TAGGED AS NETFLIX INC.
Producers say French streaming regulations could serve as an example for Canada
Media | 10/26/2023 6:33 pm EDT
As the CRTC works out how it is going to wrangle streaming platforms and bring them into the regulatory sphere, France’s media production industry could provide a window...
“WildBrain can’t have their cake and eat it to,” Bell tells CRTC in undue preference dispute
Media | 09/14/2023 6:10 pm EDT
BCE Inc. is arguing to the CRTC that WildBrain Ltd. is “flooding” the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market with its programming and “diluting” the value of its...
Money allocation main issue as Streaming Act replies filed to CRTC
Internet and Governance | 08/02/2023 5:11 pm EDT
Battles over money and how to allocate it are at the forefront as the CRTC...
Streamers tell CRTC to “take pause” before regulating CanCon contributions
Internet and Governance | 07/18/2023 3:04 pm EDT
Streaming platforms are saying it is too early to be discussing...
Social media platforms want total exclusion from new broadcasting regime
Internet and Governance | 06/16/2023 4:17 pm EDT
Social media companies are asking the CRTC to be added to the list of...
Champagne most lobbied minister in Canadian government, survey finds
Internet and Governance | 03/22/2023 12:56 pm EDT
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne was the most-lobbied...
CRTC releases pair of broadcasting reports that paint dire picture
Media | 03/03/2023 6:04 pm EST
The CRTC released two commissioned reports on the changing nature of the broadcast industry Friday.
One confirms what has been common wisdom for some time, namely that...
Bell and Telus being “difficult” in MVNO negotiation: PKP
Media | 02/23/2023 4:58 pm EST
Quebecor Inc.’s efforts to reach all wholesale and MVNO access agreements...
Conservatives seek Quebec consultation on Online Streaming Act
Media | 02/15/2023 4:59 pm EST
During Tuesday’s Question Period, two Conservative MPs from Quebec took...
Senate won’t define discoverability in Online Streaming Act definitions
Media | 11/24/2022 5:11 pm EST
Supporters and opponents of the Online Streaming Act alike have their eyes...
Streamers should be obliged to sell cable integration apps to small BDUs: CCSA
Media | 10/27/2022 11:35 am EDT
The organization representing independent companies providing cable TV and...
C-11 allows Canadian cultural sector to avoid becoming “service industry”: Canada Media Fund
Media | 10/25/2022 4:03 pm EDT
Whether or not enough content is produced in...
Netflix and MPA-Canada want C-11 to be flexible for global undertakings
Media | 10/04/2022 5:14 pm EDT
Netflix Inc., and the Motion Picture Association - Canada (MPA-Canada), of...
Broadcasters want policy direction on C-11; streamers want their algorithms left alone
Media | 09/15/2022 7:51 pm EDT
Canadian broadcasting executives, from companies...
Scott says platforms may be asked to ‘manipulate’ algorithms for Canadian discoverability
Media | 06/23/2022 10:49 am EDT
The CRTC chair has said that social media...
C-11 heads to Senate, over Conservative objections, after passing third reading in the House of Commons
Media | 06/21/2022 6:15 pm EDT
With the NDP and the Bloc Québécois supporting the Liberals, the House of Commons has adopted Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, at third reading, despite a request by the...
Foreign streamers wary of CRTC power under Online Streaming Act, CHPC told
Media | 06/02/2022 4:53 pm EDT
Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube believes the provisions of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, give too much power to the CRTC to regulate content, the company’s head of government affairs and public...
C-11 will “hang over the system until Supreme Court has spoken” over jurisdiction: Palmer
Media | 05/31/2022 6:29 pm EDT
A former senior general counsel at the Department...
Scott is wrong to think the CRTC can handle C-11: former CRTC vice-chair; Unifor wants local news fund added
Media | 05/24/2022 5:44 pm EDT
Former CRTC vice-chair Peter Menzies has claimed...
Tories denounce Bill C-11 while Bloc defends it
Media | 05/06/2022 4:08 pm EDT
Debate continued in the House of Commons Thursday on the Online Streaming Act, known as Bill C-11....
Scott says CRTC will never regulate user-generated content under current Bill C-11
Media | 04/05/2022 3:30 pm EDT
The CRTC is generally supportive of Bill C-11, the revised broadcasting act, and does not have the authority to regulate user-generated content, according to remarks chair Ian...
