By Ahmad Hathout
Corus has failed to show that any of its Disney-themed channels are comparable to Disney+ programming, making its undue preference complaint against Rogers unfounded, the cable giant said in response to the media company’s Part 1 application.
Corus filed the complaint last month alleging Rogers is giving itself an undue preference by trying to lure people to its Disney+ offerings – which Rogers provides in subscription and ad-supported formats – by manipulating how it positions those services to Corus’s Disney-theme specialty channels on the Ignite TV service, an aggregation platform. That manipulation allegedly includes the…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. has fired Thursday the first challenge to the CRTC’s decision to force it to open its last-mile fibre facilities to its major competitors, alleging the regulator relied in its decision on a cabinet direction that was already beyond the jurisdiction of the Governor in Council.
“The CRTC, by adhering to the cabinet direction, conducted a lengthy consultative exercise, with input from a broad spectrum of industry participants and interested parties, including SaskTel, in service of making a determination that was, in effect, already made,” the Crown corporation says in its memorandum to the Federal…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
An appeal application filed by the Canadian affiliate of an organization representing major foreign streaming giants that accuses the CRTC of baselessly forcing its members to contribute a portion of their Canadian revenues to news media should be tossed out because it was premature and the decision is a policy that cannot be challenged in court, according to the administrator of the fund that will handle the revenues.
The Canadian affiliate of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) – which includes Disney+, Netflix, Hayu, Paramount+, and PlutoTV – filed an application at the Federal Court of…
Continue Reading
By Len St-Aubin, a policy consultant who has worked for clients including Netflix, and was a member of the policy teams that developed the 1991 Broadcasting Act and the 1993 Telecommunications Act
On August 28, Cartt published Howard Law’s commentary rebutting my contention that Bill C-11 and CRTC regulation risk destabilizing market-driven CanCon.
Law took issue with my assertion that foreign streamers have driven the significant increase in foreign investment (FI) in CanCon over the last 10 years:
“…The fact is that foreign television companies around the globe were snapping up CanCon through pre-sales and advances…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Organizations representing news media and their workers are warning the CRTC not to redirect any of the $100 million they were earmarked by Google toward public interest participation in CRTC proceedings related to news linking matters.
The Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF), which bankrolls public interest participation in CRTC proceedings, filed a Part 1 application this summer requesting that the commission expand its mandate to include matters pertaining to large technology platforms that must pay to link to Canadian news content under the Online News Act. Google has already agreed to put an annual inflation-indexed $100…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal has granted Rogers’s application to challenge the CRTC’s decision to pick, in final offer arbitration, Quebecor’s offer to ride on the cable giant’s mobile wireless network.
The appeal court released its decision on August 16, almost exactly a year after Rogers filed an appeal disputing the July 2023 decision on the basis of an alleged lack of transparency by which the CRTC decided to select the Montreal-based company’s rate to lease wireless capacity.
Rogers has always claimed that the rate selected by the CRTC is “materially lower than…
Continue Reading
Media conglomerate Postmedia announced Thursday it is partnering with content and marketing company Contend to launch Postmedia Studios, which they say will leverage the new funding ecosystem brought by the Online Streaming Act to bring Canadian stories to film, television and short-form formats.
The companies said they already have a slate of original programming created by Canadians in the works, and all intellectual property will be created, owned and produced by Canadians.
“This includes film, television, and short-form formats that delve into compelling real-life stories and memorable historical events that have shaped the nation,” a press release said. “These productions will…
Continue Reading
Videotron’s discount brand Fizz announced Thursday it has expanded into new areas of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebecor to cover 2.2 million more people.
The new areas include Whistler and Kelowna in B.C.; Lethbridge and Red Deer in Alberta; Portage and La Prairie in Manitoba; and Gaspesie, Cote-Nord and Bas-Saint-Laurent areas of Quebec. The full service area list as of Thursday is available on the Fizz website.
The expansion is made possible by agreements Videotron has with larger mobile network operators under the CRTC’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) framework.
“We are proud to expand Fizz’s service…
Continue Reading
Rogers has submitted to the CRTC a restated application for an immediate temporary stay of the speed-matching requirement for its new retail gigabit internet services.
The amended application dated Aug. 23 was posted to the commission’s website on Aug. 29.
The changes to the cable giant’s initial application asking for an interim speed-matching exemption reflect the CRTC’s Aug. 13 decision to expand the last-mile fibre regime nationwide, Rogers explained in its new application.
The regulator had informed Rogers via an Aug. 6 letter that it would not consider the company’s request for an expedited…
Continue Reading
Telus announced late last week that it’s putting more streaming services into its EnContinu+ bundle for Telus and Koodo customers in Quebec.
Subscribers to the service will now get two options: a basic plan, which includes Netflix with ads, Club illico, Amazon Prime Video, and Telus Films and Series for $25 per month; and a premium plan, which all of the above and Netflix without ads for $38 per month. The bundles also include the Amazon Prime shipping service, whose subscription alone would give subscribers access to the video service.
“By bringing three of Quebec’s most popular streaming services into one plan, EnContinu+…
Continue Reading
