By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s plea that the start date be retroactive for its access to Bell’s wireless network on mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) rates flies in the face of the CRTC’s requirement that an agreement for that access first be signed, Bell is arguing to the regulator.
The CRTC ruled this past summer that Quebecor must sign a separate network access agreement on top of a commission-established tariff agreement to access Bell’s network on MVNO rates. Quebecor alleged in a review-and-vary application challenging that decision last month that the regulator failed to consider that Freedom Mobile and…
Continue Reading
The Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) announced Tuesday a new digital advertising and social media campaign encouraging Canadians to join its fight to have the Big Three telecoms — Telus, Bell and Rogers — banned from accessing the wholesale aggregated internet regime.
CNOC’s “Break Free from the Big 3” campaign asserts, among other things, “Canadian regulators have allowed the Big 3 internet providers in Canada to freeze out the competition, giving them an unfair advantage over smaller and regional companies. Don’t fall for the illusion of choice.”
“Allowing the Big 3 to resell internet…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
WildBrain is alleging that Rogers is giving competing discretionary channels and the Disney+ streaming service preferential treatment over its own programming in the cable company’s TV guide, according to a heavily-redacted Part 1 application dated September but made public by the CRTC on Monday.
The application alleges that WildBrain’s Family Channel, Family Jr., WildBrain TV and Telemagino are being torpedoed by Rogers in favour of other “comparable discretionary television programming services with which the WildBrain Services are in direct competition,” which the Toronto-based company is alleging is “disrupting the children’s discretionary television market for children’s programming, particularly on…
Continue Reading
The CRTC has approved on an interim basis tariff pages, including terms and conditions, for aggregated wholesale last-mile fibre access to provide competitors with workable access to the fibre networks of Canada’s large telephone companies by Feb. 13.
The telecom regulator in October 2024 set the interim wholesale fibre rates smaller players will pay Bell, Telus and SaskTel to use their last-mile fibre networks. In August 2024, the commission had ordered the large telecoms to provide competitors with workable wholesale access to their fibre networks by the February date.
In…
Continue Reading
Regulator forcing Northwestel to implement auto credits for outages
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC announced Thursday it is now collecting comments on how to implement a monthly internet subsidy for residents of Canada’s far north, the region with some of the most expensive high-speed internet services.
The regulator is contemplating providing the subsidy to internet service providers (ISPs) through the National Contribution Fund (NCF), which would then be delivered to eligible residents in all households of the region with sparse populations and difficult terrain. The NCF relies on ISP contributions and provides the funding for the CRTC’s flagship $750-million Broadband Fund.
The subsidy…
Continue Reading
Public broadcaster says it will hire up to 30 new journalists
CBC News announced Wednesday it will hire up to 30 new permanent journalists in 22 underserved communities across Canada, following the CRTC’s approval of Google’s plan to compensate Canadian news organization for use of their content.
Google has committed to providing a $100-million fund to host news content from news organizations across Canada, allowing it to be exempted under the Online News Act. CBC, which obtains funding from both private and public sources, is allowed to draw up to a maximum of seven per…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout and Linda Stuart
A watchdog that handles complaints for telecom and television services reported Wednesday that it received the highest number of complaints in its latest annual report, but its leadership stopped short of attributing the increase to more awareness of the organization.
Between August 1, 2023 and July 31, 2024, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Servies (CCTS) said it accepted 20,147 complaints, a 38 per cent increase from the 14,617 complaints a year prior. Because each complaint can raise more than one issue, the 20,147 complaints translated to a total of 38,874 issues.
Despite the significant increase,…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Corus executives said Friday they are confident the media company can lead in the lifestyle content segment, following what they say were strong fall viewership period for its newly branded food and home channels.
Co-CEO Troy Reeb said during a first quarter earnings conference call that the networks, Flavour and Home, have seen consistent viewership since it rebranded from Food Network and HGTV Canada – the rights to which were acquired by Rogers in a blockbuster deal this past summer.
Reeb cautioned that those now-competing channels have popular programming attached to them, meaning there will be fluctuations in audiences….
Continue Reading
Bell and Corus announced Wednesday an expansion of a multi-year agreement that will see Corus’s networks be distributed on Bell Fibe TV and Bell Satellite TV.
The agreement includes Corus’s new channels Flavour and Home through the media company’s StackTV streaming service, which had previously launched on the Bell Fibe TV app.
“Bell is a firm supporter of independent content providers, like Corus, that deliver compelling content that audiences want,” Payal Gabrani-Bahl, Bell’s senior vice president of consumer and small business, said in a press release. “We’re pleased to offer our Bell Fibe and Satellite TV customers the premier lifestyle networks…
Continue Reading
Regulator looking into adapting mandatory distribution, skinny basic to online services
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC launched a proceeding Thursday to examine what types of challenges Canadian broadcasters and producers face when navigating the new broadcasting market and when trying to get their content in front of audiences.
The commission is seeking answers by February 24 to questions related to the specific challenges faced by broadcasters – distinct from individual creators and producers – in having their services and content promoted and discovered; how, if applicable, does the regulatory framework help or hinder that discoverability; whether the commission, if it must, support…
Continue Reading