Bill C-11 a new bill with no new ideas, and a ‘legal pretzel’ for censorship: CPC
Media | 03/01/2022 5:05 pm EST
For the second time in the span of a year, the...
CRTC approves annual digital media survey, elects to keep data secret
Media | 02/23/2022 4:59 pm EST
After long consultation, the CRTC on Wednesday approved the establishment of an annual digital media survey. Under the regulations, all digital media broadcast undertakings (DMBUs) operating in whole...
NDP and Bloc support C-11, with concerns; Conservatives will seek to amend at committee
Media | 02/17/2022 12:30 pm EST
Members of Parliament from the Bloc Québécois...
Gov. reintroduces Broadcasting Act update, with social media exemption
Media | 02/02/2022 7:32 pm EST
OTTAWA -- Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodríguez called previous...
Rogers needs Shaw to sell CanCon alongside OTT services
Media | 11/22/2021 8:35 pm EST
Top brass from Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc....
Broadcasting regulation debate at electoral standstill as advocates, industry react
Media | 09/14/2021 7:16 pm EDT
According to an advocacy group opposing restrictions on the internet,...
The Wire Report’s guide to the 2021 federal election
Media | 08/17/2021 2:35 pm EDT
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally called Sunday for a...
Motion Picture Association Canada agrees digital media survey should wait for C-10
Media | 08/10/2021 5:28 pm EDT
The CRTC’s efforts to implement a digital media survey are premature, according to the Canadian affiliate of the Motion Picture Association, who argued that the commission should wait until the...
Consensus on CRTC data collection for foreign outlets; disagreement on how
Media | 08/09/2021 5:32 pm EDT
Civil groups and Canadian telecoms companies agree that the CRTC should extend its digital survey to foreign digital media broadcasting undertakings operating in Canada, but...
Senate begins C-10 analysis with broad debate
Media | 06/24/2021 10:41 am EDT
Senators are looking beyond the free speech issues raised by critics of the revised Broadcasting Act and...
Heritage committee moves to table 2017 “Netflix deal”
Media | 06/14/2021 6:07 pm EDT
The Heritage Committee will be making the 2017 “Netflix deal” public after the NDP brought a motion to the committee compelling its disclosure. At Monday’s committee meeting -- the first...
We’re ‘used to’ broadcaster interpretations of CRTC content regs: Scott
Media | 03/26/2021 4:38 pm EDT
Asked whether or not the CRTC is up to the task of dealing with broadcasters who may try to circumvent Canadian content regulations if Bill C-10 is passed and brings streaming...
Local news funding needed in C-10: Bell
Media | 03/22/2021 6:07 pm EDT
As the House of Commons Heritage committee hearings on the government's proposed update to the...
C-10 policy direction draft will be subject to public scrutiny before being issued
Media | 03/08/2021 6:15 pm EST
Stakeholders from across the broadcasting sector will have a chance to comment on a draft of the policy direction that will shape how the CRTC applies the forthcoming update to the Broadcast Act, officials from the Department of Canadian Heritage have said. Under the government’s proposed update to the Broadcasting Act, known as Bill C-10, foreign streaming platforms like Netflix, Inc. would be brought under the regulatory framework of the CRTC, though it will be up to the CRTC to...
Cogeco accuses Wildbrain of “glaring abuse” of CRTC process over Part 1
Media | 03/03/2021 5:26 pm EST
Cogeco Inc. has responded to a Part 1 from television company Wildbrain,...
Heritage committee to ask Guilbeault for draft policy directive for CRTC, summon Zuckerberg
Media | 02/26/2021 5:39 pm EST
MPs on the House of Commons Heritage Committee...
Official language minority groups ask to be included in Broadcasting Act overhaul
Media | 02/01/2021 5:44 pm EST
The government’s draft legislation to reform Canada’s Broadcasting Act must be amended to explicitly include official language minority communities, stakeholders told the House of Commons heritage committee Monday, during its first hearing into Bill C-10. Representatives of the Fédération culturelle...
Sales tax for foreign digital services coming July 1
Media | 11/30/2020 6:07 pm EST
The federal government plans to begin imposing sales taxes on foreign digital services on July 1, 2021...
CanCon relief will help commercial radio compete with Spotify: Bell Media
Media | 11/19/2020 5:40 pm EST
Canadian content programming relief from the CRTC would allow BCE Inc.'s...
