WOODSTOCK, Ont. — Saying it is surprised and disappointed by the CRTC’s decision last week to overturn its August 2019 ruling to lower wholesale Internet rates, independent carrier Execulink Telecom said today it is now considering its next steps in the wake of the Commission’s decision.
“At this time, Execulink is evaluating its market and pricing strategy in light of the CRTC’s new regulatory direction that inhibits competitor success, and the outcome for its customers,” reads the company’s press release.
After the Commission originally decided in 2019 to lower the wholesale fees independent ISPs have to pay the large incumbents,…
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GATINEAU — In a ruling today regarding a dispute between Videotron and Bell subsidiary Cablevision du Nord, the CRTC is directing Cablevision to finish upgrading its routers in Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda at its own expense by September 1, in order to add the capacity for its third-party Internet access (TPIA) service requested by Videotron.
The CRTC’s latest involvement in the dispute relates to an argument between the two companies over who should pay for upgrading the routers at the points of interconnection (POIs) in Val-d’Or and Rouyn-Noranda, located in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of western Quebec, a region where Videotron…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today it is amending the exemption order for still image programming service undertakings to include low-motion programming services, to allow, in addition to background music, sounds that are related to the broadcast images, and to allow spoken words that are promotional in nature.
The Commission defines low-motion programming as: “A program that features extended coverage of an ordinary event or scene with no or limited video editing or camera movement.”
This clears the way for “slow TV” such as Stingray’s Naturescape
For more information on the CRTC’s new Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2021-185 and the revised exemption…
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Government must look before it leaps with C-10
By Monica Auer
THE DECISION BY THE Minister of Canadian Heritage several weeks ago to drop explicit protection for user-generated content uploaded to social media sites from Bill C-10 led to more attention being focussed on the new Broadcasting Act it would create.
In plain language, the Minister’s change means that while users themselves would not be subject to that Act, it would govern social media services “whose broadcasting consists only of” user-uploaded content. Even if the CRTC is unlikely to demand content posted by millions of Canadians on Facebook or YouTube meet its…
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LONGUEUIL, Que. — Quebec-based third-party Internet service provider EBOX is joining other independent ISPs who are calling for the resignation or firing of CRTC chairman Ian Scott following the Commission’s reversal last week of its August 2019 decision to lower the third-party Internet access (TPIA) rates paid by the small independents to Canada’s largest carriers.
Last week, TekSavvy asked for Scott to be removed from his position (TekSavvy has also petitioned the federal cabinet to overrule the CRTC’s rate decision) and VMedia called for Scott’s resignation.
Now today, EBOX issued a press release also calling for Scott…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – On April 21, 2021, Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) and the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) filed an application with the CRTC proposing to stabilize the funding of the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) but as of today, May 26th, the CRTC has not yet posted the Part I application to its website, therefore a process has not yet been initiated.
“Time is of the essence in this matter, as the Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF) faces potential revenue shortfalls and exhaustion, in part due to the paucity of tangible benefits orders resulting from media…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC today denied an application by Xplornet to review and vary the Commission’s 2019 decision which created the Internet Code, specifically regarding the policy covering the conditions under which Internet service providers can disconnect customers.
In the Internet Code (Telecom Regulatory Policy 2019-269), the disconnection conditions set out by the Commission say an ISP can disconnect customers who fail to pay a past-due account only if the amount owing exceeds $50 and if the account has been past due for more than two months.
During the proceeding which resulted in the Internet Code, the Commission initially drafted…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Lawyers for Quebecor’s Groupe TVA and Bell Canada said Tuesday the CRTC shouldn’t be able to force the two companies to come to an agreement on retransmission of discretionary television channels when one or both sides disagree on the terms.
Just over two years ago, the CRTC said TVA must continue to provide its sports channel signal to Bell for retransmission under a provision in the law called the standstill rule, after TVA cut the signal during the NHL playoffs in April 2019 citing unfair economic terms of the agreement. That means, during commercial disputes,…
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GATINEAU — Bell Canada must make interexchange private line (IXPL) facilities available for lease to competitive local exchange carrier Fibernetics to be used in new local network interconnection (LNI) agreements between the two companies, the CRTC announced in a decision issued today.
In July 2020, Fibernetics sought relief from the Commission, saying it had attempted to negotiate a new LNI agreement with Bell for eight local interconnection regions (LIRs) where Fibernetics wanted to enter as a Type 1 CLEC. According to Fibernetics’ application, it approached Bell about leasing IXPL facilities for LNI in the eight LIRs (located in Ontario…
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TORONTO – Wireless upstart Data On Tap (dotmobile), filed a petition to federal cabinet Tuesday asking the federal government to overturn the portion of the CRTC’s recent wireless policy decision which excluded a mandate for full mobile virtual network operators to participate in the wireless market in Canada.
Dotmobile is Canada’s first full MVNO but has yet been unable to come to a wholesale agreement with any Canadian wireless network operator (company owners say none of the carriers even return their calls seeking a meeting). The CRTC’s much-ballyhooed wireless decision, however, didn’t mandate access for full MVNOs like…
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