Company challenges CRTC on decision not to indulge passive infrastructure debate; seamless roaming
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – When the CRTC asked for comments for its review of the wireless industry—with eyes trained on whether it would force negotiations on access to big wireless networks—a parallel issue emerged in the submissions: How will the regulator deal with the emerging friction between cellcos and local officials when it comes to equipment attachments on municipal infrastructure?
Apparently, not at all. Mid last month, in its decision to force the big three carriers to lease wireless network capacity to regional carriers, the Regulator said…
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TORONTO — CBC and Radio-Canada Media Solutions today announced the hiring of Hisham Ghostine (above) as executive director of sales, marketing and Olympics for Toronto and Western Canada, effective today.
Ghostine’s appointment follows the retirement of Mary Kreuk at the end of April. He will be based out of Toronto.
With more than 20 years of agency experience in the industry, Ghostine left his position as CEO of media and performance brands at Dentsu Aegis Network in Canada in December and spent a short time with Torstar, according to a report from Media in Canada. Previously, he has served as a…
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MONTREAL — Telus and Ericsson Canada announced today they have conducted the first multivendor network slicing proof of concept in a lab environment based on 3GPP Release 16 and the IETF Layer 3 NW Yang Model (L3NM) standard.
“With the completion of this network slicing proof of concept, Telus and Ericsson have successfully tested the maturity of standards and readiness of commercial products to meet the needs of enterprises and industry verticals,” reads Ericsson’s press release.
Expected to help accelerate commercial 5G applications, end-to-end network slicing enables each slice to provide a dedicated network for specific applications “that can create…
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TORONTO — Music rights management organization SOCAN announced today 24 Canadian visionaries will be recognized at this year’s SOCAN Awards for the roles they played in helping to raise the stature of music made in Canada.
“Fifty years ago, they understood the need to protect and amplify Canadian music, giving rise to Cancon. These trailblazers will be awarded the SOCAN Guardian Award for their efforts in preserving and boosting Canadian culture,” reads SOCAN’s press release.
At a time when home-grown music was often considered inferior to foreign records dominating the charts, making it difficult for Canadian artists to get airtime on…
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Siphoning hundreds of millions from them for Cancon will give streamers leverage over government and regulators
By Len St-Aubin
THE GOVERNMENT SAYS Bill C-10 is part of a plan to rein in web giants by making them pay their “fair share” when it comes to Canadian culture. That’s their story, and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is sticking to it.
But you have to wonder, at what cost? Extracting up to 30% of revenues generated in Canada from the likes of YouTube (Google), Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Spotify et al, and subjecting them to outdated, unnecessarily intrusive CRTC regulation, what’s the “quid-pro-quo”?
There’s…
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COMMUNITY MEDIA’S LOW-COST participatory model has the potential to address both the crisis in local news and information, and the proliferation of fake news. Yet this sector has been relegated to a sidebar in discussions to reform Canada’s broadcasting system.
When Paul Manly of the Green Party and others recently put forward an amendment to clarify that community media Is not-for-profit, it was rejected by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
The concern raised was that giving recognition to “not-for-profit” community broadcasting might somehow imperil giant for-profit cable and satellite corporations.
The 1991 Broadcast Act recognizes three distinct elements: private, public…
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Rural areas need a single, open access, network
By Joe Hickey
IN A WORLD WHERE many causes are highly politicized, rural broadband access is a cause just about everyone can get behind. With it, Canada can improve rural access to education, healthcare, and economic growth. This is especially important in the wake of COVID-19, which put a glaring spotlight on the digital divide, and made it all the rage to support rural broadband access.
Even major urban telcos seem to be getting on board, with Rogers Communications promising a $1 billion rural broadband fund in its recent proposal to…
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Mediaucracy looks at Cancon policy for TV in the global online era
By Len St-Aubin
IN HER FORTHCOMING BOOK, Mediaucracy: Why Canada hasn’t made global hits and how it can, Irene Berkowitz shows how policies intended to support premium Canadian content are colliding with the global online era and that collision is preventing Canada from generating Cancon hits for the global market at a level this country’s world-class production industry is capable of as, ironically, this country turns out global hits for foreign broadcasters and streamers.
The book makes a strong case that this outcome is largely due to a missing link…
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WINNIPEG — Before the Covid-19 pandemic started in the first quarter of 2020, a little more than one in five Canadian households were either cord-cutters or cord-nevers, says a new analysis from consulting firm Communications Management Inc.
CMI tracks media trends and provides consulting advice to clients in the media industry. Using the most recent data available from Statistics Canada’s “Survey of Household Spending”, CMI provides a snapshot of the cord-cutting landscape in 2019 in its trend tracker report, released Tuesday.
The consulting firm suggests the older data can become part of the baseline to be used to assess how the…
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TORONTO — Asian Television Network International (ATN) appears to have high hopes the federal government’s Copyright Act review, launched April 14, will put an end to the piracy of television and movie content in Canada.
ATN, Canada’s largest South Asian broadcaster, has long blamed content piracy for its declining revenues (which we’ve reported on numerous times, including here, here, here and here).
Last Thursday, in a press release titled “Purging the Piracy Parasite – ATN Applauds Government Initiative”, the broadcaster says it is “encouraged” by the copyright legislation review and public consultation process announced jointly…
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