Digital platforms won’t fight or flee new regulations, Guilbeault says
Media | 11/04/2020 5:46 pm EST
Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault isn’t concerned about potential...
Broadcast Act updates not comprehensive enough: NDP, Conservatives
Media | 11/03/2020 6:44 pm EST
The Liberal government’s proposed updates to the Broadcasting Act have...
COVID has accelerated media ‘crisis’: report
Media | 08/26/2020 5:17 pm EDT
Canadian traditional media sources are in "crisis" as COVID-19 has exacerbated existing downward trends in advertising revenues, with shortfalls for local private broadcasters in the next two years...
Broadcasting sector reacts to O’Toole victory
Media | 08/24/2020 6:19 pm EDT
The election of Erin O'Toole as federal opposition leader late Sunday night makes "the threat of CBC privatization more real," according to Friends of Canadian Broadcasting executive director Daniel Bernhard.
During his campaign for the Conservative party leadership,...
Working from home binge: OTT viewing up during the pandemic
Media | 07/28/2020 6:08 pm EDT
A quarter of anglophone Canadian over-the-top (OTT) service subscribers...
Bains says he’s in ‘constant contact’ with telecoms over network capacity
telecom | 04/08/2020 4:24 pm EDT
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains says the...
Netflix lowers Canadian bit rate for next 30 days
telecom | 03/27/2020 12:44 pm EDT
Netflix Inc. has announced it will lower its bit rate in Canada by 25 per cent for the next 30 days, just days after three telecommunications associations publicly urged the streaming giant to lower rates to lessen network...
Networks coping, but future traffic impossible to predict
Media | 03/25/2020 5:48 pm EDT
Experts say Canada’s telecommunications networks are currently handling a...
‘Task force’ assembled for Canadian screen industry
Media | 03/20/2020 4:48 pm EDT
The COVID-19 global pandemic represents "an unprecedented challenge for all involved in the screen-based industry across Canada," according to the Canadian Media Fund. As such, the CMF has joined a “task force” made up of some 11 agencies that represent Canadian media producers that will seek to guide the industry through the economic fallout of the global public health crisis, according to a Friday press release. The group, the release says, will "collectively work together to assess the impact on the industry," and will "inform governments at the federal, provincial and...
There was never a Netflix deal: federal government
Media | 02/25/2020 5:27 pm EST
Former Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly’s much-touted 2017 deal with Netflix Inc. to spend $500 million...
Confusion over Guilbeault remarks on BTLR online news recs
Media | 02/03/2020 1:27 pm EST
OTTAWA — On Monday Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, with some help...
BTLR reaction mixed, no clarity on gov’t implementation
Media | 01/29/2020 5:32 pm EST
OTTAWA — A broadcasting and telecommunications legislative review report...
CRTC should regulate foreign digital services, news sites: BTLR
Media | 01/29/2020 12:00 pm EST
The blue-ribbon panel tasked with modernizing Canada’s communications...
‘Clock ticking’ on new content rules for web giants, Guilbeault says
Media | 01/13/2020 2:30 pm EST
The Liberal government's minority mandate means it will have to move fast...
Netflix disclosure ‘nothing to do with regulation,’ company says
Media | 12/18/2019 5:51 pm EST
Following the federal parties’ shared pursuit to further regulate foreign...
Telecom in the spotlight in new Bains mandate letter
Media | 12/13/2019 9:25 pm EST
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has delivered a greatly expanded set of telecom and internet-related...
Facebook to lobby feds on digital services tax after election promises
Media | 11/21/2019 5:34 pm EST
Facebook Inc. has registered to lobby the federal government on “proposed...
Blair says ‘no timeline’ on Huawei ban; Bains promises ‘more’ on prices
Media | 11/20/2019 1:51 pm EST
OTTAWA — New Public Safety Minister Bill Blair indicated Wednesday he is open to talking to telecoms about whether to ban Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd equipment from 5G...
BDUs appeal new distant signal tariffs
Media | 11/12/2019 12:00 pm EST
The country’s largest TV service providers are appealing an increase in the over-the-air distant signal...
Allarco’s Super Channel asked to justify its license renewal before the CRTC
Media | 11/06/2019 11:28 am EST
GATINEAU — Either Allarco Entertainment 2008 Inc. is an essential part of...
New public safety minister, wireless prices on agenda in Liberal minority
Media | 10/22/2019 6:35 pm EDT
With the Liberal Party’s victory in the federal election Monday, its...
