By Connie Thiessen
Music Canada, which represents the interests of Canada’s major record labels, says the CRTC’s move to impose mandatory contributions on the biggest music streamers, could amount to a “cultural policy disaster.”
In June, the commission announced that online streaming services not affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster that make $25 million or more in Canada, must contribute five per cent of their Canadian revenues to support the Canadian broadcasting system under the Online Streaming Act. Starting in the 2024-25 broadcast year, the funds will be directed to areas of immediate need, including local radio and television…
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Court opines on meetings between the regulator and the regulated
By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled this week that the CRTC has discretion in determining the method it uses to establish wholesale internet access rates, rejecting TekSavvy’s argument on appeal that the regulator failed to institute any method or technique when it rejected its own proposed lower wholesale rates based on methodological errors.
The CRTC had initially proposed significantly lower wholesale rates in a 2019 decision, which would have allowed independent service providers like TekSavvy to lease internet space from the larger players at a reduced cost. But…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Videotron’s Freedom Mobile announced Thursday all monthly plans will now include access to its 5G network and roaming in the United States and Mexico – including new low-cost options starting at $5 per month after a digital discount is applied.
With the $5 monthly digital discount applied across all plans, Freedom subscribers can now start at a mere $5 per month to get access to the next-generation network and roaming in the U.S. and Mexico with 100 MB of data, two hours of talk and unlimited texting. At $20, they can get 3 GB of data with two…
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The CRTC has approved an application from the CBC to exclude programming expenditures on the public broadcaster’s coverage of the Olympic and Paralympic Games from the calculation of its regulatory obligations relating to Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) and expenditures on programs of national interest (PNI).
In its Tuesday decision, the commission said it is granting the relief to CBC’s licensed English- and French-language audiovisual services with the recognition that CBC would have difficulty meeting its overall programming objectives and requirements if the application was denied, which would most likely result in the broadcaster reallocating spending currently slated…
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Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile announced Tuesday the expansion of its service area to 50 more cities and communities across B.C. and Alberta, made possible by partner agreements enabled by the CRTC’s mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) framework, according to a press release.
New additions to Freedom’s serviceable area include Chilliwack, Hope, Revelstoke and Salmon Arm in B.C., and Camrose, Wetaskiwin and Edson in Alberta. A full list of the new areas, including current subscription areas that now have additional coverage, can be found here. Freedom’s updated coverage map is here.
Freedom…
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Regulator said it believes Corus’s Global should receive ILNF funding
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is asking the public whether it should modify the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF) to expand eligibility, ensure news quality, and whether it should favour recipients operating in remote and underserved communities.
The commission launched Tuesday the consultation on revisiting the ILNF, which was spawned in 2016. It follows the regulator’s decision, as part of the Online Streaming Act, to force foreign and standalone online platforms to allocate five per cent of their prior year’s Canadian revenues toward content funds, including 1.5 per cent to the ILNF,…
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The CRTC has invited members of official language minority communities to participate in a CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC) Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG) study related to improving access to 911 services in both official languages.
Following incidents reported in January where 911 calls from francophone residents of Quebec were answered in English, the CRTC tasked the ESWG to come up with recommendations to ensure 911 calls routed to intermediary call centres are handled in the caller’s preferred official language.
The ESWG is to provide the commission with a report with its recommendations by Feb….
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The CRTC is prepared to provide the Kativik Regional Government of northern Quebec roughly $79.4 million – the amount it asked for – from the Broadband Fund to build undersea fibre transport infrastructure and five new points of presence.
The project will serve five Inuit communities in the north of the province – Aupaluk, Kangiqsualujjuaq, Kangirsuk, Quaqtaq, and Tasiujaq – encompassing roughly 707 households. The build will also connect 42 anchor institutions, such as schools and health care centres, and will link all communities in the entire Nunavik region.
The transport infrastructure will allow last-mile service providers to offer service to…
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The CRTC is asking Rogers to explain how the recent increase of its service set-up fee from $60 to $70 on Rogers and Fido plans is consistent with the federal government’s recent amendments to the Telecommunications Act introduced this spring in Budget 2024.
Division 37 of Bill C-69, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 16, 2024, which received royal assent on June 20, contains a prohibition stating, “A telecommunications service provider must not charge a fee to a subscriber that is related to the activation or modification of a telecommunications service…
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Media company said its application serves to show urgency of situation
By Ahmad Hathout
Blue Ant Media has filed a Part 1 application requesting that the CRTC reduce its required spending on programs of national interest, citing a stranglehold on its ability to spend money on content that its audiences want to watch.
In the two-page filing, dated June 20 but posted to the CRTC website Thursday, the media company asks that it be allowed to put five, instead of 13.5, per cent of its previous year’s revenues into PNI, which it said “force broadcasters to spend their production budgets on certain…
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