Corus Entertainment Inc. expects to see a “pretty significant increase in programming costs” this coming quarter, which executive vice-president and CFO John Gossling said is natural given delays on Canadian and foreign production during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a CRTC requirement to make up any 2020 Canadian programming expenditures (CPE) shortfalls in the next several years.
In the latest twist in an increasingly public rift in one of Canada’s largest telecommunications, Edward Rogers — chair of the Rogers Communications Inc. Board of Directors until he was removed from the position Thursday — has announced that he will seek to remake the Rogers Board of Directors, using his position as chair of the Rogers Control Trust, the controlling shareholder of the company.
Rogers Communications Inc. CEO Joe Natale said he’s “got strong unequivocal support from the board to direct the strategy of the company,” after the Board of Directors formed an “executive oversight committee” to create “clear protocols” for interactions between chair Edward Rogers and the executive team, and a month after the departure of chief financial officer Tony Staffieri.
Albertans will be introduced to a new area code in six months as part of a CRTC effort to meet the continuously growing demand for new telephone numbers.
BCE Inc. and Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. are not in favour of a proposal from Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) to adopt its 20-year 3500 MHz general deployment requirements to the cellular and personal communications services (PCS) bands — primarily used to provide commercial mobile wireless services — claiming spectrum is being used despite the lack of requirements.
A Federal Court injunction stopping the Department of Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) from issuing licenses for set-aside spectrum won by Quebecor Inc. in this past summer’s 3,500 MHz auction in western Canada is “not about preventing fair competition, it is about preventing an unfair cost advantage resulting from the auction rules not being applied as announced to bidders,” a lawyer representing Telus Corp. told a Federal Court judge Tuesday.
The Competition Bureau has asked a Federal Court to require Alphabet Inc.‘s Google to produce records it needs as part of an investigation the regulator is conducting into allegations that Google is “leveraging its market power in the supply of in-stream video advertising space into adjacent advertising technology markets.”
NDP MP Charlie Angus is calling on the incoming Liberal cabinet to “rethink their badly-flawed handling of the big tech file,” after whistleblower Frances Haugen released documents to The Wall Street Journal, which published an investigation into Facebook Inc. in September.