-Baptiste and Canada Day, the CRTC issued a decision blaming the CBC/Radio-Canada for saying on the air the N-word, which is part of the title of an iconic book in Québec, written by Pierre Vallières, a prominent member of the FLQ, a separatist/terrorist group of the sixties.
A letter signed by 60 people including leading on-air talent and journalists of Radio-Canada was sent on Sunday to the higher echelons of the CBC/Radio-Canada and published in La Presse on Monday….
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OTTAWA – Last week, the CRTC issued a decision renewing the licence for ATN South Asian Television (SATV) from Sept. 1, 2022, to Aug. 31, 2027 and denied the licensee’s requests related to access rights and conditions of licence around accessibility.
SATV is South Asian Television Canada Limited’s (ATN) third-language ethic discretionary service. It provides 75% of its programming in South Asian languages and the rest in English, according to its application to renew its licence.
ATN, which is eligible to operate SATV under an exemption order for discretionary services with fewer than 200,000 subscribers, requested to remain a licenced service….
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OTTAWA – The CRTC today announced it estimates its total telecommunications regulatory costs for April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, to be $48.07 million.
“This includes additional funding to secure the necessary incremental increases to the Commission’s resources to address both current and future regulatory operational requirements,” Telecom Order CRTC 2022-177, which announces the fees, says.
After accounting for a $0.55 million annual adjustment amount for the previous fiscal year, “the net billing for the Commission’s telecommunications fees for the 2022-2023 fiscal year is $47.520 million,” the decision says, adding it is an increase of 24.17% compared to 2021-2022.
For more,…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — The first paragraph of the CRTC’s decision to renew CBC/Radio-Canada’s TV and radio licenses was no surprise. The Commission is never going to deny a license to the national public broadcaster.
But many of the changes to its conditions of licence — and in particular the conditions it chose not to impose any more — are a major step toward implementing the new philosophies of the Ian Scott-led Commission. And that step does not come without some resistance — including from within the Commission.
Four paragraphs into the introduction of its mammoth, 68,000-word renewal decision issued…
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Two dissenting positions included with final decision
OTTAWA – The CRTC is forcing national public broadcaster Société Radio-Canada (SRC) to make a public written apology to a complainant who asked the Commission to reconsider the findings of the SRC’s French services ombudsman regarding the use of the “N-word” in French on the program Le 15-18.
A decision on the matter, issued today, specifies the SRC is also required to report to the Commission by Sept. 27 “on internal measures and programming best practices that it will put in place to ensure that it better addresses similar issues in the future.”
As…
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