By Mel Cohen
THE CRTC REVERSED ITSELF last Thursday, declaring that it erred in 2019 when it set lower rates for wholesale customers of the major telephone and cable companies. Wholesale customers are the dozens of smaller companies that compete with the majors and each other to provide internet services used every day by Canadian homes and businesses.
They are companies you might know – Distributel, Primus, and other members of the Competitive Network Operators of Canada. The consequence of the CRTC decision is that Canadians will soon pay higher prices to use the internet.
What is particularly frustrating about this…
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TORONTO — Ahead of Rogers Sports and Media’s upfront presentation Tuesday, Sportsnet today revealed it is building a new immersive broadcast studio for its NHL production team which will be located at Rogers Campus at 333 Bloor St. E. in Toronto and will be ready for the 2021-22 NHL season.
Designed to be customizable, the brand-new space will “facilitate unique content creation, real-time data integration, and exclusive sponsorship opportunities,” reads Sportsnet’s press release.
The Sportsnet team has been operating out of a studio at Toronto’s CBC headquarters, which was built in 2014, coinciding with the first season of its Continue Reading
TORONTO – This fall Rogers Sports and Media will bring together all of its news radio stations under one brand: CityNews.
Grouping stations of a similar genre has been a growing trend, as we have reported here, as it is a way for multiple station owners to streamline operations and bring down costs.
The company assures this is a change in brand identity only and the move is not accompanied by layoffs.
“While the name and branding for each news radio station will be updated, loyal listeners will still get the same great reliable content from 680 News (Toronto, pictured), News…
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SAINT JOHN – Rogers Communications this week expanded its 5G service into Saint John, New Brunswick.
Rogers currently offers 5G access to nearly half of Canada, available in over 700 communities nationwide with the commitment to reach 1,000 by year end. It’s the only one so far with a 5G network in Atlantic Canada, says the company’s announcement.
Please click here for the full release.
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Report says putting Corus and Bell together would strengthen Canadian industry
By Greg O’Brien
WITH DIGITAL PLAYERS already claiming the bulk of the revenue and a huge swath of viewing time in Canada, Bell Media and Corus Entertainment must come together if they are to survive amid the growing presence of global streaming players, according to a new report from Scotiabank analyst Jeff Fan.
The report gets to the point in its title: “More Canadian Media Consolidation is Necessary and Inevitable.”
Noting American telcos have recently abandoned their content dreams of late because they need the cash and resources to feed 5G…
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EDMONTON — As Super Channel is set to offer a nationwide free preview this month, today it announced Teri Hart (above) is joining the pay-TV network as entertainment producer and host.
Super Channel’s freeview is running across all four of its channels (Fuse, Heart & Home, Vault and GINX Esports TV Canada), plus Super Channel On Demand, for 10 days from June 14 to 23 (start times may vary and some exceptions apply; check with local providers for details).
In her new role, Hart will host and produce regular weekly IGTV (Instagram TV) video content outlining her hand-picked programming highlights from…
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Government must look before it leaps with C-10
By Monica Auer
THE DECISION BY THE Minister of Canadian Heritage several weeks ago to drop explicit protection for user-generated content uploaded to social media sites from Bill C-10 led to more attention being focussed on the new Broadcasting Act it would create.
In plain language, the Minister’s change means that while users themselves would not be subject to that Act, it would govern social media services “whose broadcasting consists only of” user-uploaded content. Even if the CRTC is unlikely to demand content posted by millions of Canadians on Facebook or YouTube meet its…
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By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Like deja vu, the immediate impact of a major decision by the CRTC has unfurled in the days immediately following — but the reactions are the reverse of what happened in August 2019.
When the CRTC that summer decided to slash the bulk internet rates smaller providers pay for large network access – and make the rates retroactive so some serious back pay was supposed to go to those independents – the large telecoms announced cuts to investments, including in rural areas. Smaller providers, rejoicing, immediately slashed retail internet prices.
Following Thursday’s decision to go back…
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Angry competitive ISPs say prices and regulatory distrust will increase
By Ahmad Hathout
GATINEAU – Large independent internet service provider TekSavvy, having been in the process of building its fibre facilities, was gearing up for next month’s critical 3.5 GHz spectrum auction. In January, competitive ISP Distributel purchased telecom Primus. And several other competitive ISPs reduced their prices in light of what they anticipated would be a new era of lower wholesale internet fees.
But those business decisions were based on the assumption the CRTC would choose lower bulk internet purchase rates that at least were between the interim rates set in…
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GATINEAU – After nearly two years since the CRTC set lower rates which the incumbent wired telecom carriers such as Bell and Rogers were to charge third party internet access providers like TekSavvy and Start.ca for access to those wired networks, the CRTC has decided to backtrack.
In its decision today on a review and vary filed by the incumbents (after they had appealed to both cabinet and the courts, too) the Commission today said it will make the interim wholesale rates which have been in place since 2016 the new permanent rates, except for a supplementary…
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