By Ahmad Hathout
Several internet service providers have filed petitions asking cabinet to send back a decision by the CRTC this summer that refused to back down on letting Rogers, Bell and Telus (Big 3) access the wholesale internet regime.
Rogers, SaskTel, Cogeco, Eastlink, the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), and TekSavvy filed petitions in September – made public on Friday – requesting that cabinet send back for reconsideration the decision by the CRTC in June refusing to heed their advice to review and vary the commission’s final framework in August 2024.
That framework allows…
Continue Reading
Telco focusing on content and mobility bundle
By Ahmad Hathout
Bell said Tuesday it will use the CRTC’s wholesale internet framework to launch fibre-based internet services in British Columbia and Alberta, reciprocating what its telco rival Telus is doing in eastern Canada.
The telco confirmed to Cartt that the launch of the services in western Canada “is a result of the CRTC’s recent decision,” which it does not agree with because of what it says is the policy’s negative impact on network investment. The regulator mandates that competitors have access to the bundled fibre infrastructure of Bell and Telus nationwide.
“Our position on…
Continue Reading
The News Forum and Rogers have reached a new agreement on the latter’s distribution of the former’s national news service, according to a letter filed jointly with the CRTC in late September.
With the new agreement in place, The News Forum is withdrawing its Part 1 application submitted to the commission in March, in which it alleged Rogers was unduly disadvantaging the discretionary network by excluding it from the cable giant’s legacy or grandfathered cable packages. In its April reply to The News Forum’s complaint, Rogers had called for the application…
Continue Reading
Proposing one-year trial for spoken word on FM
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday abolished radio licence renewal periods, thereby making licenses indefinite with regular compliance audits that it says will streamline the process and reduce the burden on both the industry and the commission itself.
The regulator said it was often processing over 300 licence renewal applications every year, with multiple rounds of information requested from each station. But it found that the vast majority of stations were in “full compliance at all times, and most of the non-compliance was minor and could be addressed easily.”
The new Broadcasting Act allows…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
Several major telecoms have filed a review and vary application asking the CRTC to adjust its new outage reporting requirements and extend the deadline to implement them because they are currently “impractical or disproportionate” and impose “undue administrative burden” on their businesses.
The CRTC in September gave all telecoms two months to implement the new rules, which require them to report to certain official bodies major outages – newly defined as lasting at least 30 minutes and affecting 600,000 or more user minutes in most cases. Compared to the interim regime from 2023, the new…
Continue Reading
The Rogers Blue Jays Baseball Partnership in early October filed an application with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) to trademark “Want It All”, as Toronto’s Major League Baseball team strives to go the distance in the postseason and win the club’s third World Series title.
On Wednesday night, the Rogers-owned Toronto Blue Jays took another step closer to achieving that goal, advancing to the American League Championship Series after eliminating the New York Yankees by winning Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The Rogers Blue Jays organization filed its…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court of Appeal will hear arguments made by Cogeco and Eastlink that allege the CRTC made several errors when it rejected their request to relook at its decision to allow the three largest telecoms wholesale access to their cable networks.
The July leave application, granted last month, charges that the regulator made three errors of law when it refused to review and vary the August 2024 policy that they say will cripple their businesses.
The applicants argue in a notice of appeal filing, dated September 29, that the CRTC misinterpreted section 2(e) of the…
Continue Reading
Bell Media announced Monday a multi-year media rights agreement with FIBA and Canada Basketball that gives TSN and RDS exclusive access to the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cups for both women and men, as well as the qualification events.
Under the agreement, TSN and RDS have secured broadcast and streaming rights to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 Qualifying Tournament in March 2026, the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2027 Qualifiers across six windows beginning in November 2025, the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026 in Germany in September 2026, and the FIBA Basketball…
Continue Reading
Bell said Thursday that it has successfully completed a test that sees satellites from AST SpaceMobile beam connectivity for services including 4G voice over LTE call, text, emergency alerts, broadband data, and video streaming.
The test, which used AST SpaceMobile BlueBird satellites, was conducted in New Brunswick over the summer, and “lays the groundwork for Bell’s planned deployment of low Earth orbit direct-to-cell service in 2026,” Bell said in a press release.
The deployment utilized Bell’s low band spectrum and base stations on the ground to beam the signal to the satellite and user devices, it said.
“Space-based cellular broadband will bridge…
Continue Reading
Rogers Sports and Media announced last week it has entered into an exclusive production deal with renovation experts and TV hosts Bryan and Sarah Baeumler for HGTV in Canada, beginning in 2027.
Under the agreement, the Baeumlers will lead the creation and production of new original unscripted series that will only be found on HGTV in Canada, according to a Rogers press release.
Bryan Baeumler is known for being a Gemini Award-winning TV host of such home renovation shows as House of Bryan, Disaster DIY and Leave It to Bryan, all of which were HGTV properties when…
Continue Reading
