New low-cost data only plans to be in market within 90 days
GATINEAU – The CRTC announced today it has accepted the revised low-cost data only mobile wireless plans offered – at the demand of the Commission on the impetus of federal government – by Rogers, Bell and Telus.
Further to a public proceeding launched in March, where the big national players responded by initially offering plans the Commission told them were not good enough and to try again, the wireless providers came back with better offers in September which the CRTC said…
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Telus, Shaw, say no licence should be granted, and especially not to Bell or Rogers
GATINEAU – On Wednesday, phase II and III of the hearing into a mandatory carriage licence for a national, news oriented multilingual and multi-ethnic television service was the opportunity for the applicants and then outside intervenors to tell commissioners why they believe certain applications are not special enough to warrant a license under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act.
Four of the eight applicants chose not to make any presentations Wednesday (perhaps keeping their powder dry for Thursday’s final public reply day) but each of Rogers…
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CCTS Annual Report shows troubling trends
OTTAWA – Just over a month after the telecom industry was raked over the coals for their sales practices by the CRTC, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) released its annual report showing such complaints about wireless, broadband, telecom and TV carriers are on the rise.
Today, the CCTS reported a 57% increase in the number of complaints received during its 2017-18 year (ended July 31st) from Canadian telecom and TV customers, following an 11% increase the prior year. Canadians complained most often about non-disclosure of information, which accounts for almost 15%…
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“THE WORST ENEMY of a regulatory lawyer is the marketing guy,” said Willie Grieve to me during a break at a hearing once. Perplexed, as a new CRTC communications person at the time, I said, “How so?”
“At the beginning, marketing guys come to you asking: Can I do this promotion? And we always say no. So, they stop coming and I get in trouble,” he added, and he walked away.
Those were the days when incumbents telephone companies were not allowed to lower their rates, in order to give a chance to competitors, even for promotions (the bread and butter…
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Just part of negotiations, though
TORONTO – Within its most recent bills to some of its cable TV customers, Rogers Communications noted that as of January 1, 2019, their roster of channels will be a little lighter.
“From time to time, we adjust our channel lineups to reflect the changing viewership trends of our customers. As of January 1, 2019, Stingray Juicebox, Stingray Retro, Stingray Loud and Stingray Vibe, will no longer be in your TV package,” reads the note at the bottom of the bills.
All four music video channels are ones which Stingray purchased from Bell…
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OTTAWA – The Connecting Families program which was announced in June by Navdeep Bains, Minister of Industry, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) at the Telecom Summit, in Toronto was unveiled this week.
The government is not subsidizing ISPs to provide the low-cost Internet service but is investing $13.2 million over five years to refurbish and deliver up to 50,000 computers to eligible families through the Computers for Success Canada program, as well as to develop a secure online portal through which eligible families can sign up for the initiative and access the low-cost Internet service and/or a refurbished computer.
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TORONTO – Length matters.
That's one of the findings of a poll of Canadian TV viewers and the video content they consume which was conducted by Charlton Strategic Research, and unveiled Tuesday at the CTAM Broadcaster’s Forum in Toronto on Tuesday.
Charlton's Gord Hendren told conference attendees that an online survey of 3,168 Canadians over 18 years of age revealed the total time spent watching long-form video content, or over five minutes in length, is up among total Canadian TV viewers.
Millennials, though, are bucking the trend.
Hendren said his poll revealed younger Canadian TV viewers from 18-34 years of age spend less…
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VANCOUVER – Cybersecurity experts are warning Canada not to work with Huawei in light of new Australian report that claims the Chinese telecom firm hacked a foreign network and shared the information with Beijing.
A Toronto Star report quotes Christopher Parsons, a cybersecurity expert with Citizen Lab in the Munk School at the University of Toronto, as saying that Canada should heed the concerns expressed by allied countries like the U.S. and Australia about the company being a high-risk security threat.
“Taking their counsel very seriously is an appropriate decision,” said Parsons, in the report.
Noting that Huawei is able to…
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TORONTO – Together, Tim Denton, Peter Menzies and Candice Molnar have overseen some of the biggest decisions the CRTC has made over the past decade as former CRTC commissioners. Wouldn’t it be something to get them all together for a candid conversation about what they thought they got right and wrong and what they really think of the Regulator’s role?
Even more so now given we are in the midst of a legislative review of the Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Radiocommunication Acts. Dream no longer, that’s exactly what transpired on the last day of the 2018 Canadian ISP Summit in Toronto…
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My friend Mark took his own life this past summer.
There should be a stronger word than shocked to describe how it felt when I found out. I was at work, got up from my desk and just left to walk for a long while. My brain couldn’t and still can’t process it.
Mark Freedman was always so bright and cheery with me. He was smart, incisive, fun to talk to and knew this industry inside and out. He knew why things are the way they are better than most others I know. I counted Mark as a friend but he…
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