WHEN IT COMES TO the introduction of local competition in areas served by Canada’s independent phone companies, the CRTC is doing it all wrong and needs to be stopped, say those companies.
In fact, those telcos are so sure the Commission’s recent moves to introduce competition for local phone and broadband customers are so far off base that they will file an appeal with federal cabinet tomorrow (Friday) over it as well as seek a stay of the CRTC’s recent rulings on the matter.
“We’ve known for a long time that the Commission is keen on getting…
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CALGARY – The CRTC has approved an application for a new, national, English-language Category B specialty television programming service called The Philanthropy Channel.
The independent channel aims to introduce Canadians to inspiring people and organizations whose philanthropic work makes Canada and the world a better place. It will also offer programming about the philanthropic interests of private individuals, foundations, and pop-culture icons such as Bill Gates, Bono and Oprah Winfrey.
"The Philanthropy Channel is where like-minded people will be able to share their stories and passion for giving and helping at all levels," said founder and president Peter Clarke, in the announcement. "As an independent…
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GATINEAU – As the CBC awaits to hear how much of a budget cut it will have to take, the CRTC is not going to try and put the Corp. through a licensing hearing just now.
Last summer the Commission postponed the CBC’s license hearing until June 2012, citing a couple of reasons, the primary one being that the public broadcaster does not yet know what its future operating budget will be. Fast-forward to now and the situation is no clearer. While the federal government has let it be known the CBC will not be left…
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MONTREAL – Independent Internet service provider Distributel Communications is offering unlimited packages for its Quebec customers and announced plans to reduce overage charges on its existing plans by more than 60% starting immediately.
The new unlimited plans start at $37.95 per month. Existing customers on Distributel's 15 Mbps plan will soon receive notification that their plan is now unlimited (there was previously was a 90 GB cap), while customers with 3 Mbps or 8 Mbps plans will see their rates for data transfer in excess of their limit cut from $4.50 to $1.50 per GB.
"Distributel will continue to put its customers…
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THUNDER BAY – Due to popular demand, Shaw Cable said as of January 31, customers in the Thunder Bay area will begin receiving standard- and high-definition U.S. feeds for ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and PBS from Minneapolis.
In July, to comply with regulatory requirements, the feeds for these American channels were switched to markets in the same time zone as Thunder Bay (to Detroit stations). Due to local response to the changes, Shaw applied for and was granted an amendment from the CRTC to allow customers in the Thunder Bay area to receive U.S. channels from Minneapolis, as they had…
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GATINEAU – Bell Canada says there is nothing it can do to make content from the National Football League available to other mobile network providers in Canada, no matter what the CRTC wants.
Back in December, thanks to an original complaint by Telus, the Commission ruled that Bell Mobility gave itself a “significant competitive advantage” by entering into exclusive agreements for the mobile rights to popular National Hockey League (NHL) and National Football League (NFL) content. It gave Bell until the end of January to say what it plans to do to make the content available to other mobile carriers….
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The new wholesale rates for independent Internet service providers (ISPs) will be implemented on schedule starting Wednesday.
The CRTC confirmed on Friday that large telephone and cable companies will proceed as scheduled with their proposed implementation plans, with the exception of the Bell companies who have seen their plan modified temporarily while the CRTC resolves issues raised by the Canadian Network Operators Consortium. As an interim measure, independent ISPs who are customers of the Bell companies will have the flexibility to either merge their business and residential Internet traffic, or keep them separate.
“We are moving ahead with the implementation as…
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REGINA – The CRTC has approved SaskTel’s request to raise the rates charged to its customers in High Cost Serving Areas (areas outside of Saskatchewan’s nine largest urban centres)
“The rate increase was essentially required by the CRTC decision that mandated high cost serving area (HCSA) rates needed to increase to $30 per month across the country by June 1, 2013, in order to reduce the amount these rates are subsidized from the National Contribution Fund,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel president and CEO in a press release.
“SaskTel has consistently argued that rates in high cost serving areas should be roughly…
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MONTREAL – While its competitors in the telecom industry are becoming more vertically integrated, Cogeco president and CEO Louis Audet says his company is comfortable in its position as a mid-sized telecom and has no plans to copy companies like Bell and Rogers by acquiring TV specialty channels or building a wireless network.
Audet has a reason to be confident. Cogeco's first-quarter earnings, released Thursday morning before the annual shareholders' meetings of the company and subsidiary Cogeco Cable, shows its profit up 20% to $47.9 million from $39.8 million for the first quarter of last year,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has approved the implementation plans for local competition and wireless number portability filed by a number of the country’s small incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs).
In last May’s obligation to serve decision, the CRTC said that it would maintain its existing framework for competitors wishing to enter territories served exclusively by smaller telephone companies in order to encourage competition and consumer choice.
More to come on this story.
www.crtc.gc.ca
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