FORMER CABLE ATLANTIC OWNER, and current Newfoundland & Labrador premier Danny Williams is ticked off these days.
His government is getting strafed by daily opposition fire over the recently announced deal to bring another undersea fibre link from the mainland to The Rock. The $52-million project is backed with $15 million in provincial government money and will be built by a consortium of Persona Communications, Rogers Communications and MTS Allstream.
From what’s been published in the press out east, the opposition Liberals don’t seem to care about the project’s potential benefits – which are likely many –…
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TORONTO – If Rogers and Bell are on the same side of an issue – working together even – you know they see a threat.
Today, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telus, Sask Tel, MTS Allstream, and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance released a research report saying 81% of Canadians do not want to pay a new fee for conventional broadcast stations.
As has been reported repeatedly by Cartt.ca the concept of fee for carriage has been pushed by Canadian broadcasters and will be front and centre at the upcoming CRTC Television Policy Review beginning Monday, November 27th in Hull….
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – In a decision that will may have more immediate impact on the telecom industry than last week’s voice over IP deregulation announcement by the Minister of Industry, the CRTC today approved local telephone rate ranges for incumbent telcos.
What is means is that ILECs (Bell Canada, Telus, SaskTel, MTS, Bell Aliant and the like) will now be able to submit to the Commission – confidentially – a low and high range of rates for certain services and as long as their pricing stays within that range, will not have to file for tariff approvals prior to altering…
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CALGARY – Provincial telco SaskTel will finally face some local phone competition as Shaw Communications has launched its Digital Phone service in Saskatoon while Regina’s cable co-operative Access Communications has made its intentions public for Regina and area.
"For the first time in 98 years, Saskatoon residents have the opportunity to select their local telephone service provider," said Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, in a press release. "We are delighted to offer this choice to Saskatoon residents and expand our growing footprint across Western Canada by extending our Digital Phone service to our first major market in Saskatchewan."…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has added six new foreign ethnic channels have been added to the eligible satellite list.
All were sponsored by Rogers Cable and they are:
* Aaj Tak Channel is a 24/7 Hindi-language programming service providing news and information on world events, current affairs and financial developments. None of the programming offered on the service is accompanied by English- or French-language subtitles or secondary audio programming
* De Pelicula Channel is a niche service featuring Spanish-language films of different genres and epochs. Its programming includes contemporary and classic Spanish-language movies from all eras, including films from…
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LEONARD ASPER HAS been front-and-centre on the fight for regulatory change in broadcast television.
Of all the broadcast CEOs in Canada, he has stuck his neck out the farthest in demanding things as fee-for-carriage and increased advertising flexibility. As you’ll read, much is riding on his company’s submission and the eventual new policy emanating from the CRTC decision which will be announced in 2007.
During the hearing days, expect much hay to be made on CanWest’s request for an extra 50-cents per TV subscriber per month for each conventional broadcaster.
At the Canadian Association of Broadcasters annual conference in…
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MONTREAL – On Sunday, CKTS Sherbrooke stopped rebroadcasting Montreal radio station CJAD.
The CRTC has been notified of the decision to relinquish the license.
CKTS first began rebroadcasting CJAD, which is owned by Standard Radio, after a CRTC ruling in 1992. CKTS was subsequently acquired by Corus Québec in an exchange of assets with Astral in 2005.
"The CKTS antenna needs major work, and expenses for annual upkeep are significant. Given Standard Radio’s decision not to cover these costs, we have no choice but to relinquish the license to the CRTC," said Corus Quebec network vice president Jacques Papin…
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TORONTO – Saying she was "among friends", former CRTC commissioner and Canadian Women in Communications chair (and current Minister of Canadian Heritage) Bev Oda spoke openly Thursday night in Toronto about the current state of the broadcast and telecom market.
The Minister was speaking at CWC Toronto’s fall gathering at the Bravo! Rehearsal Hall.
During her informal presentation, Oda acknowledged that there is much uncertainty, many questions and areas where no one knows how broadcasting and telecommunications is going to evolve over the next few years. Instead of fear and trepidation, the industry stakeholders should look at the wonderful…
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IF CANADA’S INCUMBENT TELEPHONE companies want total deregulation quickly, they’re going to have to do it for (and to) themselves, in the marketplace.
Yesterday Industry Minister Maxime Bernier told the Economic Club of Toronto, with numerous telecom executives in the audience, that the federal government will force the CRTC to deregulate "access independent" VOIP services, no matter which company offers them or where.
The voice services offered by Primus and Vonage are prime examples. The consumer buys a special box, perhaps downloads some software and "poof", they have VOIP service in their homes –and perhaps portably, too.
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OTTAWA – So how fast will we see a complaint filed on this one?
Just yesterday everyone was wondering whether or not Bell Canada’s Digital Voice Lite voice over IP service would be considered an access-independent VOIP product under the new rules announced Wednesday. If so, it would be deregulated.
Today, the CRTC issued a circular today saying yes, in fact, Bell’s nascent VOIP product can be considered access-independent and "that by virtue of the Order in Council the tariffs previously approved by the Commission… are no longer of any force or effect and those services are forborne from…
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