Platforms have 180 days to notify CRTC if they are subject to law
By Ahmad Hathout
Canadian Heritage on Friday provided its final rules for the Online News Act ahead of its enforcement next week, including capping compensation for broadcasters and CBC/Radio-Canada on single agreements.
The legislation, which comes into force on December 19, will require web giants to compensate publishers for hosting news content on their platforms. Deals will be done on the basis of single group agreements or multiple agreements.
Under the single agreement, Heritage announced Friday that news products owned by broadcasting undertakings will have their compensation capped at 30…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The large telecommunications companies are urging the CRTC to turn away applications asking it to require a pre-production test environment for next generation 911 calls, saying it is unnecessary and too costly.
Some public safety answering points (PSAPs) and the government of British Columbia filed separate Part 1 applications with the regulator asking for it to mandate the ability of these emergency entities to hook up to a pre-production test environment for NG911 so that real 911 calls are not at risk when testing software updates and new features. The NG911 networks are expected to carry multimedia, such…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor is asking the CRTC to align the access rates to large last mile fibre networks for both disaggregated and aggregated regimes.
Last month, the regulator approved on an interim basis and within six months competitor access to the fibre of Bell and Telus that goes directly to buildings in Ontario and Quebec under the aggregated regime, which allows competitors to bundle from the large telco the traffic transport mile with the last mile. The decision is being appealed to the Federal Court by Bell, which is disproportionately affected by it.
In a Part 1 published…
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Northwestel announced Thursday the launch of what it is calling the north’s fastest home internet to Tagish.
Residents in the Yukon community will be able to get download speeds of up to 500 Mbps download with unlimited data, powered by the Bell subsidiary’s fibre network. Businesses will be able to get download speeds of up to 550 Mbps.
Tagish residents will also have access to Northwestel TV Plus, which offers live and on-demand TV.
“These fibre upgrades are part of Northwestel’s Every Community Project, a 3-year project to bring high speed unlimited Internet to 10,000 homes across the Northwest Territories and Yukon,”…
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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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