Was on wireless policy review panel
GATINEAU – The five-year term of Christopher MacDonald, the CRTC commissioner for Atlantic Canada and Nunavut expired Tuesday June 16, leaving the Regulator down at least two commissioners.
Former Alberta and Northwest Territories commissioner Linda Vennard’s term expired in May.
The federal government called for applications earlier this year for their replacements but have not named anyone, which is not surprising given how the Covid-19 crisis has delayed everything else. We say “at least” two commissioners because the Regulator can have up to 13 and currently has seven active commissioners. Chairman Ian Scott’s is the…
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First CRTC virtual hearing, in the time of Covid-19
By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – On May 28th, the CRTC announced it would hold a virtual hearing to hear from five radio stations which appear to be in serious non-compliance with their terms of licence.
The stations in question are: CICR-FM Parrsboro, CKMN-FM Rimouski/Mont-Joli, CJWI Montréal, CJMS Saint-Constant and CFOR-FM Maniwaki.
The hearing was supposed to be held on May 12 but was put off to June 16, on May 28th. It will last three days, all online. A live audio feed of the hearing will be available on the CRTC website.
Given the…
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GATINEAU — In a decision published today, the CRTC has denied an application by Blue Ant Media to reduce the amount it’s required to spend annually on programs of national interest (PNI) for the eight specialty channels it operates in Canada.
Blue Ant Media’s channels include A.Side, BBC Earth, Cottage Life, HIFI, Love Nature, Makeful, T+E and Smithsonian Channel. In April 2019, Blue Ant filed an application to amend the condition of licence for its channels’ group licence in order to reduce its PNI expenditure requirements from 13.5% to 5% of the previous broadcast year’s gross revenues, as of September…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC has approved Bell Canada’s application to conduct a 90-day test of an artificial intelligence-based system the telco has developed for blocking fraudulent and scam phone calls, the Commission announced in a decision Tuesday.
Bell first made the request in July 2019 and wanted to conduct the call-blocking trial using AI technology last fall. The Commission came back with an information disclosure directive in January, which Bell subsequently responded to and provided the required information.
In its decision today approving Bell’s 90-day call-blocking trial, the Commission set out a number of conditions, including:
Bell shall…
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GATINEAU — As part of the CRTC’s ongoing wireless policy review, the Commission has directed Bell Mobility to disclose information previously designated as confidential regarding cost estimates related to the implementation of seamless roaming.
The order comes in a procedural letter dated May 29, in which the CRTC says Bell Mobility must “disclose its estimate of the per-border initial setup and ongoing maintenance costs associated with seamless roaming.” Bell is to provide the information to the Commission by June 5.
The request for disclosure came from Cogeco Communications in an April 30th letter submitted to the CRTC.
The Commission notes in…
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GATINEAU — On Monday, the CRTC initiated a proceeding to examine the offer and promotion of accessible wireless plans by wireless service providers and the extent to which these plans meet the needs of Canadians with various disabilities.
All retail wireless service providers are required to offer accessible wireless plans and to promote those plans in ways that are accessible, including through stores, websites and customer service representatives.
The aim of the proceeding, however, is to look at how wireless service providers are complying with these requirements, whether differences exist between primary and flanker brands, whether the plans currently offered and…
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GATINEAU — Dartmouth, N.S.-based independent telecom provider City Wide Communications has asked the CRTC to order Eastlink to relocate a third-party Internet access (TPIA) point of interconnection to a more central Halifax site, claiming the current location outside of the city gives Eastlink an undue preference.
Currently, Eastlink’s TPIA service point of interconnection (POI) for Nova Scotia is located at its data centre in Pennant Point, which is a rural community approximately 30 kilometres away from downtown Halifax, says the City Wide application
The independent claims in its Part 1 application, filed on May 22 and posted on the CRTC’s…
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GATINEAU — Vista Radio’s application for a broadcasting licence to operate an oldies music FM radio station in North Bay, Ont., was approved Monday by the CRTC.
The English-language commercial FM station will operate on the 90.5 MHz frequency and will broadcast 126 hours of local programming each broadcast week, of which 10 hours and 28.5 minutes will be devoted to spoken-word programming, according to the applicant information included in the Commission’s decision approving the radio station’s licence.
In each broadcast week, seven hours and 46 minutes of spoken-word programming will be devoted to local news and information, with two…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC wants to know if the ongoing Covid-19 crisis has altered the positions put forward by any participants at the public hearing held earlier this year as part of the Commission’s wireless policy review.
Given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic became more pronounced in Canada after the hearing in February, the Commission is giving participants an opportunity to provide additional information to be considered within the proceeding.
In a request for information issued as a procedural letter on May 15, the Commission asks: “Does the ongoing situation with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic change the view…
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OTTAWA — The CRTC will reimburse almost $124,000 to telemarketers after the total amount paid for violations in 2019-20 exceeded its estimated regulatory costs.
The Commission said Wednesday that $3,423,472 was paid under the Unsolicited Telecommunications Fees Regulations last fiscal year, which is $123,472 more than the $3.3 million it estimated in telemarketing regulatory costs. In accordance with the formula set out in subsection 4(2) of the Regulations, the CRTC must refund the overage amount.
The Commission also estimated its telemarketing regulatory costs for fiscal year 2020-21 to be $3.3 million. Costs to enforce the national Do Not Call List…
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