Government “disagreed” with incumbent arguments about direction usefulness and legality
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Innovation Canada has kept its proposed policy direction to the CRTC largely intact, as the final version released Monday shores up language to reinforce the government’s perspective on the importance of competition and affordability in the wireline and wireless sectors of the telecommunications industry, while maintaining that the direction will encourage innovation and network investments.
The department clarified language in the final version that made clearer the importance in CRTC decisions of network reliability, fair roaming rates, and “just and reasonable” rates at which smaller internet service…
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By Connie Thiessen
Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund (CMF) have launched their new MADE | NOUS campaign “MADE Better” with a series of Hollywood billboards celebrating Canadian filmmakers that have been erected near Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Los Angeles.
Amid the sea of “For Your Consideration…” billboards in L.A. that pop up during awards season, the MADE | NOUS billboard share the visual of four directors’ chairs with the names (Denis) Villeneuve, (Sarah) Polley, (James) Cameron, and (Domee) Shi, accompanied by the message “Need Direction? Look North.”
Other billboards in the campaign play on our collective…
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VANCOUVER – Former deputy prime minister John Manley has been appointed chair of the Telus board of directors.
The long-time board member is succeeding Dick Auchinleck, who is retiring after 20 years, according to a press release today.
“John’s appointment as our new Board Chair is a testament to our robust succession planning process,” Darren Entwistle, president and CEO of TELUS, said in the release. “Over the course of his tenure on our Board, John has demonstrated exceptional professionalism, thought leadership and integrity, playing a key role in TELUS’ industry-leading growth strategy. We look forward to his continued contribution with his…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Executives from a fixed wireless association said at a Senate transport committee hearing yesterday evening that a bill that would place definitive terms on the use of spectrum is inflexible and would not bring about the objectives it seeks to accomplish.
The Senate bill, an amendment to the Radiocommunications Act, would force providers to deploy the public resource to at least 50% of the population within the region it serves inside of three years. The committee had heard from Innovation Canada officials the day before that the bill is both too strict for…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canadian Heritage and Innovation Canada are emphasizing the speed at which the CRTC makes decisions in a mandate letter to new head of the regulator, Vicky Eatrides.
“There is a perception that the CRTC is taking too long to make decisions,” the Monday letter said. “CRTC regulatory decisions are essential to creating a stable, competitive, and innovative business environment.
“Undue delays create uncertainty and potentially impact investment decisions and service offerings for Canadians,” the letter added. “As the pace of technological change continues unabated, timely decision making will only be more critical in responding to the needs…
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VANCOUVER — Telus last month completed the integration of customers of internet service provider Start.ca after acquiring the small outfit, the company confirmed.
The customer networks of the London, Ont.-based provider of internet, television and home phone services were integrated into Telus last month, “giving customer access to TELUS’ global-leading wireless network, suite of home automation and security, health and entertainment products and services,” Telus told Cartt in a statement.
Richmond, B.C.-based Altima, another ISP that Telus acquired, was integrated into Telus’s network in June 2022.
The purchases further narrow the range of service providers to choose from, as various factors have…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-11 faces a final vote in the House of Commons this week, “it’s unclear as to how it will work in practice” and whether streaming giants will be able to “simply repurpose” already made Canadian programming to qualify as Canadian content and how they would pay their fair share toward broadcasting distribution undertakings (BDUs) that require private broadcasters to make a contribution of at least 5% of their broadcast revenues to CanCon and production, according to CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Catherine Tait.
The Senate’s passing of the Online Streaming Act last week was…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-11 returns to the House of Commons after passing the Senate late Thursday, the industry affected by the online streaming legislation has called on the federal government to ensure the establishment of equal treatment between foreign and Canadian companies toward Canadian content requirements.
“We are very concerned that a provision, which remains in the bill, creates a two-tier system that will hold foreign streamers to a lower standard than Canadian companies,” said the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) in a statement today. “This will result in foreign streamers using fewer Canadian creators in the…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC has rejected today an industry association application that challenged a CRTC decision denying mandated wholesale access to multi-dwelling building fibre.
The Competitive Network Operators of Canada, a representative of independent internet service providers, filed an application in October arguing that the regulator made errors in its 2021 decision denying the essentiality of these facilities, and that it should revisit the issue of mandating third parties’ ability to lease the fibre in these buildings to serve tenants themselves.
But in its decision today, the CRTC said CNOC failed to show that the…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As bill C-11 sat on the doorstep of passing third and final reading in the Senate, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez – who introduced the Online Streaming Act a year ago to the day on Feb. 2, 2022 – told a packed audience at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s annual Prime Time conference in Ottawa on Thursday that he expected the bill could return with amendments to the House of Commons, where it passed last June and which could become law by next week.
Should that happen, Rodriguez said it…
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