Incumbents wanted to postpone until it can be done in person
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal will hear the wholesale rate appeal via online videoconference in June, the court said Monday, after the appellants sought last week to have the hearing held in person – even if that meant delaying the proceeding.
Eastlink, Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw, and Videotron as well as Bell sent letters to the court last week requesting the delay because they argued the complexity of the case could not be hashed-out over videoconference. The arguments were challenged by TekSavvy and the Canadian Network Operators…
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GATINEAU — In an application filed last week, Eastlink has asked the CRTC to review and vary its mid-February decision regarding the terms and conditions of access to cable carriers’ aggregated wholesale high-speed access (HSA) services (also known as third-party Internet access services).
In the decision issued February 14, the CRTC clarified the rules for resellers, saying they can offer HSA services on a wholesale basis to other resellers. The CRTC also directed Eastlink and other cable carriers to make a number of revisions to the terms and conditions of their wholesale HSA services.
While Eastlink doesn’t reference the general…
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TORONTO — Bell Media’s Animal Planet is offering a nationwide freeview, starting Tuesday, June 2, just in time for the premiere of its summer lineup of new and returning series.
Available until Thursday, July 9, the channel’s free preview will coincide with the season premieres of The Aquarium (June 15), Pit Bulls and Parolees (above, June 26) and North Woods Law (June 30).
In addition, all-new episodes of Lone Star Law (Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET), Coyote Peterson: Brave the Wild (Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET) and Amanda to the Rescue (Fridays at 9 p.m. ET) are scheduled during the freeview…
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By Greg O’Brien
ON SATURDAY, CBC.ca published a story that said nearly 60% of rural Canadians don’t have access to high speed broadband, a piece which of course whipped around on social media and was republished unquestioned by other websites.
If I want to be nice, I’d say the story is terribly misleading. What it is though, is just untrue.
The story’s sub-headline and again in the body copy says “CRTC data suggests as few as 40.8 per cent of rural households have access to high-speed broadband.”
This is, simply put, a false sentence devoid of all context split from reality and…
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HALIFAX — To help entertain families while socially distancing at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, kids channel Toon-A-Vision announced Tuesday it is launching on Cogeco and will be available free to all Cogeco customers on channel 729 as of April 22, 2020.
“Toon-A-Vision’s newest partnership with Cogeco means more Canadian families will have access to fresh new shows they’ve never seen before,” says Adam Mimnagh, president of Toon-A-Vision, in the news release. “We provide safe, but funny content that isn’t available in Canada on other children’s networks, or streaming services, which gives us that special something that we think families…
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By Ahmad Hathout
THE CANADIAN NETWORK OPERATORS Consortium (CNOC) is facing fresh denials from some incumbents to a request by the organization to lift certain network restrictions during the Covid-19 crisis.
The three-part ask from CNOC, which represents smaller third party internet access operators that rent part of the network of the larger providers, includes a lifting of capacity restraints free-of-charge, expedited network augmentations through more physical interconnections, and wholesale payment term flexibility of 60 additional days to help support customers who are unable to pay on time.
The letter was sent over the course of the past couple of weeks to…
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By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – With all pro and amateur sports currently shelved due to the Covid-19 crisis, TSN and Sportsnet programmers have been pulling out all the stops to try and keep fans happy.
They have scrambled and continue to work hard to fill hundreds of hours of airtime with older, or “classic” games, recorded best-of or blooper shows, previously unaired programming like strongman competitions, esports, some experiments in new programming and talk shows and other regular programming now done at hosts homes (Ed note: We enjoyed the 1980 NHL All-Star game – Wayne Gretzky’s first and…
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HALIFAX – With Canadians staying home to stop the spread of Covid-19, Eastlink announced Thursday morning its community TV stations in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will air Easter services all weekend long.
The channels will show live Easter services beginning Thursday evening and throughout the weekend from Saint Mary’s Cathedral Basilica and the African United Baptist Association of Nova Scotia in Nova Scotia and the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer and Trinity United Church in Charlottetown.
www.eastlink.ca
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TORONTO — With Rogers Media’s free preview of its FX specialty channel now extended until May 11, the broadcaster announced the new Mrs. America limited series starring Cate Blanchett will premiere in Canada on FX and online on FX Now starting April 15.
The nine-part miniseries, featuring Blanchett as conservative firebrand Phyliss Schlafly, tells the story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), and the unexpected backlash it brought about. Portraying some of the most iconic women of the era, the cast also includes Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids) as Gloria Steinem, Margo Martindale (American Crime Story) as Bella…
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OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada has announced it is delivering special access to content across all of its platforms, including news, educational resources for kids and parents, and a wide variety of programming to keep Canadians entertained when they need a break.
“The situation continues to change each day. Canadians need to know what’s happening and to understand what it means for them and for their family and friends. Our news teams are working around the clock to keep all Canadians on top of the latest developments here in Canada and around the world,” said CBC CEO Catherine Tait in a statement.
“We’re…
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