By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers on Wednesday filed a challenge in the Federal Court of Appeal against the CRTC’s decision to select Quebecor’s rate for access to the cable company’s wireless infrastructure to build out its mobile virtual network operator business.
Rogers is alleging that the reasoning provided by the CRTC for selecting Quebecor’s rate in July deviates from legal precedent and runs counter to the “just and reasonable” provision under the Telecommunications Act.
Specifically, Rogers is alleging the regulator made errors in its determination that the rate it selected didn’t need to provide Rogers with an immediate-term return on investment…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC announced Thursday its game plan to implement legislation that would force large technology platforms to compensate news publishers if they want to continue to link to their content.
The regulator will essentially embark on creating the regulatory backstop needed to catch any mandatory commercial negotiations between platforms and news publishers that fall through.
As such, in the same way it announced how it would tackle the Online Streaming Act, the CRTC said it will first launch a public consultation this fall to gather comments.
At this point, it will also issue a call for proposals…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC on Tuesday approved an increase in funding for two broadband projects in response to what the applicants have said are unanticipated costs that have emerged since their applications.
Telus was approved Tuesday for an additional $505,978 on top of its already allotted $1.6 million from the $750-million Broadband Fund to drive mobile wireless services to two communities in British Columbia. Meanwhile, Sogetel Mobilite was approved for an additional $285,801 on top of its already allotted $364,465 from the fund to build and/or upgrade mobile wireless infrastructure near two communities in Quebec.
Both applicants from the…
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Established in 1997 and headquartered in Toronto, the Bell Fund is an independently governed, not-for-profit, private Canadian fund. Certified by the CRTC as an independent production fund eligible to receive and administer contributions from broadcast distribution undertakings, the Bell Fund supports Canadian Independent Producers in the development and production of great Canadian content. Today, the Bell Fund is an organization capable of adapting and thriving with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion embedded in everything it does.
Managing a small, dedicated team and reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director will have a two-fold mandate: Provide vision…
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By Connie Thiessen
The CRTC announced Tuesday it will defer new applications or complaints relating to radio for the next two years as it focuses on implementing its regulatory plan to modernize the broadcasting system.
Each year, the commission considers hundreds of radio-related complaints and applications, filed by both the public and industry stakeholders.
With the Online Streaming Act to bring major changes to the Canadian broadcasting ecosystem – impacting everything from current and future licensees to conditions of service – the CRTC says that process will require considerable resources, resulting in anticipated delays.
“Consequently, the Commission is of the view that deferring…
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By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Rogers is asking Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to force Telus to continue fulfilling its obligations under existing wireless roaming terms with the cable company while the two competitors wrangle over terms of a proposed agreement.
Rogers is alleging in the August 14 filing that Telus is threatening to cease providing certain wireless services to it as a result of a dispute “over a particular term” in a proposed bilateral wireless agreement that is before arbitration. The particulars of the commercial dispute are not outlined in the complaint.
“TELUS has threatened to terminate Rogers’ access to certain…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell subsidiary Northwestel has filed late last month its proposed rates for entering the Connecting Families initiative, which provides affordable internet to low-income households.
Northwestel has proposed two packages: Connecting Families 1.0 that includes 15 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload and 300 GB of data and a $1-per-GB overage charge for $10 per month. Connecting Families 2.0 will include the federal objective of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload with 400 GB of data and an identical overage charge for $20 per month. The 400 GB of data is 200 more than the latest…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers is urging the Supreme Court of Canada to review a decision by the CRTC declining to regulate wireless attachments on municipal structures, arguing that carriers would otherwise have “no recourse” with the regulator on that critical access required for the next generation 5G rollout.
Rogers filed a two-page argument on Monday backing Telus’s application for leave at the high court after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in April that a lower court got it right when it said Parliament intended a reference to “transmission line” in the Telecommunications Act to literally…
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‘Large number’ of Bell subscribers tried accessing unauthorized NHL streamers, telco said
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Rogers said viewership on its official channels increased after it was ordered by the Federal Court to block unauthorized streamers of National Hockey League games during the 2022-2023 season.
The Federal Court ordered service providers to block access to unlicenced streamers of the games. As part of the order, the court required a report on the lessons from the block within 60 days of the final NHL game, which occurred on June 13. The deadline, therefore, was this week.
In an affidavit filed to the court…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – An order in council published Monday will direct the CRTC to include modified shopping channels from the United States on a list of authorized foreign programming services available on Canadian television.
The order amends a three-year-old one that only directed the CRTC to list unmodified U.S. home shopping programming, which is specific to the U.S. market. The orders are part of an agreement between the countries under the new Canada United States and Mexica (CUSMA) free trade agreement, which replaced NAFTA under former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The order amends the direction to the CRTC “respecting the…
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