By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC said Friday it believes service providers should notify unhappy customers of the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) sooner in the complaints process.
Instead of informing customers they have recourse with the dedicated complaints watchdog only at the second level of escalation (first being the proposed telecom solution), the CRTC now believes telecoms should tell customers about the CCTS at the same time they offer that solution regardless of whether that resolution is favourable to the customer. The “offered solution” is defined by the CRTC as a written proposal intended to close the complaint, which…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Sports streamer DAZN is telling the Federal Court of Appeal that it is not sure whether it is obligated to immediately pay the base contribution amount forced upon it by the CRTC to support Canadian content funds.
The United Kingdom-based company filed a motion to the court last week seeking leave to intervene in an outstanding appeal against the CRTC policy for the purposes of clarifying whether a stay granted in December applies to all streamers or if must file for a suspension pending the outcome of the court’s decision.
“Providing this clarity with regards to whether the Base…
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Consultation triggered by Feb. 2024 complaint
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has launched a consultation Thursday to see whether it should force certain — and a broader base of — broadcasters to better facilitate accessibility of their services.
“The CRTC has heard that some content is hard to access for persons who are blind or partially sighted, and is working to identify, remove and prevent these barriers,” the CRTC said in a press release Thursday.
The key amendment the regulator is proposing is the removal of a qualifier under section 7.3 of the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations, which stipulates that broadcasters…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Iristel is asking the CRTC to provide smaller service providers money to support the commission’s policy of sending wireless public alerts.
In a Part 1 application dated October 3 but made public Wednesday, the far north service provider is recommending that the CRTC use the National Contribution Fund (NCF) to bankroll the policy for smaller service providers because of what it conveys as a crippling cost of implementing it.
“The imposition of a requirement that wireless public alerts must be served by very small wireless carriers makes their business cases nonviable,” Iristel says in the application. “The Commission must…
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Telco focusing on content and mobility bundle
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell said Tuesday it will use the CRTC’s wholesale internet framework to launch fibre-based internet services in British Columbia and Alberta, reciprocating what its telco rival Telus is doing in eastern Canada.
The telco confirmed to Cartt that the launch of the services in western Canada “is a result of the CRTC’s recent decision,” which it does not agree with because of what it says is the policy’s negative impact on network investment. The regulator mandates that competitors have access to the bundled fibre infrastructure of Bell and Telus nationwide.
“Our position on…
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The News Forum and Rogers have reached a new agreement on the latter’s distribution of the former’s national news service, according to a letter filed jointly with the CRTC in late September.
With the new agreement in place, The News Forum is withdrawing its Part 1 application submitted to the commission in March, in which it alleged Rogers was unduly disadvantaging the discretionary network by excluding it from the cable giant’s legacy or grandfathered cable packages. In its April reply to The News Forum’s complaint, Rogers had called for the application…
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Proposing one-year trial for spoken word on FM
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday abolished radio licence renewal periods, thereby making licenses indefinite with regular compliance audits that it says will streamline the process and reduce the burden on both the industry and the commission itself.
The regulator said it was often processing over 300 licence renewal applications every year, with multiple rounds of information requested from each station. But it found that the vast majority of stations were in “full compliance at all times, and most of the non-compliance was minor and could be addressed easily.”
The new Broadcasting Act allows…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Several major telecoms have filed a review and vary application asking the CRTC to adjust its new outage reporting requirements and extend the deadline to implement them because they are currently “impractical or disproportionate” and impose “undue administrative burden” on their businesses.
The CRTC in September gave all telecoms two months to implement the new rules, which require them to report to certain official bodies major outages – newly defined as lasting at least 30 minutes and affecting 600,000 or more user minutes in most cases. Compared to the interim regime from 2023, the new…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal will hear arguments made by Cogeco and Eastlink that allege the CRTC made several errors when it rejected their request to relook at its decision to allow the three largest telecoms wholesale access to their cable networks.
The July leave application, granted last month, charges that the regulator made three errors of law when it refused to review and vary the August 2024 policy that they say will cripple their businesses.
The applicants argue in a notice of appeal filing, dated September 29, that the CRTC misinterpreted section 2(e) of the…
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The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) announced Wednesday its board of directors for the 2025-2027 term, and confirmed the appointments of Kyle Irving as CMPA board chair, Michelle Wong as treasurer and Lauren Corber as secretary.
“In this pivotal moment for Canada’s nearly $12 billion media production industry, it’s more critical than ever that we pull together for Canadian content and stories,” Irving said in a CMPA press release Wednesday. “The deep expertise of our diverse Board of Directors will ensure our members are well represented to continue telling Canadian stories on our own…
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