OTTAWA – On Tuesday, the federal government tabled the final version of a policy direction to the CRTC requiring it to improve the affordability of Internet and cellphone services for Canadians.
According to a statement by Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), the directive “aims to encourage all forms of competition and investment” in Canada’s telecommunications market.
"As long as Canadians pay too steep a price for their cellphone and Internet bills, our government will take extraordinary means to continue driving down the prices of telecommunications services,” said ISED minister Navdeep Bains, in the statement. “We are also fostering a…
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GATINEAU – Alicia Barin has been appointed as the CRTC’s regional member for Quebec, announced Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez this afternoon.
Her five-year term will begin August 11, 2019, the day after the term of current CRTC commissioner for Quebec, Yves Dupras, expires.
Barin has more than 20 years of experience in the Canadian media industry and was a key member of Astral Media's senior management team from 2003 to 2013. When she left the company in 2013 she was vice-president of strategic planning. Since then, she has been working in corporate affairs for AECO Project Management and Barin Architecture…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has agreed to delete 44 of Corus’ rebroadcasting transmitters from its broadcasting licences but has tweaked the broadcaster’s proposed reallocation of tangible benefits.
As Cartt.ca reported, Corus filed an application with the Commission last fall seeking to delete 44 rebroadcasting transmitters from its broadcasting licences for some over-the-air (OTA) television stations located in smaller markets across the country. Corus also asked that $2,365,771 in tangible benefits, relating to Shaw Communications’ acquisition of Canwest Global stations that was to be spent on the digital conversion, be reallocated to a number of other initiatives.
On Thursday, the…
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CWTA chief advocates against MVNOs
OTTAWA – While the topic of MVNOs dominated this year’s Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto, it also made sizable waves during the Thursday morning’s meeting of the ongoing Rural Digital Infrastructure Committee in the nation’s capital.
Speaking before the committee on Thursday, Robert Ghiz, president and CEO of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, issued a pointed warning about MVNOs to committee members – similar to the one he delivered in Toronto on Tuesday.
“MVNOs do not invest in wireless infrastructure or spectrum. Rather, they pay wholesale rates set by the regulator to…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has updated its dispute resolution practices and procedures for disagreements that fall under either the Broadcasting Act or the Telecommunications Act.
The May 28 information bulletin says that the move reflects changes in the broadcasting regulatory environment as a result of its Let’s Talk TV policy and to its Wholesale Code that governs the commercial arrangements between broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs), programmers and exempt digital media undertakings.
Specifically, the bulletin sets out various Commission practices plus procedural steps and time limitations that will apply to each of the following five dispute resolution mechanisms: staff-assisted mediation, final offer arbitration, expedited hearings,…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today launched its first call for applications for the Broadband Fund.
CRTC chair Ian Scott made the announcement at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday, saying the Commission is now accepting applications for projects in the the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as satellite-dependent communities in the territories, northern parts of British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and in parts of Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.
The Broadband Fund will provide up to $750 million over five years to support projects in regions where there is a great need for improved broadband Internet and…
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Opens call for Broadband Fund applications in the North
TORONTO – In a focused speech to Canadian Telecom Summit delegates today, CRTC chair Ian Scott had a strong message for the nation’s telecom carriers: Do Better.
Serve customers better, be more competitive by offering more diverse products and services, lower prices, help cut spam, and close the digital gap, were the themes that Scott drove home.
When it comes to that last one, closing of the digital gap in some of the underserved regions of the country, Scott brought along some news: The CRTC is today calling for…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC estimates that its total telecommunications regulatory costs for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, defined as April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, will be $36.454 million.
The Telecommunications Fees Regulations, 2010 (Fees Regulations) provide for the payment of annual telecommunications fees by certain telecommunications service providers, as set out in sections 2 and 3 of the Fees Regulations.
The annual adjustment amount referred to in subsection 3(5) of the Fees Regulations is $0.024 million for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.
The Commission said Wednesday that the net billing for its telecommunications fees for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, taking into account the adjustment above, is…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC needs to be “split up in terms of the kinds of people making broadcasting decisions and the kinds of personnel making telecom decisions,” said Tim Denton, chairman of the Internet Society Canada Chapter (ISCC) at the two-day Policy 3.0 Communications Law conference organized by the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications last week.
Denton, a former CRTC commissioner who now works as a consultant on Internet and telecom policy, also called for the creation of a chief technology officer within the Commission to provide advice on current technology-related issues. He said the CRTC needs to…
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MONTREAL – To no great surprise, Québecor has appealed CRTC decision compelling TVA Sports to continue providing its signal to Bell TV customers while in dispute with Bell Canada over its distribution agreement.
Quebecor argues the CRTC does not have jurisdiction to regulate affiliation agreements between BDUs and programmers this way; that it does not have jurisdiction to control the financial relationships between BDUs and programmers and that the powers invoked by the CRTC are far from the objectives of the Broadcasting Act, which are cultural in nature and focus on content.
The Federal Court of Appeal must…
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