OTTAWA-GATINEAU – While the cable industry was fixated on the voice over Internet protocol decision yesterday, the CRTC issued another one at the same time which will affect a number of small cable operators carrying high definition programming.
In the decision, the Commission told Star Choice that it must, within 30 days, cease transmitting its so-called “omnibus” high definition channels it has been distributing to customers for some time. None of these channels were created with the consent of the broadcasters, who complained to the regulator.
Basically, Star Choice takes high definition programming it finds on CBS, ABC, Fox…
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OTTAWA – “We’re extremely pleased with the decision,” Chris Pierce, executive vice-president government and regulatory affairs for Manitoba Telecom Services, told www.cartt.ca on Thursday after the VOIP decision was released.
While MTS is the entrenched Manitoba incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC), it is also a national competitor in the VOIP space via its Allstream division – and wanted as much as Canadian MSOs for the decision to go the way it did. For example, MTS/Allstream is helping Mountain Cablevision in Hamilton with its voice over IP product, which is already in the marketplace.
“(The Commission) didn’t accept, really,…
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OTTAWA – Rogers Communications vice-president, regulatory, Ken Englehart told www.cartt.ca that the CRTC’s demand that cable open up its third party Internet access (TPIA) tariff agreements to explicitly include provisions for voice service, should not pose much of a problem.
While the Commission did adjust its position somewhat, calling for cable to make provisions for access-dependent” third party voice, “things change” shrugged Englehart.
“We had said that access independent voice (where the consumer and their new VOIP provider installs his or her own telephone service on top of their Rogers High Speed service) is okay. We think that…
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IT SEEMS AS THOUGH most people in the industry have this afternoon’s CRTC voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) decision figured out.
Cable companies and telephone companies alike believe the Commission will maintain what it already said it believes: that despite the technology delivering it, VOIP is still just local phone. And that means the incumbent telcos will remain bound by the same traditional regulations they already have to deal with, mainly tariff-filing when they wish to alter their rates, which makes them a slower-moving competitor in the marketplace.
The telcos have done their level best to try to spook…
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OTTAWA – “Why did we find that VOIP is a telephone service? Because Canadians use it as a telephone service,” CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen said today at the Commission’s headquarters upon the release of its voice over Internet decision.
The decision confirmed what the Commission had said previously: that it would continue to regulate VOIP when it is provided and used as a local telephone service.
That means incumbents like Bell and Telus will continue to have to file rate tariffs with the Commission for approval – to make sure predatory pricing below cost doesn’t happen – while the…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association has asked the CRTC to let its members drop FM radio from their carriage requirements.
Specifically, the association wants the Commission to repeal section 22 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, which currently require all cable systems to carry every local FM radio signal in their regions on their cable plant.
The CCTA says that so few people actually listen to the radio via cable that it’s a waste of bandwidth that could be put to better use… carrying high definition TV for example. MSOs could, if they wished, still carry the stations…
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OTTAWA – Did the industry have this decision pegged or what?
Mere minutes after the CRTC’s voice over IP decision was put out, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association issued a press release declaring itself pleased by the decision, while Bell Canada wired one out which blasted the decision, saying it will appeal immediately, just like BCE CEO Michael Sabia said here last week.
“I think we’re very happy,” CCTA president Michael Hennessy told www.cartt.ca in Ottawa today upon the decision’s public release. “It’s pretty much what we expected and for the telephone companies, they’re allowed into the market, they’re…
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OTTAWA – It’s a key decision for the cable and telecom industry and www.cartt.ca will be there.
While the CRTC’s voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) decision itself will officially be released at 4 p.m., cartt.ca will be in the media lock-up at 2 p.m., poring over the decision and chatting with Commission staff to get the full story and what it means out to you as soon as possible.
Check back here later this afternoon for not just the decision or the press release, but a full account of the Commission’s VOIP announcement from Ottawa.
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LIFE IN OTTAWA ISN’T easy for those pushing their agenda on a government which has but one goal for the moment: Stay. In. Power.
Communications policy – well, any policy really – is in limbo as the minority Liberal government tries to save its own skin in the face of Adscam and the Gomery Inquiry.
What that means is of the dozens of things on Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association president Michael Hennessy’s plate right now, many are leftovers, sure to be in need of re-heating again after what’s expected to be another federal election this spring or early summer….
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TORONTO – Sabia, Mohamed, Entwistle, Dalfen, Citron, Linton – all will be featured at the 2005 Canadian Telecom Summit.
Less than three weeks remain to register for Summit – May 30 to June 1 at the Toronto Congress Centre.
Delegates will join 500 of the most influential stakeholders in discussions of the future of telecommunications in Canada. Now in its fourth year, the 2005 Canadian Telecom Summit offers a wide range of topics being reviewed strategically by the senior leaders of the industry.
With 17 keynote speakers and more than 50 panel members, The 2005 Summit will look at…
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