OTTAWA and GATINEAU — The CRTC announced today seven projects in British Columbia and Alberta will receive up to $19.5 million in funding from its Broadband Fund.
In total, the projects will benefit approximately 1,255 households in 10 communities, including seven Indigenous communities, across the two provinces, according to the CRTC’s press release.
A backgrounder for the announcement says the CRTC’s Broadband Fund will allocate the money to four service providers in the following way:
ATG Arrow Technology Group Limited Partnership (Arrow) will receive up to $4 million to build or improve fixed broadband Internet access services for…
Continue Reading
When they manage contractual relations
By Denis Carmel
MONTREAL – Last Thursday, March 24, the Supreme Court of Canada determined it would not hear the case of the Government of Québec ordering Internet service providers (ISPs) to block some gambling sites, therefore confirming a Court of Appeal of Québec (CAQ) ruling, that in this case, telecommunications falls within federal jurisdiction, as it interfered with the ISPs’ operations.
By coincidence, the same day the same CAQ confirmed, in part, a ruling from the Superior Court stating that articles of the Québec Consumer Protection Act (CPA) could be used to govern…
Continue Reading
MARKHAM, Ont. — CN Media Services, a division of Markham, Ont.-based Capital Networks Limited, announced last week it is now the exclusive “local avails” sales agent for Videotron.
“The term ‘Local Avails’ refers to the approximately two minutes of television commercial time per hour set aside in the programming of certain U.S. cable/satellite channels including CNN, CNBC, AMC, HLN, NFL Network and more,” explains a press release.
The agreement with Videotron means CN Media Services can now provide its advertising clients the opportunity to target almost 500,000 Canadian households in the province of Quebec.
CN Media Services already has exclusive sales…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – The CRTC today approved the broadcast side of the merger between Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, with several conditions attached.
The Commission concluded the transaction – when modified – “is in the public interest and advances the objectives set out for the Canadian broadcasting system in the Broadcasting Act,” its decision reads. “Canadians as consumers will benefit from this transaction.”
One of the conditions included in the decision requires Rogers to submit a revised tangible benefits proposal. Tangible benefits were a significant topic of discussion during the CRTC’s hearing last November.
Originally, Rogers proposed a tangible benefits package…
Continue Reading
WATERLOO, Ont. – Blackberry announced today the Region of Niagara selected BlackBerry AtHoc to be the critical event management platform for its 13 municipalities, as well as the Niagara Regional Police Service.
The emergency management solution is being deployed in partnership with Telus. (Two years ago, BlackBerry and Telus announced they formed a partnership, which would see Telus reselling BlackBerry’s AtHoc solution with Telus’ connectivity.)
“Modernizing emergency management systems, BlackBerry AtHoc, with Telus’ world-class connectivity, gives organizations the information they need to make critical safety decisions in real-time, helping to protect lives, assets and operations, during planned and unplanned events,”…
Continue Reading
“I’m not building yesterday’s telecom,” founder says
By Amanda OYE
RICHMOND, B.C. – After spending nearly two decades working for a major Canadian telecom, Babbl Communications’ president and founder Jason Speers (above) decided to put what he had learned to use to bring down Internet prices in western Canada.
Babbl is a third-party Internet access (TPIA) provider that was launched last September and currently serves over 40 communities in Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Southern Vancouver Island and the Sea to Sky Corridor.
Internet packages, which are currently being offered at a discounted rate, include $35/month for Internet 75, $45/month…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA and GATINEAU – The CRTC announced today Canadian television service providers can no longer distribute the Russian state-funded English-language channel RT (Russia Today) or RT France.
The Commission formally removed both channels from its list of non-Canadian programming services and stations authorized for distribution in Canada after determining their continued distribution “is not in the public interest,” according to a press release.
“RT’s programming is not consistent with the standards against which Canadian services are measured nor the policy objectives set out in the Broadcasting Act,” the release explains.
“The CRTC is also concerned with programming from a foreign country…
Continue Reading
The Field of Dreams business philosophy
By Mark Goldberg
IF YOU BUILD IT he will come.
Often misquoted as “If you build it, they will come”, the mantra from “Field of Dreams” has become a metaphor driving many business plans.
Unfortunately, reality shows that if you build it, whatever “it” may be, you improve the chances for them, whoever “them” may be, to come.
The Field of Dreams business case philosophy has been a driving force behind many government broadband programs. Just get broadband built, people will sign up. Build broadband pipes into this community and knowledge-based workers will work from home. Build municipal…
Continue Reading
Interventions suggest scope of CRTC hearing could be appropriately widened
OTTAWA – The CRTC’s decision on the future of the Russian state-funded English-language news service RT is unlikely to have a significant impact, Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. (ECGL) argues in an intervention submitted to the CRTC yesterday.
RT came to Canada in 2009 after ECGL applied to add it to the Commission’s list of non-Canadian programming services authorized for distribution in Canada.
The CRTC received an order from the Governor in Council last week, asking it to “hold a hearing to determine whether RT (formally known as Russia Today)…
Continue Reading
By Ahmad Hathout
COGECO CEO PHILIPPE JETTÉ (above) said today his company has been in “constant conversation” with Canada’s telecom regulator about when the industry can get the terms and conditions required for establishing a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), and is expecting something in ‘late spring, early summer.’
In April last year, the CRTC decided regional telecoms can force negotiations with the big three national telecoms for access to their mobile wireless networks, thereby allowing these smaller entities to establish services beyond their existing territory – so long as they have spectrum and infrastructure in the target area.
But the regulator has…
Continue Reading
