By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC is mandating that all service providers report the origin of nuisance or spam calls, rejecting a request by some smaller service providers to be spared from the new condition of service.
“The Commission considers that excluding specific types of TSPs could leave a loophole for nuisance calls to enter Canada through TSPs excluded from the traceback process,” the CRTC said in a decision Friday.
“Requiring all TSPs that provide voice telecommunications services to participate in the traceback process would enable Commission staff to respond to complaints from customers of any TSP” and “prevent a TSP from ignoring…
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Quebecor Content announced Monday its original crime drama series Detective Surprenant: Murder on the Island has been acquired by CANAL+ Poland for broadcast to Polish audiences.
CANAL+ Poland is home to the largest premium satellite television platforms in Poland, said a Quebecor Content press release.
Beginning in spring 2026, CANAL+ Poland will air the six-episode, one-hour series in its original French with Polish audio or subtitles on the Ale kino+ Channel.
“Partnering with CANAL+ Poland, a leader in bringing premium international content to Polish audiences and one of the most influential platforms and channels within the…
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MP Champoux says CBC head still needs to explain the strategy for the channel’s distribution
By Ahmad Hathout
Following backlash, Radio-Canada said Friday it has asked Amazon to stop taking subscriptions for its ICI RDI on Prime Video until it can offer the 24-hour French-language news channel on its own ICI Tou.TV service.
“Sensitive to public concerns expressed following its announcement of the distribution agreement for ICI RDI on Prime Video, Radio-Canada has asked Prime Video to pause the channel’s signal for new subscriptions,” the public broadcaster said in a press release Friday afternoon. “This will allow the public broadcaster to…
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CBC says it’s listening to concerns, but expounds on why it did the deal
By Ahmad Hathout
The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage will call the president and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada to explain the public broadcaster’s decision to make its news products available on Amazon Prime Video as add-on subscriptions.
A motion, introduced by Bloc Quebecois MP Martin Champoux, to bring Marie-Philippe Bouchard before the committee was received favourably by the Liberals and Conservatives and passed at the end of the committee’s study session Tuesday on the state of journalism and media.
A date for Bouchard’s appearance will be determined later. The committee…
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Quebecor announced last week the appointment of Marc Tremblay to the board of directors of Quebecor and Quebecor Media, effective February 25.
“We are very pleased to welcome Marc to our Board,” said Sylvie Lalande, chair of the board of directors of Quebecor and Quebecor Media, in a press announcement. “He has extensive expertise in the legal field, as well as detailed knowledge of Quebecor and its business segments, having served as a member of the Corporation’s senior management for 15 years. Marc’s wealth of experience, combined with his recognized leadership, will make…
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The Quebecor Fund board of directors last week announced a total of $635,000 in funding has been awarded to three projects in the latest round of its Film Production Assistance Program.
The funds will be shared by the following Canadian film producers and distributors: Item 7 Inc., Max Films Inc., Lamalga Films Inc. (Amalga Créations Médias Inc. and Les films du Lac Inc.), Les Films Opale Inc., Studios h264 Inc. and Immina Films.
Production company Item 7 and distributor Les Films Opale are receiving funding for Le sablier, which is based on the true story…
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Etiya, an Istanbul-based software provider specializing in AI-driven digital transformation, announced Monday it has expanded its longstanding partnership with Quebecor to roll out its cloud-native business support system (BSS) platform to Freedom Mobile.
This next phase of collaboration will extend Etiya’s platform across Freedom Mobile’s operations, supporting the customer experience across all channels, from retail stores to call centres and back-office teams, an Etiya press release said.
Quebecor already uses Etiya’s cloud-native BSS platform for its discount mobile brand Fizz and TV/Internet service Helix. The expansion of Etiya’s platform to include Freedom Mobile…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Quebecor’s mobile wireless segment reported positive monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) growth on a year-over-year basis for the first time since the Freedom Mobile acquisition in April 2023.
ARPU was $35.23 in the fourth quarter, up 1.4 per cent or 48 cents, against the same quarter the year prior. Since the acquisition of Freedom from Shaw, mobile ARPU was consistently down against their comparable quarters, despite sequential improvements in the metric for every quarter in 2025 leading up to the final three months.
The company attributed the improvement this time around to lower promotional discounts and customers moving…
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New wireless competitors took over half of mobile sub adds in 2024
By Ahmad Hathout
Independent wholesale-based internet service providers lost half of their market share since 2020, according to a report from the CRTC.
The market share dropped from a high of 8.4 per cent in 2020 to 4.2 per cent in 2024, according to the Canadian Telecommunications Market Report, released Tuesday. And it’s been steady in between: falling to 8 per cent in 2021, 6.1 per cent in 2022 and 5 per cent in 2023.
“With shifts in the internet service market and in…
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Freedom Mobile on Tuesday announced it is introducing a refreshed suite of Total Freedom plans offering coast-to-coast coverage across Canada, plus international roaming in 120-plus global destinations included at no additional cost.
“These plans will include monthly recurring Roam Beyond data, expanding the value proposition far beyond Canada-U.S.-Mexico use,” said a Freedom press release. “By embedding international roaming into wireless monthly rate plans, Freedom removes the unpredictability and financial burden typically associated with other international roaming options — a longstanding pain point for consumers.”
The new unlimited talk-and-text Total Freedom…
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