GATINEAU – Social media giant Facebook took the stand in the CRTC’s differential pricing practices (DPP) hearing on Tuesday and argued that zero-rated services don’t need to be anti-competitive and can be constructed to meet net neutrality rules.
Blair Levin, an advisor to Facebook, said under questioning that zero-rated services such as the company’s Free Basics offering (which has faced scrutiny around the world) don’t run amok of net neutrality because ISPs are prevented from acting as content gatekeepers.
“When companies use their position as the gatekeeper to essentially favour one kind of content or another, then…
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FROM AN OUTSIDER’S point of view, Guy Laurence was a breath of fresh air for Rogers Communications. From the inside, however, it may have seemed more like a tornado.
Compared to other Canadian CEOs, Laurence was never short on swagger. Engaging, funny, far more open with the media than others, eager to boldly call out competitors if he felt like it, Laurence also showed himself willing to tear apart the company Ted built.
After the retirement of former CEO Nadir Mohamed three years ago, Rogers needed a shakeup. The controlling Rogers family knew it, as did its…
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Shocker after less than three years at the helm
TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced this morning that president and CEO Guy Laurence will step down, effective immediately. No reasons were given for his departure.
It also announced that it is Rogers intention to hire former Telus CEO Joseph Natale as president and CEO as soon as he is in a position to join Rogers. During the interim, board chair Alan Horn will act as president and CEO.
"We have appreciated Guy's leadership over the last three years," said Edward Rogers, deputy chairman, Rogers Communications, in a press release. "He has moved the…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC took matters in to its own hands Thursday, throwing out the wholesale high-speed access rates proposed by the country’s large cable and telephone companies in favour of its own.
In its decision, the Commission said that the proposed rates from incumbent carriers “were not just and reasonable” and that they were therefore revised downwards. It also expressed “significant concern” that that some of the companies have not conducted their cost studies in accordance with well-established costing principles and methodologies, and disregarded the CRTC provided Regulatory Economic Studies Manuals .
“Competitors that provide retail Internet services to Canadians using…
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GATINEAU – The full results of a first-of-its-kind independent, national study on broadband performance in Canada shows that Internet service providers (ISPs) largely meet or exceed their advertised download and upload speeds.
Participating ISPs in the survey (announced last year and for which preliminary results were made public in the spring), conducted by SamKnows and which was commissioned by the CRTC, included all the main wireline service providers in Canada, with the exception of Sasktel, which declined to participate, said the CRTC in a press release this afternoon.
The data collected will…
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OTTAWA–GATINEAU – Canadians who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired now have a new way to communicate thanks to Wednesday’s launch of the new national video relay service (VRS).
This made-for-Canada service enhances the ability of Canadian’s whose first language is American Sign Language (ASL) or Langue des signes québécoise (LSQ) to conduct calls via video relay service with hearing people through a professional ASL or LSQ interpreter.
VRS calls are placed using a high-speed Internet connection through a computer, tablet or smartphone and an operator facilitates the conversation between the two parties by relaying the conversation between sign…
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Without a major regulatory change, the traditional TV industry here faces a chilling future
IF THE CRTC DOESN’T, at long last, review the 1999 New Media Exemption Order, the Canadian TV industry as we know it may well perish in the next five years, at the cost of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs – all while production of Canadian content shrivels to whatever the CBC makes.
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission reached a compromise deal with the subscription TV titans in the States over the American regulator’s so-called push to “unlock the…
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TORONTO – Bell Media’s Investigation Discovery (ID) and Discovery Science will both be opening up for a four week free preview September 22 through October 19.
The timing will coincide with the launch of new ID series Las Vegas Law, Vanishing Women plus new special Adnan Syed: Innocent or Guilty? (pictured), featuring the convicted murderer and subject of the acclaimed Serial podcast. Highlights from Discovery Science include the debut of new series How To Build…Everything and Alaska Mega Machines.
The four-week preview is available through television service providers including Bell and Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Shaw Direct, Telus,…
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TORONTO – Family Channel kicked off its 14th annual Bullying Awareness Week campaign this week with the message to Stand UP!, not stand by, when bullying happens.
Headlined by the release of a new original anthem "We Stand Up" performed by the cast of the tween series Backstage, the campaign also features the return of Family’s in-school rally tour.
In addition, Family has enhanced its original content offering through a new partnership with Telus via their online safety initiative Telus Wise (Wise Internet & Smartphone Education), resulting in exclusive short-form content from Backstage and teen drama Degrassi: Next Class that addresses…
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VANCOUVER – The 2017 CommTech West trade show and seminars is going further west next year, moving from Calgary to Vancouver.
Originally held in Kelowna, the show has taken place in Calgary since 2013. Organizers said late Tuesday that CommTech West 2017 will take place May 31 – June 1 at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Vancouver, with the pre-show golf tournament tentatively scheduled for May 30. Telus continues to lend their support as a platinum sponsor, and Cartt.ca will once again be the show’s media sponsor.
Exhibitor registration and a call for technical papers will be announced for both shows shortly. CommTech East…
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