Quebecor CEO asks, ‘Should we be surprised…?’
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Bell has sent a letter to the Federal Court of Appeal backing Rogers’s appeal of the CRTC’s decision to choose Quebecor’s price to access the cable company’s national wireless network.
“The proposed appeal raises crucial issues relating to the ‘just and reasonable’ standard pursuant to which the CRTC sets the rates for a wide range of regulated telecommunications services, including the facilities-based MVNO access service mandated by the CRTC in 2021,” Bell, which isn’t a party to the matter, said in a letter dated August 31.
“These issues include the ability…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has denied Tuesday an application requesting that the regulator increase the price of the basic television package from $25 to $28 per month and to index the price to inflation.
The application, filed by Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel, was denied on the basis that there was insufficient evidence provided to suggest that the $25 price was no longer economically viable for the providers, the regulator said, noting the “strength of the BDU industry.”
Ironically, the CRTC argued inflation actually provides more justification for a price cap on the cost of the mandatory carriage package because consumers…
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By Connie Thiessen
The CRTC is immediately lifting advertising time limit requirements for discretionary television services to position them to better compete with online platforms.
The move is in response to a 2020 application from Quebecor Media, on behalf of TVA Group, asking for the removal of the advertising time limit of 12 minutes per clock hour on its discretionary services. The commission moved to lift time limits for conventional services in 2007.
TVA argued that with only discretionary services subject to an advertising time limit, foreign online platforms are unduly benefitting as they capture a growing share of advertising revenues. TVA’s…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC approved an application by Natyf TV forcing broadcasters in Quebec to carry its channel on basic TV packages for five years.
The regulator approved a monthly wholesale cost per subscriber to carry the channel of 12 cents for the term, which will run from September 1 this year to August 31, 2028.
The channel, owned by Melkisedek Media Inc., caters to Francophone “racialized” communities in the province, “with the aim of reflecting those communities’ interests and encouraging a new group of Francophone creators from ethnocultural communities,” the CRTC said. The programming is entirely broadcast in French and…
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OTTAWA – TerreStar this week filed a review and vary application challenging the CRTC’s decision in June to deny its application to reduce its regulatory fee obligations by deducting its spectrum leasing revenues.
The regulator had rejected the Montreal-based mobile satellite and cell services provider’s argument that the revenues generated from the sale or leasing of spectrum did not qualify as a telecommunications-related expense, which would have reduced its obligation to the National Contribution Fund. The NCF goes to fund broadband infrastructure in the country.
TerreStar argues that the CRTC made a decision that is inconsistent with previous…
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Iristel urges PM to do something about withheld CRA funds affecting its response
By Ahmad Hathout
YELLOWKNIFE, NWT – Wildfires ravaging parts of the Northwest Territories are causing widespread devastation to homes, families and telecommunications networks, forcing operators to install backup systems and carefully enter repair territory as critical infrastructure burns.
Cartt asked some of the primary providers in the region to provide their perspectives on how they’re dealing with the wildfires that have burned many millions of hectares of land. It is Canada’s worst wildfire season ever, with more fires expected to come this fall.
Bell subsidiary Northwestel told us the company…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC last week launched the second phase of its implementation of the Online Streaming Act (Bill C-11), calling for comments on the Commission’s proposed new broadcasting fees regulations, which would apply to broadcasters and online streaming platforms alike.
“The amended Act broadens the pool of potential feepayers from licensed broadcasting undertakings to all broadcasting undertakings, including online undertakings (undertakings ‘for the transmission or retransmission of programs over the Internet’), a newly defined class of undertakings in the amended Act. It also eliminates some of the fees paid by broadcasting undertakings…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Electricity Canada said in a filing to the nation’s highest court this month that Parliament’s refusal to amend “transmission line” under the Telecommunications Act is evidence of its belief that it does not foresee an obstacle for telecoms getting wireless access to municipal structures without CRTC jurisdiction.
Electricity Canada is opposing a Telus application for the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its argument that a lower court erred when it upheld the CRTC’s decision to decline to regulate wireless attachments on municipal structures on the basis it does not have jurisdiction. The…
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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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