OTTAWA – Usage-based billing rates should be set at 15% less than comparable rates for retail Internet services, the CRTC has ruled.
Tuesday’s decision comes after the Commission called for comments last October on whether UBB rates for wholesale residence gateway access services (GAS) and third-party Internet access services should be set at levels below the carriers’ respective comparable UBB rates for retail Internet services and, if so, by how much.
While determining the amount of the wholesale UBB discount, the Commission said that it considered that if it is too large, the effectiveness of UBB as an economic…
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OTTAWA – CBC News Network may not distribute news programming unique to British Columbia on a separate feed, the CRTC has ruled.
In an application to the Commission, CBC News Network (formerly known as CBC Newsworld), said that the change would “enhance the quality and relevance of its national news service and give audiences in British Columbia an opportunity to access more regionally relevant news programming”, plus address the issue of NHL playoffs which pre-empt the local news programming of CBUT Vancouver each spring.
But the Commission cited Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2009-562-1, which deems it “inappropriate” to allow competitive news services…
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THE CRTC MUST ENSURE that independent broadcasters have sufficient access to distribution in the wake of the BCE Inc. proposed acquisition of CTVglobemedia, say those ‘casters.
As well, the Commission has to force BCE to pay the full benefits to producers in the form of 10% of the transaction’s entire $3.2-billion value, say some of those producers. These are two of the critical issues that the CRTC will have to stickhandle once it begins hearing arguments on the proposed transaction on February 1st.
Generally, Bell’s fellow distributors are in favour of the transaction. But they say that safeguards need to…
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OTTAWA – The complexity – some might say silliness – of Canada’s telecommunications foreign ownership rules were on full display last week as the Federal Court heard arguments on a petition to overturn Cabinet’s decision to approve Globalive Wireless’ ownership structure.
According to people at the hearing, Globalive Wireless’ lawyers argued that because the Telecommunications Act says Canadian telecom firms can’t be controlled by non-Canadians doesn’t mean they must be controlled by Canadians. Therefore, a telecom company can find itself in the situation of being controlled by neither Canadians or non-Canadians.
Globalive, of course, is in business under the Wind…
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“COME WITH ME. I’LL show you why I wanted to be president of the CBC.”
Those were CBC president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix’s first words to me last week as we sat down in the meeting room overlooking the Montreal skyline and St. Lawrence River at Radio-Canada’s headquarters. I jumped to my feet and followed him into his office.
Just inside his door is a headless mannequin dressed in a whimsical suit, topped with a bowler cap. “It might be a bit before your time but do you know who this is?” he asked me, excitedly. I wrack my brain…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – Responding to a wave of public criticism, the CRTC has asked the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) to reconsider its decision to ban the unedited version of the Dire Straits song “Money for Nothing”.
After the CBSC’s January 12th determination that the use of a derogatory word for gays in the song breached broadcast codes, the Commission said that it has received over 250 letters from Canadians, “most of which have suggested that the CBSC made an incorrect decision, and many of which have urged the Commission to take corrective action”. In addition to the “strong public reaction”, the…
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TIMMINS, ON – The NDP is calling for tighter net neutrality rules after describing usage-based Internet billing (UBB) as unfair and anti-competitive.
New Democrat digital affairs critic Charlie Angus, who is also the MP for Timmins-James Bay, said that the CRTC’s decision to allow useage-based billing will unfairly drive up Internet costs for all Canadians, rather than for just “the so-called bandwidth hogs”.
“We’ve seen this all before with cell phones”, Angus said in a statement. “Allowing the Internet Service Providers to ding you every time you download is a rip-off. Canada is already falling behind other countries in terms of choice,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC received more than 10,000 complaints from consumers about Bell Canada’s telemarketers, many of which described the calls as “aggressive and abusive”, according to a report in The Toronto Star.
The story says that the calls, which continued for about a year, allegedly included one death threat. Both the CRTC and Bell Canada have declined to say how many complaints were received from the public.
As Cartt.ca reported, Bell was fined $1.3 million in December for calling tens of thousands of consumers on the Do Not Call list.
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GATINEAU – In the CBC’s application to the CRTC for a new digital transmitter for CBAT-TV in New Brunswick, the Corp proposes to cease over-the-air television broadcasting in Saint John, N.B.
“The analog transmitter associated with CBAT-TV is located on Mount Champlain and provides service to both Fredericton and Saint John,” notes the Commission’s summary of the CBC’s application. “The proposed digital transmitter would be located in Fredericton and would provide service only to that market. The proposal would therefore result in a loss of over-the-air television service to the residents of Saint John.”
The city has a population of about…
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GATINEAU and TORONTO – “Let me repeat that. We do not traffic shape downstream traffic,” said Rogers Communications senior vice-president, regulatory, Ken Englehart, told Cartt.ca on Monday.
Englehart was responding to a complaint letter sent to Rogers from the CRTC over the company’s network traffic management practices. The Commission cited a few complaint filed by Rogers customers over recent changes made by the company to its traffic management practices that affect the downstream flow – and that the company was not complying with the Commission’s disclosure requirements when it comes to ITMP (Internet traffic management policies).
The complainant said Rogers did…
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