“Disinformation spreading on private messaging apps is a growing threat to our democracy”
TORONTO — With more than eight in 10 people in Canada using private messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, a new study from Ryerson University’s Cybersecure Policy Exchange finds 46% of Canadians report receiving private messages which they suspect are false at least monthly.
The report, Private Messages, Public Harms, is based on results from a representative survey of 2,500 Canadians in March 2021. The Cybersecure Policy Exchange, which is an initiative powered by RBC through Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and the Ryerson Leadership Lab, analyzed the…
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Advisory firms recommend shareholders vote in favour
CALGARY — Shaw Communications announced today two independent proxy advisory firms, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass, Lewis and Co., have recommended that Shaw’s shareholders vote for the proposed business merger with Rogers Communications announced in March.
The proposed $26-billion purchase deal would see Rogers acquire all of Shaw’s issued and outstanding Class A participating shares and Class B non-voting participating shares.
Shaw says a special shareholder meeting will be held virtually on May 20 at 10 a.m. MT. The purpose of the meeting is for Class A and B shareholders to consider…
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TORONTO — Canadian Broadcast Sales (CBS) today announced the launch of AudioVelocity, a new digital audio platform it says is designed to deliver advanced advertising solutions and real-time measurement to radio and podcast advertisers.
Providing enhanced targeting capabilities, the AudioVelocity platform allows advertisers to deliver messages through streamed and on-demand content via connected devices across CBS’s portfolio of leading Canadian broadcasters and podcasters, including confirmed partners Rogers Sports and Media, Corus Entertainment, Pattison Media, Cogeco Media, CBC, Vista Radio, Radioplayer Canada, Golden West Broadcasting, Blackburn Radio, and MBS Radio.
“Radio already delivers massive reach, excellent cost efficiency, and demonstrated impact for…
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GATINEAU — Having been denied access to a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) building currently under construction in Saint John, N.B., and therefore unable to offer services to incoming residents, Rogers Communications is asking the CRTC to order the developer to grant it access to the building, on a expedited basis.
In a Part 1 application filed May 6th and posted on the Commission’s website today, Rogers says Iron Gate Developments and its owner, Stephen Brittain, refuse to provide Rogers with access to a property known as Telegraph Square, located at 29 Canterbury Street in Saint John.
Rogers says in its application it…
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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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By Howard Law
UNTIL LAST WEEK, PARLIAMENT’S Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage was plodding through the clause-by-clause review of Bill C-10 with no tasty headlines. Perhaps the bill’s revamp of the Broadcasting Act, which would sweep in Netflix, isn’t controversial anymore.
Of course, federal political partisanship is inevitable, as Canadian as bad weather.
And so, we now have the Conservatives’ faux controversy over free expression on social media platforms. In an e-mail blast from CPC MPs across the country, they made their case:
“Recently, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-10 – a bill that would regulate social media websites like Facebook, YouTube, and…
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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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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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OTTAWA — The department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) released today its latest quarterly report on wireless plans, which shows prices for the majority of mid-range data plans across Canada have decreased since tracking began a year ago.
As Cartt.ca readers know, the federal government wants service providers to reduce the cost of wireless plans by 25% over two years (from the beginning of 2020 to early 2022), and has been tracking prices since January 2020.
For plans with 2 GB to 6 GB of data, the latest tracking data shows most of these plans have seen price…
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TORONTO – Wireless upstart Data On Tap (dotmobile), filed a petition to federal cabinet Tuesday asking the federal government to overturn the portion of the CRTC’s recent wireless policy decision which excluded a mandate for full mobile virtual network operators to participate in the wireless market in Canada.
Dotmobile is Canada’s first full MVNO but has yet been unable to come to a wholesale agreement with any Canadian wireless network operator (company owners say none of the carriers even return their calls seeking a meeting). The CRTC’s much-ballyhooed wireless decision, however, didn’t mandate access for full MVNOs like…
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