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Telus asks CRTC to go easy on vBDUs for initial base contributions into broadcasting system

Internet and Governance | 12/08/2023 9:34 am EST

Gatineau, Que. – Telus Corp. asked the CRTC to go easy on virtual broadcasting distribution undertakings (vBDUs) during the commission’s hearings regarding contributions...

Corus proposes contribution framework at CRTC, says time to regulate streamers is now

Internet and Governance | 11/30/2023 11:13 am EST

Those who stand to benefit from the Online Streaming Act want the CRTC to act as quickly as it can while those who may be forced to pay are urging caution. The commission is...

Indigenous content is distinct from CanCon: Indigenous Screen Office

Media | 11/23/2023 8:29 am EST

The Indigenous Screen Office (ISO), newly certified as an independent...

Social media platforms want total exclusion from new broadcasting regime

Internet and Governance | 06/16/2023 4:17 pm EDT

TikTok's logo on an iPhone.Social media companies are asking the CRTC to be added to the list of...

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...

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...

Canadian radio broadcasters ask CRTC for space to compete with streamers

Media | 03/30/2021 5:35 pm EDT

The CRTC needs to do away with restrictive regulations, argue multiple...

Half of Canadians want CanCon regs for music streaming services: CRTC survey

Media | 02/23/2021 5:19 pm EST

A new survey suggests that just over half of Canadians believe that...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 piracy, including holding internet service providers “accountable,” and put in place efforts to...

Few internet giants weighed in to BTLR, submission list shows

telecom | 03/08/2019 4:13 pm EST

The panel in charge of reviewing the broadcasting and telecom acts received...

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...

Public music should feature Canadian content, Stingray says

Media | 02/01/2019 1:18 pm EST

Music in public establishments such as malls, bars and restaurants should...

CRTC asks digital giants for info, promises confidentiality

Media | 02/05/2018 2:02 pm EST

As part of its government-ordered proceeding on future content distribution models, the CRTC is asking a number of companies — including Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Netflix Inc. — for information...

SOCAN expects higher annual revenues for 2017

Media | 01/31/2018 5:44 pm EST

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is estimating that it has broken its performing rights revenue record, according to its preliminary financial results for 2017 released on Wednesday. It said the total performing rights revenue...

Cross-industry coalition calls for website-blocking

Media | 01/29/2018 6:21 pm EST

A broad coalition made up of Canada’s largest telecoms and broadcasters, as well as groups representing...

Quebec ready to tax Netflix: culture minister

Media | 09/22/2017 3:55 pm EDT

If the federal government isn’t willing to impose taxes on foreign over-the-top (OTT) services, Quebec is willing to do so itself, Le Devoir quoted Quebec culture minister Luc Fortin as saying Thursday. He said Quebec would...

BQ criticizes Joly over OTT tax policy

Media | 09/19/2017 4:56 pm EDT

The Bloc Québécois has accused Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly of favouritism toward the likes...

32% of anglophones use music streaming services: MTM

Media | 07/20/2017 5:28 pm EDT

The popularity of music streaming platforms among anglophone Canadians has grown over the past year, with 32 per cent reporting using a music streaming service in the past month when surveyed in the spring of 2017. That’s...

FCC’s net neutrality changes could affect Canada, some experts say

telecom | 07/12/2017 4:37 pm EDT

On Wednesday, major internet and tech companies teamed up to rally against...

‘Battle for the Net’ coming Wednesday

Media | 07/10/2017 2:23 pm EDT

Major internet-based companies and organizations are preparing to participate in a Wednesday campaign...

CRTC effectively bans most zero-rating in differential pricing decision

Media | 04/20/2017 8:04 pm EDT

As the CRTC banned most forms of differential pricing practices Thursday — including declaring that telecoms can’t pick and chose Internet content to zero-rate and...

Joly sitting down with foreign digital companies

Media | 03/03/2017 4:05 pm EST

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly is meeting this week with digital platforms, telling a CBC morning radio show Friday that she was in the Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., region Thursday meeting...

CBC ‘dimmer star’ in media landscape, conservative event hears

Media | 02/27/2017 6:15 pm EST

OTTAWA — When talking about CBC/Radio-Canada’s role in the media landscape, the public broadcaster is a “pygmy amongst giants,” and more focus should be aimed at large telecom companies, Dwayne Winseck argued Saturday during a debate about whether to “pull the plug” on the CBC. “Over the last three decades, the CBC has actually become a much dimmer star against a much bigger media universe,” Winseck, a Carleton University...

U.S. tech companies oppose Trump travel ban

Media | 02/06/2017 6:09 pm EST

Almost 100 tech companies in the United States have filed a brief in a court case against U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking entry of citizens from seven countries and all refugees into the United States....

Music streaming services part of daily routine: MTM

Media | 12/08/2016 9:21 pm EST

Among Canadians who stream music, such services are very much a part of daily life, according to the latest Media Technology Monitor (MTM) report. Thursday’s report from MTM, a project of CBC/Radio-Canada, is a companion to the one released last week on broader trends in music streaming habits. In this report, it noted that just...

