By Ahmad Hathout
Foreign streamers are not really serious about pulling investments in Canada if they are required to make a base contribution to Canadian content, claimed the president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) on Thursday.
Over the course of the three-week hearing on whether online platforms should contribute a base financial amount to Canadian content funds, the CRTC has heard from significant foreign entities that such a requirement would either harm their existing partnerships with the Canadian partners or force them to reevaluate their presence in the country.
But the CAB thinks the claims are questionable.
“I have had a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The country’s highest court has granted Thursday Telus’s request to hear its case that the CRTC has jurisdiction over wireless access to municipal infrastructure.
The Vancouver-based telecom is appealing from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision that determined that Parliament did not intend for “transmission line” under section 43 of the CRTC-administered Telecommunications Act to include wireless technologies. Telus has argued that the wireless signals must route back to hard wires anyway.
“By focusing on the point that small cell antennas send and receive wireless signals, the court below failed to appreciate the importance of the physical connections between…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Bell has filed a trademark for the name “Bell Pure Fibre,” reflecting its drive to connect more homes directly with the advanced technology.
The trademark was filed late last month, according to the trademarks database.
While the telco uses the language “pure fibre” on its website, it is not used as a proper name for the internet packages – instead, it is used to characterize the technology behind the package.
Bell has said that it still has at least five million homes in its…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Representatives from CBC/Radio-Canada said Tuesday that its decision Monday to eliminate jobs is one reason why it needs to have access to any base contributions made by online platforms.
The public broadcaster said it was eliminating 600 positions and leaving another 200 vacancies unfilled – amounting to roughly 10 per cent of its full-time equivalent staff of roughly 7,900 – as it undergoes a $125-million cost-cutting measure in fiscal 2024-2025.
“Yesterday was a really difficult day at CBC/Radio-Canada,” Dany Meloul, interim executive vice-president of Radio-Canada, told the commission Tuesday. “And I think that if you see…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said it will not need additional financial resources to maintain a database of online services because the $10 million threshold to register for possible mandatory contributions to Canadian content will limit the number of services that need to sign up.
The regulator said in response to questions from Regina Conservative MP Andrew Scheer that it is expecting approximately 50 to 100 services to register basic information with it, including name, phone number, mailing and email addresses, what services they offer and out of where they are incorporated.
Scheer requested information related to the expected…
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Telecoms note spectrum cap kept prices reasonable
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada released the results of the 3.8 GHz spectrum auction Thursday, with Cogeco getting a piece as it prepares mobile wireless market entry and Quebecor capturing a slice for its western Canada push.
Telus took home the largest number of licences with 1430 for a price of $620 million to cover 33 million Canadians. Bell was next with a spend of $518 million for 939 licences with expected population coverage of 34.6 million Canadians. Rogers spent $475 million for 860 licences with expected population coverage of 35 million. Videotron…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Netflix floated the idea Thursday that the commission could tie any required foreign financial contribution to Canadian content funds to planned investments rather than previous year’s revenues to encourage spending in the country.
“Rather than tying the percentages to revenue them to expected expenditure or planned expenditure, and so every dollar you earn doesn’t necessarily translate into a trade-off between operating income or profit and contribution to the system,” said Dean Garfield, the streaming company’s vice president of public policy.
“It creates that incentive to actually invest and grow without worrying that, ‘oh…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – A representative from music and podcast streaming service Spotify told the CRTC Wednesday that the platform hopes the idea that online streamers should make a base financial contribution to Canadian content doesn’t spread to other jurisdictions.
“You are the only country in the world that is looking at those contributions, at least at this stage, and we actually hope that this is not going to spread to other countries because we will be in real difficulty,” Olivia Regnier, senior director of public policy for Spotify, told the commission.
“Now, we understand the situation, we understand the rationale…
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Rogers and Cogeco urge lowering regulatory burden and need to sustain local news
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Representatives from Rogers argued Tuesday that if online streamers are not required to commit a base financial contribution to the enhancement of Canadian content, traditional Canadian broadcasters must not be required to do the same.
Broadcasting distribution undertakings are required to commit a certain percentage of their previous year’s revenues toward Canadian content funds – for example, a chunk of the base 5 per cent goes toward the Canada Media Fund every year. The CRTC is now asking whether it should similarly require a…
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OTTAWA – The long-distance rates Bell has charged for collect telephone calls originating from Ontario correctional facilities is the subject of a new Part 1 application to the CRTC, posted on the telecom regulator’s website last Friday.
The application dated Oct. 27 is from two Ontario residents, who previously began a proposed class action in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Bell and the Ontario government. They alleged the long-distance rates charged by Bell “were contrary to provincial consumer protection legislation and unconscionable, amongst other allegations, and sought to recover damages against Bell,” reads their…
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