By Connie Thiessen
Without access to funding, Corus Entertainment says its Global television stations across the country will be left “in a precarious and unduly disadvantaged position” as Rogers Communications moves to redirect $13 million in local expression funding to its CityNews stations.
In a letter to the CRTC, dated May 10 and posted to the commission website this week, Corus requests confirmation of its eligibility to participate in the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF), funded by licensed broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs), which are required to contribute 0.3% of gross revenues from the previous broadcast year.
Corus – which is effectively controlled by the Shaw Family Living Trust – says given Rogers’s recent acquisition…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
VICTORIA – The broadband ministry under the British Columbia government has been seeking ways to speed up broadband deployments in the province, and a recent briefing note outlines some ways it suggested to do so ahead of its utilization of federal funding.
In the Citizens’ Services briefing note from January, obtained via a freedom of information legislation, the ministry suggested that it could confidentially share with BC Hydro the poles that are expected to be impacted by broadband projects in areas with the 115,000 underserved households in the province.
“BC Hydro can take projective steps to determine the state…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada “repeatedly encouraged” the sale of Xplore Mobile’s spectrum licences in Manitoba to Quebecor, according to a company executive, after CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau sent a letter to the department urging it to push for a sale to subsidiary Videotron to maintain its four-player competition policy.
The department denied the July 14 joint request to transfer the five licences worth $30 million to Telus in September on the grounds that it would hinder the ability of “fourth” players to compete because of the high concentration of spectrum control by Telus, Rogers and…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Videotron’s Freedom Mobile announced Thursday a $50 “unlimited” mobile wireless plan with unlimited talk and text both in Canada and the United States.
Subscribers will have 40 GB of the LTE network’s fastest speeds on the plan to use anywhere in Canada and the United States. If they go beyond that, speeds will be slowed down.
While other Canadian carriers offer similar cross-border packages with more high-speed data, Freedom appears to be seeking to capture the market at the lower $50 price point. (The $50 includes a $5 digital discount.)
The announcement comes after Videotron closed its acquisition of Shaw’s…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
TORONTO – Executives from the largest telecoms said Wednesday that they are seeing more bundled services as the current and future competitive play in a post Rogers-Shaw merger market.
Doug French, Telus executive vice president and chief financial officer told TD Securities telecom analyst Vince Valentini that the Vancouver-based telecom’s strategy of driving more fibre in its footprint has enhanced the quality of its bundling strategy – the practice of reducing prices by selling more than one service, such as mobile wireless and internet.
French said that the company hasn’t seen a change in Rogers’s networks in western Canada…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA — The CRTC has set a deadline of Monday to submit comments on a request by a dozen organizations to extend the deadline for submissions to its three consultations related to the implementation of the Online Streaming Act.
The organizations on Friday filed the request to extend the deadlines, which were set at June 12 and June 27, to July 28. They also asked that reply deadlines be extended from June and July to September.
The regulator is now asking others to comment on the request by May 29 at 5 p.m.
The organizations said the time currently…
Continue Reading
Job Description
Pattison Media Ltd. has an exciting and rare opportunity for a wildly talented and driven Program Director to join our team in Brandon. Reporting to the General Manager of the Brandon Division, you will play a very important role in leading both Brandon Radio Stations, Q Country 91.5 FM and 94.7 Star FM to new heights in the beautiful Westman region of Manitoba. You will lead both brands on air and digital experience, be responsible for talent, content, and programming.
This is a leadership role and requires a proven track record in radio programming and multi-platform content creation.
Responsibilities
• Ensure…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – A group of organizations is requesting the CRTC extend the deadline to comment on a trio of proceedings for the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, which will force online streamers to contribute to Canadian content.
When it launched the three proceedings to implement bill C-11 last week, the regulator set comment deadlines of June 27 on a proposal to create a flexible contribution framework that includes a base amount and two other ways to contribute to Canadian content. It also set a deadline of June 12 on questions of which online services should register…
Continue Reading
They warn the CRTC about competitive impact of Freedom sale to Videotron
OTTAWA – The country’s largest telecoms are asking the CRTC not to forcibly allow the large enterprise and internet of things device markets to roam on its wireless networks.
The CRTC launched a proceeding in March to explore whether mobile virtual network operators mandated under the April 2021 MVNO framework should also be able to leverage the incumbents’ wireless networks to serve those other markets. It held a preliminary view that the consumer retail markets that are currently regulated are similar to the enterprise (more than…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC on Thursday denied an application by British Columbia’s minister of transportation and infrastructure (MOTI) to suspend a November decision that forces it to enter agreements with third party carriers wanting to attach equipment on poles that are being moved by the province.
The November decision was triggered by a Rogers and Shaw application, which asked that they be treated similarly to the incumbent Telus when it comes to compensation to relocate their transmission lines when the province decides to move their poles. In the decision, the CRTC said the province must either stop compensating Telus…
Continue Reading