Internet companies reach out to new U.S. leadership

Media | 11/14/2016 10:37 pm EST

An organization representing four-dozen major online-based companies has reached out to president-elect Donald Trump, congratulating him on his victory while proposing digital policy planks for his administration to consider....

Videotron goes on defence as differential pricing hearing wraps

Media | 11/04/2016 11:49 pm EDT

GATINEAU, Que. — Those who innovate shouldn’t be penalized because their competitors can’t keep up, the CRTC heard Friday from representatives of the telecom company...

No proven harm from differential pricing: Bell

Media | 11/01/2016 9:41 pm EDT

GATINEAU — The CRTC shouldn’t take the non-participation in this week’s hearing by content providers who might eventually benefit from zero-rating and other differential pricing practices as non-interest, a five-commissioner panel studying the issue heard Tuesday. The remarks were made by Blair Levin, an advisor to Facebook Inc., during his appearance before the panel. He was speaking in response to a comment from chairman Jean-Pierre Blais over whether the CRTC should be inferring anything from what Blais called the “non-participation or the reluctant...

Que. music industry wants CanCon rules for streaming services, ISPs

Media | 09/30/2016 8:38 pm EDT

The Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) is asking for regulatory action to help support the music industry as it deals with the...

Data analytics key to discoverability, CRTC hears

Media | 12/01/2015 8:50 pm EST

The use of data analytics to build a global audience steered much of the discussion around content discoverability at an event hosted by the CRTC in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). The panel of experts...

CRTC merges complaints against Videotron music service

Media | 09/28/2015 7:36 pm EDT

The CRTC has merged two complaints against a service by Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron that exempts some music streaming services from counting against mobile customers’ data caps. Videotron...

Another complaint emerges against Videotron’s music service

Media | 09/08/2015 5:24 pm EDT

Another application has been submitted to the CRTC that protests an offer by Quebecor Inc.'s Videotron to not count data used by its mobile customers for certain music-streaming applications. Vaxination Informatique, a telecommunication consulting company, has launched its own undue-preference complaint about...

PIAC launches complaint against Videotron music service

Media | 09/01/2015 8:45 pm EDT

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is asking the CRTC to direct Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to change the price structure of its new music service, which exempts data consumed through some...

Net-neutrality advocates cry foul over Videotron music service

Media | 08/27/2015 8:15 pm EDT

MONTREAL — Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is giving itself an undue preference with a new service that allows its mobile customers to listen to music streaming without it counting against their...

Google launches free music-streaming service in U.S.

Media | 06/23/2015 7:55 pm EDT

Google Inc. announced in a blog post Tuesday it will be adding to its current Google Play Music offering a free, ad-supported music streaming service. It will give users “a new way to find just the right music and ......

Netflix’ share of bandwidth usage grows, BitTorrent’s falls

Media | 05/29/2015 6:11 pm EDT

In North America, Netflix Inc. now accounts for 36.5 per cent of peak period, downloaded network traffic, a new report from network management provider Sandvine Inc. said, up from 34.9 per cent...

Spotify adds video content

Media | 05/20/2015 7:16 pm EDT

Music streaming provider Spotify AB said Wednesday that it has added video to its offerings, along with several other features. "We know there are times in the day you want to switch between music to catch up on the latest news, listen to your favourite podcast or simply watch something fun," Spotify said in blog post Wednesday. "And with a stellar range of entertainment to choose from, there’s something for everyone. Spotify will suggest video and audio shows for you to watch and learn what you love." It specified that it would draw its video clips from sources such ABC, BBC, Comedy Central, ESPN, NBC and Vice Media, among others. Spotify also said it was introducing a "Now" start page that will predictively select music for users based on the time of day and their selection histories. It added that it...

Little growth in music streaming services: MTM

Media | 04/22/2015 9:05 pm EDT

Media Technology Monitor (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio-Canada, said in report released Wednesday that the percentage of anglophones using "personalized" audio streaming services over the last year or so has been...

Rogers bundles Spotify with Fido

Media | 03/30/2015 4:19 pm EDT

Customers of Rogers Communications Inc.’s Fido subsidiary will receive free access to Spotify AB’s premium music-streaming service for two years, the company said Monday. “Plug in and escape, anytime, anywhere,...

Music streaming in Canada ramps up

Media | 01/20/2015 10:56 pm EST

In the past six months, Canadians’ usage of streaming music services seems to have jumped, in a trend that’s not only good news for streaming services, but wireless companies as well. Nielsen Co. only began...

Canada needs more music streaming services: music exec

Media | 05/01/2014 7:58 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Canada needs more online music streaming providers, though the regulatory environment here keeps them away, the president of Nettwerk Music Group told a parliamentary committee...

Streaming services need certainty to thrive: Songza exec

Media | 04/01/2014 9:23 pm EDT

OTTAWA — Canada’s regulatory environment doesn’t promote technological innovation in the music industry, and that’s part of the reason why streaming services here are lagging behind their U.S. counterparts, said Vanessa Thomas, managing director for Canada at Songza Media Inc. Thomas made the remarks Tuesday while speaking by video link to a House of Commons heritage committee meeting, which is undertaking a review of the Canadian music industry. “The environment is not built to let digital companies thrive and succeed,” she said. “The regulatory...