By Ahmad Hathout
Telus is alleging in an undue preference complaint made public Wednesday that Bell is deliberately obstructing its ability to introduce its broadcasting services over the larger telco’s last-mile fibre facilities in eastern Canada.
Telus claims in the complaint that it has made “repeated requests … over the course of several months” to pave the way to include its BDU systems on Bell’s fibre facilities but was allegedly denied based on reasons that are redacted from the complaint.
Telus says it wants the CRTC to force Bell to allow it to distribute its own programming services in these leased network…
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Internet outages across Canada were reported just after 9 a.m. ET Wednesday morning from users of Bell, Telus and Rogers, as well as third-party ISPs, according to Downdetector.ca.
Downdetector received outage reports from users for Bell, Bell Aliant, Bell MTS, Lucky Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Rogers, Fido, Chatr, Telus, Koodo, Public Mobile, Videotron, Freedom Mobile, Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Rogers and Quebecor are challenging a decision by the CRTC to extend by two years the implementation of the next-generation 911 service, saying they will be forced to assume millions of dollars in unnecessary costs for a longer period of time.
The CRTC in March extended by two years the full implementation deadline for the new system, which will allow first responders to receive texts and multimedia messages from distressed callers. Crucially with that decision, the regulator maintained the dual-rate model, meaning originating network providers (ONPs) – which link up with Bell and Telus, the managers of the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Telus has filed a notice of discontinuance requesting the Federal Court of Appeal no longer consider its judicial review application challenging an order from the federal cabinet recommending the CRTC contemplate banning the “Big Three” from access to the last-mile fibre regime.
The Vancouver-based telco insisted in March that its case was still relevant – despite the CRTC declining to change its November 2023 interim decision in response to the cabinet order – because the government still had another opportunity to vary or rescind that subsequent decision by May 5.
That date has come and gone…
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Corus urges CRTC move on children’s programming
By Ahmad Hathout
If the CRTC used current foreign streamer investments to the Canadian system as a baseline to determine obligations, then it would put the commission offside of the new Broadcasting Act and the policy direction from cabinet by forcing more contributions from them relative to traditional Canadian broadcasters, said representatives of a trade group representing the major foreign streamers Friday.
“If you were to establish the existing investment obligations as a floor, I think you would end up with foreign streaming services contributing a disproportionate amount to the Canadian broadcasting system when you…
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Rogers announced Thursday it has added more than 150 international channels in over 20 languages to its Xfinity TV roster, bringing its total roster to over 480 channels.
The new channels are now available in free previous through to June 17, the cable company said in a press release. After the free period, customers can subscribe to the particular channels or get them through theme packs.
“We’re proud to bring Canadians the most TV content and best entertainment experience,” Bret Leech, Rogers’s president of residential. “Our world-class platform seamlessly integrates this TV content, which now includes 150+ channels from around the…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC has closed the loop on a matter it opened over a year ago: that it does, indeed, have concurrent jurisdiction with Industry Canada over the wireless attachments on telco-owned or controlled structures.
The ruling means the installation of small cell and Wi-Fi equipment is subject to the support structure tariffs filed to the commission, which was the starting point for the matter in question.
The commission held that preliminary view since February 2024 after Rogers and Quebecor applied to it for an order directing Bell, which was accused…
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Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN), Canada’s largest South Asian broadcaster, announced Tuesday the expansion of its channel offerings on Rogers (formerly Shaw) in Western Canada.
“With this expansion, ATN now has increased the channel count from 12 to 54, reinforcing ATN’s position as the largest South Asian broadcaster in North America and enhances accessibility to premium multicultural content for viewers across the country,” reads an ATN press release.
The newly launched channels include a mix of general entertainment, movies, music, news and spiritual programming in multiple languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil,…
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By Peter Menzies, former newspaper executive, past vice chair of the CRTC, and a Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow
On June 1, the Vancouver Whitecaps will play one of the most important games a Canadian club sports team has ever played.
In most countries – in fact in almost any country – broadcasters would be clamouring over each other for the ability to show it. The national public broadcaster might be claiming it as a program of national interest and politicians would be weighing in to play a little hero ball of their own and grab the spotlight.
The Whitecaps’ Concacaf Champions League…
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Public interest groups say the consultation is overdue
By Ahmad Hathout
Citing a broader portfolio of regulatory obligations, the CRTC on Monday launched its consultation on how to support and sustain public interest participation in its proceedings.
The commission wants to know, by September 10, whether it should create one funding system for both telecom and broadcasting matters to support that end; whether that single fund should be managed by an independent third party, such as the existing Broadcasting Participation Fund (BPF); whether more parties should be eligible for funding; and who should be obligated to fund it.
The CRTC currently has two…
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