OTTAWA – The CRTC announced today in Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2021-266 it has administratively renewed the CBC’s broadcasting licences from September 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, and extended the distribution orders for CBC News Network, ICI RDI and ICI ARTV until March 31, 2022.
The Corporation’s licences were previously administratively renewed from September 1, 2020, to August 31, 2021, and the distribution orders for CBC News Network, ICI RDI and ICI ARTV were previously extended until August 31, 2021.
The public hearings for the CBC’s licence renewals took place in January.
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OTTAWA — The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) announced today telecom services provider MySignal.ca Solutions Inc. is in violation of a mandatory CRTC order to join the CCTS and participate in its complaints-handling process.
MySignal.ca provides Internet, phone and TV services in Canada, and must participate in the CCTS as a regulatory requirement.
After receiving a customer complaint about MySignal.ca in March 2018, the CCTS notified the company of its regulatory obligation to join the organization. Having made repeated attempts to sign MySignal.ca up without success, the CCTS referred the matter to the CRTC in June 2018.
“After a public…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC announced today it will not regulate access to fibre in-building wire (IBW) in multi-dwelling units (MDUs) across the country, stating it found “that access to fibre IBW is not an essential service.”
This decision was outlined in Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-239, which follows a public proceeding announced in December 2019.
The notice of consultation itself followed a series of decisions and statements on the issue of fibre IBW in MDUs starting in 2018 when Cloudwifi, an independent ISP, alleged Bell disconnected its customers at two Ontario properties where the company had been using Bell fibre…
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The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), wrote the CRTC last week to express “serious concerns regarding the actions” of Bell, Telus, and Rogers with regards to their recently released low-cost plans.
On July 14, Bell, Telus and Rogers each released new low-cost and occasional-use plans, as directed by the CRTC in Telecommunications Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-130. PIAC, in its letter to the CRTC, noted the policy indicated “the Commission expected that the incumbents provide at least one low-cost plan on their premium brands.”
Despite this, PIAC did not find any such plan on the any of the companies’ premium brand…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC yesterday released accessibility reporting regulations, made under the Accessible Canada Act.
Outlined in Telecom and Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2021-215, the regulations “generally establish procedural requirements relating to the reporting obligations of broadcasting undertakings, Canadian telecommunications common carriers, and telecommunications service providers under the ACA,” according to the policy.
More specifically, they “concern the manner and form of accessibility plans, feedback processes, and progress reports under the ACA.”
Where possible, the CRTC aligned its regulations with those of other ACA regulators, particularly the Governor in Council.
The ACA, which came into force in July, 2019, required the…
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By Ken Kelley
DESPITE BEING SEPARATED by the 49th parallel, both Canada and the United States are facing remarkably similar challenges when it comes to the widespread rollout of broadband internet service.
In an online roundtable discussion hosted by the Canadian Chapter of the International Institute of Communications last week, CRTC chair Ian Scott and his American counterpart, Acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel, compared notes and observations on what they are seeing in their respective countries.
“There was a time before this pandemic when a lot of policymakers thought broadband was just nice to have,” Rosenworcel began, “but those days are over….
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GATINEAU — The CRTC announced last week it is reopening a proceeding regarding a proposed annual digital media survey, saying it now wants the survey to be administered to both Canadian and foreign digital media broadcasting undertakings (a.k.a. streamers) alike.
When the proceeding was first launched in March 2019, the CRTC said its intention was to apply the annual survey to all currently licensed Canadian broadcasting undertakings to collect financial information on their digital media broadcasting activities. At the time, the CRTC said the survey would not be administered to non-Canadian digital media broadcasting companies that provide services in…
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Start.ca wants government to overturn decision; CNOC launches email campaign
CHATHAM, LONDON and OTTAWA — On Monday, independent ISP TekSavvy Solutions filed a notice of motion with the Federal Court of Appeal seeking leave to appeal the CRTC’s recent wholesale third-party Internet access (TPIA) rates decision which reversed the Commission’s August 2019 decision to lower the rates.
Monday was the deadline for parties to file a court appeal against the Commission’s decision.
TekSavvy has already filed a petition to cabinet in May, asking for the CRTC’s 2019 final rates order to be reinstated. In its petition, TekSavvy also asks for CRTC…
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GATINEAU – Long-time CRTC executive director of telecommunications, Chris Seidl (above), is retiring in July.
“While this is wonderful news for Chris and marks the beginning of new and exciting chapter in his life, he will be greatly missed within the sector and throughout the organization,” wrote CRTC chair Ian Scott in an email to Commission staff.
After 14 years as a professional engineer and director of software development at Nortel Networks, Seidl joined the Regulator in 2003. During his time there, Seidl held various roles including director of telecommunications policy, director of new media and technology and director general of…
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By Greg O’Brien
CHATHAM, Ont. – Back in 2017, the official reason former Ontario CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan was finally removed from his position is because he met privately and “inappropriately” with a person who had applied for a radio station licence prior to the decision on a licence being officially announced.
Readers of Cartt.ca back then will remember the whole story was longer and much more complicated than that (and we’re not going to rehash it here), but today, independent ISP TekSavvy said it has filed additional evidence with the federal government showing CRTC chair Ian Scott met inappropriately with…
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