OTTAWA – The head of the Competition Bureau said Tuesday that the watchdog’s opposition to Rogers’s acquisition of Shaw was the correct move, citing high prices Canadians pay compared to international peers.
“While it didn’t go our way, I fully stand by our decision to challenge that merger,” Competition commissioner Matthew Boswell said on the second day of the International Institute of Communications conference in Ottawa.
“We put forward a responsible, evidence-based case. That is our job. We carefully scrutinized all the evidence, knowing the differing incentives of all parties,” he added.
“We fought the right fight for the right reasons and on the right principles.”
The commission’s fight…
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The CRTC should adopt the British approach to certifying domestic content
By Konrad Von Finckenstein, former chair of the CRTC
The CRTC is now faced with the enormously complex task of implementing C-11, the new Online Streaming Act. Under the terms of that Act, streamers like Netflix (called online broadcasting undertakings) have to register with the CRTC and comply with CRTC-imposed conditions. The CRTC will have to make several difficult decisions, one of the most controversial will likely be:
Prescribing what constitutes a Canadian program for the purposes of the Act (s.10(1)(b)).
This should be a priority for the CRTC, as much follows…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA— Bill C-11, which became law on April 27, will serve as “the catalyst” for the CRTC to “start shaping the broadcasting system of the future” through the creation of a regulatory framework, Vicky Eatrides, chair of the CRTC, said at the opening of a two-day conference by the Canadian chapter of the International Institute of Communications (IIC) in Ottawa on Monday.
C-11, or the Online Streaming Act, which amended the Broadcasting Act, “will ensure that all players, including online streaming services, contribute to the achievement of the cultural and policy objectives…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC said in a letter late last month that it has accepted a request by Quebecor and Rogers to hear the telecoms’ dispute over the price of access to Rogers’s wireless facilities.
The regulator received the request from the companies on April 6, which outlined that the parties could not resolve their dispute. They requested an expedited process.
As part of its price exploration, the CRTC is asking for all MVNO and off-tariff agreements to which both parties have agreed. Quebecor, on behalf of Videotron and Freedom, is being asked how much volume it is expecting…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC is proposing a new Canadian content contribution framework that would take into consideration different business models of the broadcasting services under the rules of the new Online Streaming Act.
Under the proposal, traditional and online streaming services would contribute a base amount of money toward a Canadian content support fund, such as FACTOR, Musicaction, and Radio StarMaker Fund. The funds are still to be determined.
CRTC officials said in a technical briefing with media Friday that they will have to determine first how it will come up with the formula to determine the base amount…
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By Ahmad Hathout
MONTREAL – Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said Thursday it is “essential” that the company’s Videotron subsidiary gets access to last mile fibre under the current wholesale access regime to be the country’s fourth national telecom.
The CRTC said in March that it has made it a priority to make a decision on mandating third parties to access the incumbent’s fibre facilities to homes under the current aggregated wholesale regime. The current regime mandates that wholesalers can bundle from the incumbents the transport and last mile coaxial facilities, but not last mile fibre.
“It is essential that incumbent…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Bill C-18 is both “fair” and “necessary,” the president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters told members of the Senate Standing Committee on Transport and Communications Wednesday evening during a hearing on the Online News Act that would require digital platforms to compensate news publishers for linking to their stories and which passed second reading in the Senate last week.
“The dominant internet platforms have told you and members of Parliament that Canada’s news is of little value or consequence to them,” said Kevin Desjardins. “They have already blocked access to content and have threatened to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The CRTC has ordered Tuesday several changes be made to the proposed tariff pages of the national players and has set a timeline for the implementation of the mandated mobile virtual network operator regime.
MVNO-eligible regional providers with spectrum and facilities were provided the opportunity to comment on the proposed tariffs of Rogers, Bell, Telus and SaskTel, which include the terms by which they would provide access to their wireless networks.
On Tuesday, the CRTC kept some of those terms the same but is forcing the large players to modify their proposals in response to regional carrier…
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By Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor
The Online Streaming Act (bill C-11) has been passed. This means foreign streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube will be subject to Canadian law and will be required to pay their fair share, just as Canada’s private broadcasters have always done. For too long, Canadian broadcasters, who have been operating in a rigid, highly regulated environment for decades, have had to contend with unfair competition from the web giants.
On the day the bill received Royal Assent, the Minister of Canadian Heritage said, “We are standing up for our stories,…
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By Douglas Barrett, featured above, adjunct professor in the arts, media and entertainment MBA program at the Schulich School of Business at York University.
As some wags have said, now that bill C-11 has become the Online Streaming Act, the real fun begins. That’s because the CRTC will be put in a position to make most of the “rubber meets the road” decisions based on the policies outlined in the Act. This is no easy task.
Strangely, to me anyway, despite months and months of debate around the topic, we have yet to see any models that specifically…
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