By Connie Thiessen
The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) says it’s concerned commercial broadcasters – the largest employer of journalists in Canada – aren’t represented on the new collective chosen by Google to distribute funds under the Online News Act.
The digital giant announced Friday that it had selected the Canadian Journalism Collective-Collectif Canadien de Journalisme (CJC-CCJ) to distribute its annual $100M CAD contribution to eligible news businesses.
CJC-CCJ is led by Erin Millar, the CEO and co-founder of Indiegraf, a tech provider for small and start-up publications. Millar is a journalist and entrepreneur who also founded The Discourse. The not-for-profit organization is made up of 12…
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By Ahmad Hathout
If the CRTC raises the revenue threshold for contributions to the regulator’s administration of telecom matters, it will effectively concentrate the burden on fewer providers, which is the opposite of what it has been trying to do with changes to broadcasting fees that an application to raise the threshold is partially relying upon, Bell argues.
The Independent Telecommunications Providers Association filed a Part 1 application in late April calling for the increase in the revenue threshold from $10 million to $25 million to contribute to the CRTC’s administration of the telecom regime, with an annual…
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Corus and Eastlink announced Thursday that a carriage dispute dating back almost exactly a year ago has been resolved.
Beginning today, Eastlink television subscribers will again have access to Corus’s 33 channels, which include dramas, comedies, kids content, factual, lifestyle and reality series. That premium programming will be available through Corus’s theme packs, which start at $7 per month but can be bundled together at a discounted rate.
Before the dispute, Eastlink subscribers had the Corus channels at no extra charge as part of their TV packages, a spokesperson confirmed.
“We are excited for Eastlink subscribers to once again…
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The CRTC last week asked the CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee’s (CISC) Emergency Services Working Group (ESWG) to provide recommendations to ensure 911 calls routed to intermediary call centres are handled in the caller’s preferred official language.
The request stems from incidents reported in January in which 911 calls from francophone residents of Quebec were routed to Sudbury-based intermediary call centre Northern911 and answered in English.
In a May 31 letter to Ryan Anstey of the CISC’s ESWG, the CRTC’s executive director of telecommunications, Leila Wright, says the commission is concerned about the reported events.
“Canadians need…
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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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