GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today in an information bulletin it is adopting a new standardized approach to monitoring linear community channels and on-demand community programming services, which will serve as general guidance going forward and will come into effect on September 1, 2021.
In July 2020, the Commission launched a proceeding to gather input on its proposed standardized approaches to monitoring community programming. The Commission received 10 interventions from Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, SaskTel, Telus, Csur la tele, the Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC), the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS), the Conseil provincial du secteur…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC today approved an application by Acadia Broadcasting Limited to acquire two Halifax radio stations — CKHY-FM (Jewel 105) and CKHZ-FM (Hot Country 103.5) — which are owned and operated by Evanov Communications.
The proposed value of the transaction ($5,120,167) was approved by the Commission in its decision today. This price includes the purchase price, the amount of working capital at the time of the application in September 2020 (to be transferred at closing), and the value of assumed leases calculated over 60 months.
In its approval of the radio station purchases, the Commission denied Acadia’s request…
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REGINA and OTTAWA-GATINEAU — SaskTel has asked the CRTC to stay its recent decision to provide up to $9.5 million in funding to BH Telecom Corp., a competitor to SaskTel in the province of Saskatchewan.
In February, as part of its five-year, $750-million Broadband Fund, the CRTC approved $9.5 million in funding to BH Telecom for the construction and upgrading of transport infrastructure in 26 Saskatchewan communities, including Aberdeen, Beaver Creek, Bruno, Camp Dundurn, Carmel, Casa Rio, Dana, Drake, Dundurn, Eagle Ridge Country Estates, Englefeld, Esk, Grasswood, Guernsey, Jansen, Leroy, Lockwood, Manitou Beach, Meacham, Muenster, Peterson, Prud’homme, Riverside…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today decided to mandate mobile virtual network operators for the Canadian wireless market – as long as companies who want to be one already own and operate network facilities and Tier 4 or higher (3, 2, 1) spectrum.
The Commission is calling it “wholesale facilities-based MVNO access service” and the decision also makes it clear this new “wholesale roaming policy applies to fifth-generation (5G) networks. This confirmation is important to help ensure that competition can continue to grow as the mobile wireless service market evolves to 5G.”
In short, that means companies with existing facilities like…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) came into force on 11 July 2019, with the objective of realizing a Canada without barriers for people with disabilities.
“The ACA furthers this objective by imposing certain reporting obligations on entities under federal jurisdiction, including broadcasting undertakings, Canadian telecommunications common carriers, and telecommunications service providers,” mentions the CRTC’s notice of consultation aimed at devising a regulatory framework following passage of the ACA.
“The Commission sets out the content of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Accessibility Reporting Regulations (the Regulations), to be made under the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) and calls…
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TORONTO — In its third report, released today, the C.D. Howe Institute’s new telecommunications policy working group — which includes executives from Bell, Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and Shaw, among others — says cellular phone services have seen a 25% price drop over the past five years, which they say meets Ottawa’s mandated wireless rate cut.
That means, the group says, it’s time to shift the focus of telecom policy debates to other issues, such as the modernization of the CRTC and rate-setting challenges for mandated access.
Citing data from Statistics Canada’s consumer price index, the telecom group says cellular services…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Canada’s big telecoms are divided on a CRTC proposal to create a framework that would establish an independent body tasked with creating and maintaining a block list of known malicious software networks, known as botnets.
A botnet is a network of malware-infected devices that are controlled from a central location and used to do things like steal data and/or send an overwhelming number of communications to a server, which causes it to fail (denial-of-service attack). The increasing number of internet-connected devices coming to market, a lot largely with flimsy security measures, are multiplying the risk of…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC last week announced seven transport projects will receive up to $57.7 million in funding from the Commission’s Broadband Fund to improve broadband connectivity in 15 underserved communities in northern Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
Approximately 1,400 kilometres of fibre transport networks will be built in the 15 rural and remote communities representing almost 6,500 households, including five communities that are both Indigenous and official-language minority communities. In addition to providing improved transport connectivity for households in the targeted communities, the networks will collectively connect up to 55 public institutions, such as schools, medical facilities and libraries.
A…
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OTTAWA – The next meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which is studying Bill C-10, the bill to amend the Broadcasting Act, will be held Monday with the following witnesses: Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, BCE, Fédération nationale des communications et de la culture, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and Unifor.
Shaw Communications had been scheduled to appear, too, but cancelled.
The Committee, in its meeting on committee business of March 8, agreed to ask the CRTC to appear, on March 26, and be given 10 minutes for their opening statements (this is more time than…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Quebecor has asked the CRTC and the Competition Bureau to conduct an inquiry into whether the three largest wireless providers, Bell, Telus and Rogers, are violating the Wireless Code by how they price devices as well as the charges incurred when consumers want to terminate their contract.
Through its own investigation, Vidéotron says in a letter to the CRTC it has collected the prices of various wireless devices on the websites of the Big Three and the conditions attached to them. The conclusion is clear, says the Quebec company. Compared to the prices offered by manufacturers,…
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