By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Wednesday ordered Telus to include in its support structure tariff a provision allowing third parties to be compensated directly from the telco in the event the structure is forced to move by a government entity.
The interim ruling comes after Telus was ordered to file a tariff proposal that would outline how it would provide for such compensation to the third parties, an issue that was triggered by a Rogers and Shaw application before the former acquired the latter. The issue was that while Telus was being compensated for the move ordered by British…
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Foreign streamers say base contribution will make collaborations more difficult
By Ahmad Hathout
Foreign and standalone online streamers that make $25 million or more will be required to contribute five per cent of their previous year’s Canadian revenues into the system, an amount the CRTC said Tuesday would draw $200 million per year into supporting Canadian content.
The regulator said it is prioritizing certain categories of content to the receive funds, including the expensive-to-produce local news on radio and television, and content catering to French-language, indigenous and minority communities.
Of the five per cent, two per cent will go toward the Canada Media…
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Global studios and streamers have been the driving force behind the expansion of the Canadian audiovisual production sector, with global production fuelling employment at a rate three times higher than that of domestic production over the 2012-2022 period, according to a new report from KPMG commissioned by the Motion Picture Association – Canada (MPA-Canada).
Using data from a May 2023 report from the Canadian Media Producers Association, the KPMG report notes foreign location and service (FLS) productions in 2022 accounted for more than half (57 per cent) of total film, television and streaming production…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking Rogers to maintian TekSavvy’s ability to service its customers at two Toronto buildings until it can make a determination on an application by the wholesaler that warns the cable giant’s move to pure fibre would leave competitors behind.
The request came two days after TekSavvy complained that Rogers’s transition from hybrid fibre-coax facilities to pure fibre would mean it would lose 29 existing and possibly more future subscribers at the 191 and 201 Sherbourne Street buildings.
The regulator said in a Friday letter shared with Cartt that it is “concerned that customers…
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Disconnections are expected June 4, TekSavvy said
By Ahmad Hathout
TekSavvy is again asking the CRTC to intervene in a case where its internet customers are at risk of losing service because the cable network from which it leases capacity is being migrated to pure fibre.
In a Part 1 application dated Wednesday that has yet to be posted at the time of this story’s publishing, Teksavvy said 29 customers at two buildings – 191 and 201 Sherbourne Street – in Toronto are at risk of disconnection because Rogers told the Chatham-based company that it is migrating those hybrid fibre-coax facilities to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor is asking the CRTC to investigate whether Bell is giving itself an unfair advantage by allegedly adding more hurdles for internet service providers looking to access the telco’s last-mile fibre facilities.
The issue is related to what additional equipment Bell requires of third-party competitors to connect their customers to certain speeds on its fibre network, as according to its tariff pages for the interim access regime that went into effect May 7.
Quebecor, on behalf of Videotron, is alleging in its intervention to amended tariff pages filed by Bell that the latter is unnecessarily requiring optical network terminal…
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The CRTC announced Monday it has approved separate broadcasting licence applications for a French-language community FM radio station and a French-language commercial FM station in Joliette, Quebec.
In its March 2023 application, Radio Nord-Joli Inc. had said it wanted to operate a community FM station in Joliette to replace its existing French-language community station CFNJ-FM in Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon (a town located roughly 35 kilometres north of Joliette). Radio Nord-Joli also requested to transfer its existing rebroadcasting transmitter in Saint-Zénon to the new licence and to revoke CFNJ-FM’s licence. The CRTC has approved these…
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By Connie Thiessen
The CRTC is proposing cost recovery regulations that would apply to the largest online platforms that distribute news content as it continues to set up a framework around implementation of the Online News Act.
With the vast majority of the commission’s operations funded by fees charged to companies it regulates, it’s now proposing additional cost recovery rules in light of work required under the new Act. In a call for comments on the suggested measure, published Thursday, the CRTC proposes charging the largest digital operators to fund that new work, stipulating it will not collect from news businesses.
Cost recovery…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has ordered Bell’s Northwestel to stop adding a $20 surcharge for DSL internet services that don’t bundle the telecom’s home phone service.
The surcharge was approved by the commission in 2016 for the purpose of providing the telecom with enough revenue to complete by the end of 2017 DSL network upgrades in 45 communities in the Far North, which are considered high-cost serving areas outside of Whitehorse, Yukon, and Yellowknife.
“With the completion of these upgrades, the surcharge’s purpose has been fulfilled and it should no longer be added to customers’ bills,” the CRTC…
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The CRTC will decide how much it will cost Bell and Quebecor to broadcast each other’s sports channels, it said this month.
The two companies agreed that they could not hash out commercial terms to distribute Bell’s RDS and Videotron’s TVA Sports and filed in November a request for the regulator to make that decision.
The commission agreed in a letter dated May 15, saying the request met all the required criteria for a final offer arbitration hearing: the dispute is shared between the two; it concerns only monetary issues; the parties exhausted all methods to come to an agreement; the…
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