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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Telefilm Canada last week announced the first rollout of its western Canada strategy, with a spotlight on British Columbia.
Following the launch of its Atlantic strategy in 2024, Telefilm has begun consultations with partners in British Columbia to better respond to the province’s unique opportunities and challenges, Telefilm said in a press release. The announcement was made Thursday in collaboration with Creative BC and the Canadian Media Producers Association’s BC Producers Branch during the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Telefilm’s “Western Strategy: British Columbia” is guided by three strategic…
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Canadians recently surveyed about their attitudes toward the Canadian media production industry and the Online Streaming Act strongly want their on-screen culture and stories protected, according to a new study conducted by Pollara and commissioned by the Canadian Media Producers Association.
Eighty-seven per cent of Canadians support the Online Streaming Act and the same percentage agree that recent threats from the U.S. make it more important than ever to defend Canadian culture, according to a national online survey of 1,500 Canadian adults, conducted between Sept. 19-25.
As part of ongoing trade talks, U.S….
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CBC/Radio-Canada on Wednesday announced Barb Williams, executive vice president of English services, is retiring from the CBC.
“Over her six year tenure at the national public broadcaster, Williams reimagined the way the CBC could serve existing audiences and welcome new ones, all while navigating the complexities of a global pandemic and the relentless pace of digital transformation,” reads a CBC press release announcing Williams’s retirement.
“The CBC we know today was born out of Barb’s vision to make our English Services platform-agnostic, a transformation that repositioned how Canadians consume CBC’s content,” CBC/Radio-Canada President…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday denied applications from Bell and Ontario charging that the commission made an error in a previous decision by failing to clarify that it had exclusive jurisdiction over long-distance calls in correctional facilities.
The commission said Friday that this issue was not central to its 2024 decision – which determined that those call rates were forborne from regulation since 1997 and it did not have authority to retroactively adjust the rates charged by Bell between 2013 and 2021 – and that the Telecommunications Act does not give the CRTC “authorities in exclusive…
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By Connie Thiessen
Canadian radio cannot continue to be used as a tool to prop up the music industry, Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) President Kevin Desjardins told the CRTC’s hearing on Canadian content on audio services Thursday.
“There has never been a more urgent moment than now for the commission to revise and adjust the regulatory regime for commercial radio in Canada. Simply put, the status quo will not do,” Desjardins asserted.
The CAB, presenting its case on behalf of its 26 members representing over 550 commercial radio stations, argued that the current regulatory burden, particularly “artificially high exhibition requirements” for…
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Telus on Wednesday announced the opening of its Sovereign AI Factory in Rimouski, Quebec.
Now operational and serving customers, the secure facility is powered by NVIDIA graphic processing units (GPUs), computing infrastructure designed by HPE, Telus’s PureFibre network and 99-per-cent renewable energy, according to a Telus press release.
“Today marks a defining milestone for Canada’s digital future,” Darren Entwistle, Telus president and CEO, said in a statement. “Indeed, with the launch of our nation’s first fully Sovereign AI Factory in Rimouski, we are maximizing Canadian autonomy over sensitive data. Businesses,…
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Cogeco urges easing of quotas
By Ahmad Hathout
The head of Stingray Radio said Thursday that overexposing Canadians to domestic music on radio is pushing them toward streaming services.
“Whether it’s a Canadian song they don’t like or an international song they don’t like, we risk driving them to international, foreign-owned, unregulated streamers,” Steve Jones told the commission studying the definition of Canadian content on audio services.
Jones noted that, through the company’s research and through the years, Canadian music has only captured roughly 10 per cent of consumption in Canada.
“So there is historical data that suggests that listeners have a certain threshold…
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