GATINEAU — In a letter issued February 8, the CRTC has told Bell Canada and payphone operators SDI Telecom and AFX Communications (now defunct) that it will not step in to settle an ongoing dispute over toll-free call compensation.
In September 2020, in an application to the CRTC, Bell accused SDI Telecom of making illegitimate toll-free calls to inflate its billing charges to Bell, and asked the Commission to allow Bell to withhold payment of the disputed charges. Similarly, in August 2020, Bell had accused AFX Communications of doing the same thing and sought permission from the Commission…
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TORONTO — Organizers of the Banff World Media Festival today announced CRTC chair and CEO Ian Scott will speak on the opening day of the virtual Banff 2021 festival, which starts Monday, June 14.
Scott’s virtual keynote session will kick off the festival’s Marketplace Week (June 14 to 18) and a month of curated online programming (running until July 16).
With delegates from more than 50 countries, the Banff Festival attracts some of the world’s top creators, producers, showrunners, talent, networks, studios, streamers, press and media companies. The 2021 edition of the Festival will build on the success of last year’s…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – The CRTC has announced a second round of funding commitment from its $750-million Broadband Fund and it’s going to what the industry has often identified as a serious cost barrier to rural broadband: transport facilities.
On Thursday, the regulator announced five recipients for funds worth a total of $26.7 million, focusing on British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario. Those companies are Rogers, Shaw, BH Telecom Corp., Columbia Basin Broadband Corporation, and Tough Country Communications Ltd., which are expected to connect 41 communities with 550 km of fibre transport.
The first announcement pledged $72 million for satellite and fibre…
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TORONTO and GATINEAU — Kids channel broadcaster WildBrain Television (formerly known as DHX Television) is asking the CRTC to step into its ongoing dispute with Cogeco Connexion over the distribution of its Family Channel, Family Jr and CHRGD channels.
According to a Part 1 application filed January 19 by WildBrain, and posted to the CRTC website on January 28, WildBrain and Cogeco have been engaged in “protracted negotiations” regarding the carriage of the three kids-oriented channels by Cogeco. (WildBrain’s French-language Télémagino channel is not part of the dispute.)
WildBrain says it presented a proposal to Cogeco on April 27, 2020,…
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LONGUEUIL, Que. —Third party internet access provider EBOX (we told you last year about its expansion into northwestern Quebec using Cablevision’s infrastructure) today announced it has launched a petition aimed at federal members of parliament, asking them to support the implementation of the CRTC’s August 2019 ruling on the final rates for wholesale high-speed access services.
“EBOX wishes to start the year with the resolution to put an end to the regulatory holiday of major providers in the telecommunications industry. We advocate for fair and reasonable telecommunications prices and wish to ask Honorable François-Philippe Champagne, the new minister…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s largest telecoms are telling the Supreme Court of Canada a lower court fumbled a decision in favour of lower wholesale rates by attributing a line of reasoning that was allegedly never made by the CRTC, abrogating its responsibilities to review the correctness of the regulator’s decision.
That line of reasoning is based on how the CRTC structured its decision in the summer of 2019, when it ordered a lower rate at which smaller telecoms pay for and sell bandwidth from the larger telecoms. At issue in front of the Federal Court of Appeal was whether…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC today launched a new consultation on its proposed network-level blocking framework to limit botnet traffic and strengthen Canadians’ online safety.
Botnets are harmful networks of malware-infected computers which are under the control of a malicious actor and are known to facilitate some of the most damaging cyber attacks, including ransomware and identity theft. Botnets also enable spam distribution and distributed denial-of-service attacks.
“Malicious botnet attacks are a serious and recurring concern. Almost every week, we see another organization victimized by ransomware or hear of a fellow citizen lured in by a phishing scam. With the launch of…
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Can the Commission regulate the CBC’s digital activities?
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – Monday will mark the beginning of the renewal hearing of the CBC/Radio-Canada broadcasting licences, which was originally scheduled to start on May 25, 2020.
The original deadline for interventions (after the CBC received an administrative renewal in August 2019) was February 13, 2020, later moved to February 20, after putting on the public record a report the CRTC had commissioned: Harnessing public broadcasting for Canadians in the digital age: International benchmark study for the CRTC.
Finally, in June 2020, the hearing date was set and announced to be held at…
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Those who thought the 13-day CBC licencing hearing would be boring, think again.
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – In an addendum to the Notice of Hearing on the renewal of the CBC’s broadcast licences, issued on December 18, the CRTC voiced its irritation at the Corporation in a rather terse manner.
“The Commission is dissatisfied with the Corporation’s reply. It is important for the Commission to have the necessary information to consider how the Corporation is, through its programming, reflecting the circumstances and aspirations of all members of Canadian society. The Commission intends to question the Corporation on these issues at the…
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GATINEAU — Edmonton’s Akash Broadcasting today received approval from the CRTC to acquire the ethnic radio station CKER-FM (World FM 101.7) from Rogers Sports and Media and to obtain a new broadcasting licence to continue the station’s operation.
However, Akash’s request for an exception to the payment of tangible benefits resulting from the transaction, due to the economic impact of Covid-19, has been denied by the Commission in its decision today.
This will be Akash’s first radio station in Edmonton. It currently owns and operates CJCN-FM in Surrey, B.C., also a commercial ethnic radio station. The broadcaster has said…
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