CPC plans for Netflix, rural broadband still unclear days ahead of vote
Media | 10/17/2019 12:54 pm EDT
Despite Conservative leader Andrew Scheer indicating throughout this...
Consensus on ‘digital giants,’ data breaches in French debate
Media | 10/10/2019 11:57 pm EDT
Federal party leaders agreed Thursday evening in the last debate of the election campaign on the need for big online companies to pay more in taxes, for the government to...
OECD seeks unified tax regime for web giants
telecom | 10/10/2019 5:49 pm EDT
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will host a public consultation next month on its proposed “unified approach” to the taxation of the world’s biggest tech companies. A document released by the...
CanCon producers silent on CBC-Netflix rift
Media | 10/09/2019 7:14 pm EDT
Organizations that represent important stakeholders in the field of Canadian content are staying...
Leaders talk Netflix taxes, privacy in TVA election debate
Media | 10/02/2019 10:51 pm EDT
During the first French-language debate of the federal election campaign,...
Election 2019: watch for price caps, Netflix regs, Huawei ban
Media | 09/10/2019 12:03 pm EDT
Even before the federal election campaign officially kicked off, telecom...
Creative groups lobbying for tax credits on content development
Media | 09/03/2019 5:44 pm EDT
Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal is lobbying both the Alberta and Ontario...
Helix will keep cord-cutters in Videotron ‘ecosystem,’ CEO says
Media | 08/27/2019 5:52 pm EDT
MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron unveiled its new Helix platform...
Feds putting $14.6 million toward French-language network
Media | 08/12/2019 4:41 pm EDT
The federal government last week announced that it would pour $14.6 million...
CRTC commissioning report about market impact of online BDUs
Media | 08/09/2019 6:40 pm EDT
The CRTC wants to know more about the potential for the Canadian...
CRTC asks wireless providers to justify post-data cap throttling
telecom | 07/04/2019 4:52 pm EDT
The CRTC has asked several telecoms to explain how their throttling of wireless speeds once customers exceed their data allotments doesn’t violate the commission’s regulatory policy on internet traffic management practices (ITMPs). In a June 28 letter posted to its website this week, the regulator issued requests for information to eight telecoms related to their use of ITMPs. That includes questions to Shaw Communications Inc.’s Freedom Mobile, Rogers Communications Inc. regarding its Chatr flanker brand, and BCE Inc.’s Bell MTS and Lucky Mobile about throttling mobile speeds after...
Rodriguez promises CanCon rules for ‘web giants’
Media | 06/26/2019 5:53 pm EDT
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said in a social media post Wednesday that the Liberal government plans...
Broadcast, TV service revenues down again: CRTC
Media | 06/20/2019 8:26 pm EDT
New data released by the CRTC Thursday shows the industry-wide trend of tumbling broadcast sector revenue...
Heritage committee calls for end of ISP safe harbour copyright rules
Media | 05/16/2019 1:10 pm EDT
The House heritage committee says the government should do more to fight...
Canadians want more money for CBC, don’t trust OTTs to support CanCon: Poll
Media | 05/13/2019 5:18 pm EDT
Almost 60 per cent of Canadians have “low trust and confidence” in Netflix Inc. to “protect Canadian culture and identity on television”; half of Canadians don't trust cable companies to do...
NDP calls for OTT sales tax, end of ad tax exemption
Media | 05/13/2019 2:25 pm EDT
MONTREAL — The NDP’s platform for this year’s federal election will include requiring foreign over-the-top (OTT) services to collect and remit sales tax on revenues earned in Canada and ending the tax exemption for advertising on foreign online platforms.
NDP MPs...
Péladeau willing to pull TVA Sports signal in fight with Bell
Media | 04/08/2019 6:03 pm EDT
OTTAWA — Quebecor Inc. president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau said...
New 2030 speed target too far away for rural Canada: NDP critic
telecom | 03/22/2019 11:25 am EDT
OTTAWA — NDP industry critic Brian Masse says the new broadband strategy...
Distributors ask for Canadian film exhibition quotas on broadcast, OTT
Media | 03/01/2019 12:11 pm EST
Both over-the-top services and broadcasters should be required to show a certain amount of Canadian feature films, the Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters is asking the panel...
