GATINEAU – Just before last Christmas, Iristel filed an application to the CRTC requesting both interim and final relief regarding alleged anti-competitive conduct by Bell Canada in relation to the rates for circuits associated with certain transport services.
The independent carrier complained Bell had increased it rates in a massive and unprecedented way and that it led them to suspect that Bell was re-monopolizing the transport services on some routes. Iristel submitted Bell “unilaterally and without proper warning increasing its rates for certain forborne circuits” from by 80% to 250% in some cases, and by over 125% in others,…
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Household expenditure data from 2013-17 showcased
GATINEAU – Canadian households continued to abandon landline telephone service in favour of mobile service, with almost a third subscribing to mobile service only, the CRTC said in its latest Communications Monitoring Report released today.
The data from 2013-2017 shows how household subscriptions to television distribution services continued their gradual decline, with “about three-quarters of households subscribing, while the percentage of households with Internet service increased slightly to 89%,” reads the report.
As well, adds the research, Canadian households spent an average of $233 per month on their communications services in 2017, an increase of…
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Some numbers truly unexpected as we break down the report on individual specialty services
INDEPENDENT CANADIAN SPECIALTY services are punching well above their weight when it comes to making and delivering Canadian content, despite the fact they live in a far lower margin world than those owned by vertically integrated companies.
Collectively, independent, or non-vertically-integrated specialty channels spent a whopping 59% of their revenue on Canadian content in 2018, far outpacing VI channels, which collectively spent 38% of revenues on Cancon in the 2018 broadcast year, which ended August 31st. These numbers are according to the CRTC’s 2018 Individual Discretionary and…
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Von Finckenstein rebuts Menzies
IN THE JULY 3 EDITION of the Report on Business, former vice-chair of telecom Peter Menzies wrote he believes Ottawa has given the CRTC conflicting directives which will result in a tough road for the current Commission chair, Ian Scott.
I see the issue differently. The federal government has actually issued two helpful directives.
First, the previous government under former Industry Minister Maxime Bernier issued a directive in 2006 putting the emphasis on competition and directing the CRTC, when regulating, to maximize competition in the telecom sector. Now, under ISED Minister Navdeep Bains, today’s…
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Slowed speeds after 10 GB might be against the rules
GATINEAU – Who would have thought a routine process of monitoring Internet pricing to make sure Internet Traffic Management Practices (ITMPs) don’t violate consumer rights would bump up against the much ballyhooed new $75 wireless data pricing plans?
The CRTC has long been concerned about some differential pricing practices that could be viewed as unfair, so it decided two years ago to “closely monitor the retail prices and data caps for both wireless and fixed-line Internet services, which will enable it to assess the degree to which…
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OTTAWA – Back in May, Videotron asked the CRTC to amend its conditions of licence so that it would not be forced to share its cable set-top box audience measurement with Numeris, and pending the decision, it abandoned the industry group working to bring to market that data as part of the ratings systems.
CRTC responded June 28th saying that the condition of licence still applies and changed the deadline for providing a measurement system to 15 January 2020.
On July 5th, however, Vidéotron announced it intended to challenge in court that CRTC refusal. The company…
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Lawyer Claire Anderson starts next month
GATINEAU – Yukon lawyer Claire Anderson has been hired as CRTC commissioner for British Columbia and Yukon, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced today.
She is the first Indigenous woman and first Yukon resident to be appointed as a CRTC commissioner and will fill a position which has been vacant since June 2018 when former commissioner Stephen Simpson left. While we don’t know her age, judging from her CV, she is likely one of the youngest ever hired, too. She starts August 26th.
Anderson (pictured in a photo from her LinkedIn profile) is a citizen of…
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GATINEAU – Jilted 9(1)(h) license applicant ICTV has filed a petition to the Governor-in-Council demanding federal Cabinet not only set aside the CRTC decision granting Rogers Media a must-carry TV license for OMNI, but also that CRTC chair Ian Scott and vice-chair broadcasting Caroline Simard, be fired.
It has also filed a motion for leave to appeal the same CRTC decision to the Federal Court of Appeal.
In the petition to the GIC filed late Monday, Independent Community Television Montreal, an independent, not-for-profit community TV operation out of Montreal (which was one of the applicants hoping to…
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OTTAWA – Total broadcasting revenues sank 1.2% from 2017 to 2018 as television distribution providers (BDUs) posted negative growth for the fourth consecutive year, according to the CRTC’s statistical and financial results for the industry.
The Commission’s 2018 Broadcasting Financial Summaries Highlights reported that overall BDU revenues dropped by 2.0% ($168 million), falling from $8.58 billion in 2017 to $8.41 billion for the broadcast year ended August 31, 2018. IPTV revenues grew by 4.5% in 2018 to surpass the $2 billion mark, albeit at a slower rate than previous years. Satellite (DTH) service providers reported total revenues of $1.9…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has kicked off a proceeding to co-develop a new framework for Indigenous broadcasting in Canada.
Noting that its current Indigenous broadcasting policy was introduced back in 1990, the Commission pledged to “modernize the existing regulatory framework so that the Canadian broadcasting system can adequately support the special needs of Indigenous peoples, now and in the future.”
The procedure will adopt a phased approach “to maximize Indigenous peoples’ opportunities to shape the public participation process and make their views known to the Commission,” the CRTC said Thursday. The first phase will consist of early engagement sessions; the…
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