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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TORONTO –Innovation, Science and Economic Development minister Navdeep Bains is expected to reveal the proposed structure of the 3500 MHz spectrum auction on Wednesday and, tapping into his inner Raptor, Scotiabank telecom analyst Jeff Fan said in a report this week he expects Bains to “deliver its version of ‘The Klaw’.”
Using Toronto Raptors’ star Kawhi Leonard’s nickname as a fun hook, Fan set out what he believes will happen to the 3500 MHz spectrum currently co-owned by Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Like Leonard stripping an opponent of the basketball, ISED will be stripping a lot of that spectrum…
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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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TORONTO – Janet Yale, chair of the Broadcast and Telecom Legislative Review panel, told the telecom industry on Monday morning that they will have to think far more broadly than their quarterly numbers and short term business plans when her panel makes their final recommendations to the federal government in January.
In a keynote speech at the start of the Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday, Yale said she had initially hoped to bring copies of the panel’s interim report for delegates, but it’s not quite ready for release, so instead she focused her remarks on reminding the telecom folks in attendance…
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TORONTO – ACTRA and the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) are behind a dedicated helpline designed to support their members when reporting incidents of harassment.
Known as HAVEN (Harassment and Violence Emergency Network), the 24/7 bilingual critical incident reporting line will go live on June 1 and also offer services such as confidential counselling and total well-being support. For calls regarding harassment or violence, the caller will always have the option to speak with a counsellor.
DGC and ACTRA members can access these services by phone, web chat and online via an app from assistance provider Morneau Shepell.
ACTRA and the…
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TORONTO – Canadian media circles have long been gripped by a dramatic industry narrative that Netflix and other U.S. tech giants will kill their pay TV business as audiences shift online.
The quieter truth is traditional Canadian distributors are still in business as (cord cutting aside) TV viewers mostly still refuse to part with the cable bundle while also embracing Netflix, Amazon and other digital alternatives.
"Year over year, it's always a bit of doom and gloom. Is TV in decline, is it going away? We believe TV has lots of runway," a bullish Rogers Media president Rick Brace said Thursday…
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OTTAWA – Speaking before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in Ottawa, CBC President and CEO Catherine Tait said public and private broadcasters in Canada are seeing their territory invaded by multinational foreign giants that have disrupted the very nature of the country’s media landscape.
“We know that our industry is facing real challenges,” Tait said during the meeting where the committee is studying the mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada as it relates to the Broadcasting Act. “We want to work with Canadian partners, both public and private because today our competition is not with each other. Our competition is Google, Facebook,…
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TORONTO – As streaming video grows and younger viewers move online, traditional Canadian TV networks in recent years have been keen to tell advertisers they were following audiences online as multiplatform players amid fast-changing viewer habits.
But the CBC, underpinned by new leadership, had a stark selling point at its upfront presentation in Toronto on Wednesday beyond excitement over their new and returning TV shows – brand safety and transparency.
"The last year illustrated some of the dangers the digital world represents. There are traps," Jean Mongeau, general manager and chief revenue officer at CBC Media Solutions, told Cartt.ca, as U.S….
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THERE’S NOT MUCH TIME left to save our cultural institutions and corporations in Canada, says Richard Stursberg.
If our federal government doesn’t act soon, what it means to be Canadian will be subsumed by the sheer volume of American culture washing over us online while our “feckless” Canadian government stands idly by. “We’re going to be completely dominated by American content,” he says.
The former assistant deputy minister of culture and broadcasting and former CBC, Shaw, and Telefilm executive, recently released a brand new book, called The Tangled Garden. A Canadian Cultural…
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OTTAWA – Canada’s creative community applauded the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for hitting the right notes in calling for better pay for Canadian artists in its Shifting Paradigms report presented to Parliament on May 15.
Now, however, groups representing artists want the federal government to produce a symphony of legislative change from the committee’s 22 recommendations, which include a call to both support creators and creative industries adapt to new digital markets, and review safe-harbour exceptions and laws to ensure that Internet service providers (ISPs) are “accountable for their role in the distribution of content.”
“As technology…
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