OTT video revenues comparable to conventional TV in 2017: CMR
telecom | 02/27/2019 7:23 pm EST
Internet-based video services generated enough revenue in Canada in 2017 to rival the total revenues of private and CBC conventional television stations combined, according to the CRTC’s...
Netflix setting up production hub in Toronto
Media | 02/19/2019 1:09 pm EST
Netflix Inc. will expand its production presence in Canada by leasing space at two Toronto production...
YouTube top source of mobile traffic: Sandvine
Media | 02/18/2019 10:12 am EST
Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube makes up just over 35 per cent of worldwide mobile data traffic, making it the...
Don’t exclude online services from Broadcasting Act: Private radio
Media | 02/04/2019 12:00 pm EST
Canada’s private radio broadcasters are fighting against a push to keep...
CBC president likens Netflix to colonialism
Media | 01/31/2019 4:27 pm EST
OTTAWA — CBC/Radio-Canada’s president Catherine Tait compared Netflix Inc.’s worldwide presence to...
MPs demand removal of Lac Mégantic images from Netflix
Media | 01/30/2019 3:14 pm EST
The House of Commons unanimously passed a motion Tuesday condemning Netflix Inc. for using footage of the Lac Mégantic, Que. train disaster in a TV show and a movie.
The motion, introduced by NDP heritage critic Pierre Nantel, condemns the use of the images, and demands...
New Broadcast Act should ‘unambiguously exclude’ OTT: Netflix
Media | 01/25/2019 4:51 pm EST
Netflix Inc. is defending against calls to rope foreign over-the-top...
Bell asked gov’t to ban some VPNs: documents
Media | 01/23/2019 4:40 pm EST
BCE Inc. urged the federal government to make virtual private networks (VPNs) used to circumvent...
FRPC wants CanCon visibility on search engines
Media | 01/21/2019 12:50 pm EST
As a rule, when Canadians search keywords on the internet, they should be presented with Canadian content...
Fast-track OTT review, clock ticking on CMF ‘top-up’: CMPA
Media | 01/18/2019 10:41 am EST
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) wants the government to...
Big telecoms fight calls for an ‘ISP tax’, pitch new OTT rules
telecom | 01/16/2019 5:55 pm EST
Some of Canada’s biggest telecom companies rejected calls to force ISPs to contribute to Canadian programming in their submissions to the Liberal government’s panel...
Netflix considering setting up hub in Toronto: report
Media | 01/10/2019 12:34 pm EST
Toronto mayor John Tory said he has been in discussion with Netflix Inc. about setting up a production...
Top telecom and media stories to watch for in 2019
Media | 12/21/2018 5:46 pm EST
As the new year begins, the months ahead promise a new spectrum auction, new CRTC announcements on...
English Canadian subs to OTT jumps to 65%: MTM
Media | 12/06/2018 1:17 pm EST
The number of English-speaking adults in Canada subscribing to over-the-top streaming services continues...
Canadian Netflix had best value-for-money compared to other countries: study
Media | 11/30/2018 4:05 pm EST
A new analysis published by the consumer website Comparitech this week...
Cost of TV service driving cord-cutting: Angus Reid
Media | 10/18/2018 6:18 pm EDT
A new report from the Angus Reid Institute indicates that the cost of services is the main driver behind...
OPC asks for more flexibility on info sharing with CRTC
telecom | 10/16/2018 4:38 pm EDT
OTTAWA — Canada’s federal privacy watchdog asked a Senate committee...
Bandwidth pressures a concern for indigenous ISPs
telecom | 10/11/2018 5:43 pm EDT
Internet service providers (ISPs) in rural and remote communities are trying to keep up with the appetite...
Federal Court orders ban on ‘Mr. Blamo’ Kodi add-on software
Media | 10/03/2018 6:04 pm EDT
Nearly a dozen content producers have obtained a court order banning set-top box software developed by an individual in Canada that allows users to watch their content for free, according to court...
‘Narrow window’ to make new comms laws with USMCA: Nordicity
Media | 10/02/2018 3:28 pm EDT
OTTAWA -- There is an “urgent need” for Canadian lawmakers to set out a new communications framework now that Canada has hammered out a new trilateral agreement on trade to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) so that Canadian industry isn’t put at a disadvantage, according to a Canadian telecom consultant. Nordicity’s Stuart Jack told a Senate committee reviewing Canada’s communications industry laws that Canada is three decades “out of date” with other OECD countries in adopting a “unified” communications act. He said there’s a “narrow window”...