OTTAWA – TekSavvy and Bell have both proposed changes to the federal government’s proposed policy direction to the CRTC, which would impact how the government directs the Commission to handle its regulated wholesale Internet regime in very different ways.
TekSavvy argues the government’s proposed policy direction “emphasizes the importance of a healthy wholesale regime” and yet “does nothing concrete to address any of the basic problems that have destabilized the regime over the past 7 years.”
The independent Internet and voice service provider points out the policy direction was issued as the government also rejected petitions to overrule the CRTC’s…
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By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — VMedia, the independent internet and television service provider that pioneered delivering television services over IPTV systems in Canada, was quietly acquired by Quebecor last week – but that does not mean it intends to fade away.
Instead, Quebecor is financing its expansion, giving it the resources it needs to grow its subscriber base across the country and offer a bundling option that Quebecor’s Videotron can combine with its expansion of mobile services outside Quebec.
The purchase price of the deal was not disclosed. According to documents filed with the CRTC, Quebecor acquired all shares of VMedia from…
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TORONTO and CALGARY — Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications and the Shaw Family Living Trust today announced they have extended the outside date of the proposed $26-billion merger of Rogers and Shaw to Dec. 31, 2022.
The outside date for closing the merger has already been extended twice before by the companies from the original date of March 15, 2022. The closing extension comes as the most recently announced outside date of July 31, 2022 was fast approaching.
The new outside date “may be further extended to January 31, 2023 at the option of Rogers or Shaw, provided Rogers has committed financing…
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TORONTO — Rogers Communications today reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2022, while also announcing the outside date for its proposed merger with Shaw Communications has been extended to Dec. 31, 2022.
In addition, when releasing its results for the second quarter, the company announced the estimated cost of compensating its customers for its recent nationwide network outage is $150 million. These customer credits will be included in Rogers’ third quarter 2022 operating results, according to a press release announcing the company’s Q2 2022 results.
Rogers also plans “to spend more on our wireless and wireline networks…
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OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau is seeking to have the Competition Tribunal add more time to the pre-hearing process and hearing on the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications due to Quebecor subsidiary Videotron’s request to participate in it.
The Commissioner of Competition filed a motion today seeking the changes, which would see oral examinations for discovery start on Sept. 19, 2022, instead of Aug. 15, 2022, as currently scheduled.
The commissioner, Matthew Boswell, is further requesting the tribunal include an additional week for oral examinations and another additional week for the hearing. He is requesting the tribunal modify other…
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QUEBECOR PRESIDENT AND CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau released a statement yesterday criticizing an opinion piece published in the Globe and Mail last week, which itself criticized the pending merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications generally and the sale of Freedom Mobile to Quebecor as a remedy for competition-related concerns about the merger specifically.
The opinion piece was written by Centre for International Governance Innovation fellow Keldon Bester (who co-founded the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project) and Carleton University PhD candidate and consultant Ben Klass in the wake of the nationwide Rogers outage earlier this month.
Péladeau is calling three…
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Expert group concludes work with little attention given to website blocking proposal
By Amanda OYE
OTTAWA – The work of the government’s Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety, which was appointed in March to provide advice on the government’s proposed approach to dealing with harmful content online, has come to an end with the summary of its final session being posted online last week, but the government will continue seeking input on the matter from Canadians and stakeholders throughout the summer.
“I thank the expert advisory group for their work,” said Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez in a statement emailed to Cartt.ca….
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OTTAWA – Videotron, a subsidiary of Quebecor, has filed a notice of motion with the Competition Tribunal, asking to be granted leave to intervene in the proceeding dealing with the Commissioner of Competition’s application to the tribunal to have the proposed merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications blocked.
The notice of motion, posted to the tribunal’s website today, indicates Videotron is further seeking a confidentiality order on terms to be discussed should leave to intervene be granted.
Videotron intends to intervene in the proceeding in support of Rogers and Shaw. Last month the three companies announced they reached an…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor and its asterX innovative entrepreneurship unit announced today they have partnered with French-language university HEC Montréal to help start-ups in Quebec refine their digital strategies.
As part of the partnership, Quebecor is donating $1 million so HEC Montréal’s research chair in user experience (UX chair), can “support a hundred entrepreneurs over a 10-year period under the Quebecor asterX Digital Entrepreneurship Program,” a press release says.
HEC Montréal’s UX chair is powered by the university’s Tech3Lab. “Every year, it will provide around ten local start-ups with support, at no charge, with testing and enhancing the user experience offered by…
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Mostly francophones from Québec
By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – After a group of 60 people, including Radio-Canada personalities, sent an open letter to the CBC/Radio-Canada asking it to refuse to comply to the sanctions imposed by the CRTC on the use of the “N-word” on-air, more people and groups came out against the decision.
Some are asking the public broadcaster to pushback, some are demanding the Minister of Canadian Heritage or the Prime Minister to take a stand.
The Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, representing journalists in Québec, said through its president “All dialogue is healthy for a society, the…
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