The Canada Media Fund (CMF) on Monday invited industry members and organizations to help shape its 2024-2027 Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) Strategy by sharing their insights at in-person forums or via virtual sessions during the month of July.
EDIA community members can attend in-person sessions in Toronto (July 17), Vancouver (July 24) or Montreal (July 30). The meetings can also be joined virtually on Zoom, according to information on the registration form here. Industry organizations are invited to attend virtual sessions on July 29 in English and on July 31 in…
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The CRTC has approved a request from Northwestel for additional funding via the Broadband Fund to drive its fibre expansion in rural Whitehorse.
Representing the sixth increase in funding for its Yukon fibre project, Northwestel has been approved for a further 7.1 per cent increase ($4.1 million) in funding to add fibre for internet access services in the rural Whitehorse areas of Deep Creek, Golden Horn and Takhini River Road, adding approximately 250 households to the overall project scope.
This brings the total CRTC Broadband Fund funding for Northwestel’s Yukon fibre project to $62.7 million.
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The CRTC is asking for comments on a Part 1 application from the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) to expand its mandate so it can provide financial support for public interest participation in Online News Act proceedings.
The BPF was established in 2012 to help support research and reimburse the costs of public interest participation in the CRTC’s broadcasting proceedings.
A Part 1 application dated June 18, posted to the CRTC’s website on July 5, proposes that the BPF’s mandate now be expanded to accept applications for public interest intervenor costs in CRTC digital news proceedings under the Online…
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The combination of measures that Rogers undertook after its major service outage in July 2022 are satisfactory to improve the Rogers network resiliency and reliability as well as to address the root cause of the outage, according to a report by Xona Partners Inc. released last week by the CRTC.
The report, commissioned by the CRTC via a contract awarded in 2023, details the results of an independent assessment of the Rogers network architecture for reliability and resiliency, as well as the processes in place at Rogers to manage network changes and…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A consortium of large cable companies is blasting a proposal by Telus to significantly increase its pole attachment rate in British Columbia and Alberta, saying it will unjustly cost third parties millions of dollars in extra payments annually.
In April, Telus filed a proposal to increase its rate per pole by just over 50 per cent, from $19.33 annually, or $1.61 monthly, to $29.83, or $2.49 per month. It said it needs to do this because of significant cost increases since the last approved tariff in 2010, which include a faster-than-average replacing of existing poles and increased costs…
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The CRTC conditionally approved Thursday up to $272-million to the Government of Nunavut to build a 1,300-kilometre fibre transport connection to four remote Inuit communities in the territory.
The fibre line funded by round three of the $750-million Broadband Fund is expected to provide the requisite transport infrastructure to provide high-speed internet – with minimum speeds of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload – to over 80 essential public institutions, including six health car centres and 15 schools, early learning and community learning centres.
The government’s application was supported by several local associations and businesses. It now requires the support…
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MPA filed challenge against mandated foreign streamer contribution to news
By Ahmad Hathout
Amazon and Apple have filed Wednesday separate challenges at the Federal Court of Appeal against the CRTC’s decision to impose a base contribution on foreign streamers, arguing among other issues that it isn’t equitable because it doesn’t require the same for online Canadian streamers that are part of large broadcasting groups and goes beyond Canadian contributions for audio services.
Amazon, which has a video and music streaming service, said the CRTC’s mandated five per cent of annual revenues is contrary to section four of cabinet’s policy direction to the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
One of the major contention points throughout the CRTC’s proceeding to bring online streamers under its ambit is now the subject of a judicial review application at the Federal Court of Appeal, as the Canadian affliate of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) hopes the court will hear its argument that foreign streamers shouldn’t have to contribute to a news fund from which its members derive no benefit.
As part of the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, the regulator issued a proposed order early last month that foreign streamers making $25 million or more must…
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Telus announced Tuesday several private investments totalling $21.1 million to deploy and update its networks in Quebec’s Lower St. Lawrence, Gaspé Peninsula and North Shore regions.
These investments are being paired with financial contributions of $17.55 million from the government of Quebec and $14.4 million from the CRTC’s Broadband Fund, which will allow for the addition of a total of 35 new 5G wireless sites across the three regions, according to Telus.
In the Lower St. Lawrence region, money from the Quebec government announced in April will enable 12 new sites to be built to…
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A request by Rogers to postpone the completion date for its transport fibre project in Bruce Station, Ont., by 10 and a half months has been approved by the CRTC.
The project, which is receiving funding through the CRTC’s Broadband Fund, was previously granted a six-month extension by the commission in January. Rogers had said the additional time was needed to mitigate the discovery of asbestos at one of the project sites. As a condition of the funding, the project was originally supposed to be completed by February 2024.
In its…
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