The CRTC is collecting feedback on whether wireless service providers should be required to provide message relay service (MRS) for customers with a hearing or speech disability. In a notice of consultation posted to its website Thursday, the regulator said wireline providers are currently required to provide the text-to-voice services — specifically teletypewriter and Internet Protocol relay service — but is now asking how MRS “could evolve to respond to users’ needs in today’s market, whether the services remain relevant in light of current trends and...
CBC/Radio-Canada is putting more money into new content, including emphasising local and digital programming, it said as it outlined annual priorities in a report released Wednesday. The accountability plan, which maps how the public broadcaster will allocate federal funds for its five-year "strategy 2020" plan, said it will invest $36 million in 2016-17 and $92 million in 2017-18 and beyond on creating new content for all its platforms, including “innovative stories and...
OTTAWA — Lawyers representing a defendant in a reverse class action case over a copyright infringement claim are asking a federal court judge to give their client an opportunity to recover costs...
Ontario public broadcaster TVO will shut down eight over-the-air transmitters, keeping one transmitter in Toronto “for the purposes of the CRTC licence and to minimize distribution costs,” it said in a Jan....
New data shows that the number of anglophone Canadians with TV subscriptions has continued to fall, reaching 75 per cent in the fall of 2016 — a 14-per-cent decline over the past five years. That number is down two per cent...
BCE Inc.’s media division is “reducing a number of positions” across the country, spokesman Scott Henderson confirmed Tuesday, though he declined to specify the number of people that will be affected. The job cuts are part of a “restructuring that includes local...
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) and Alphabet Inc.’s Google Canada will launch a YouTube channel for “iconic Canadian film and television content from years gone by” to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. “The channel will also be an opportunity to test new business models for catalogue content, while generating worldwide exposure and stimulating demand for Canadian content, particularly with young audiences, who access media primarily via connected and mobile devices,” CMF said in a press release Thursday....
More than 1,700 people representing a variety of tech and telecom companies have signed on to an open letter opposing U.S. President Donald Trump’s weekend executive order blocking entry of...
The Ministers of Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Economic Development have new understudies. In a Thursday press release, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a makeover to his roster of parliamentary...
BCE Inc. has given more details about its broadcast plans for the upcoming National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl, including pointing fans to a resource where they can watch American ads in...
Rogers Communications Inc. incoming president and CEO Joe Natale will take the helm in July, the company announced as it reported fourth-quarter numbers that showed continuing growth in data usage among its wireless...
Marie Ginette Lepage is leaving Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to join the team at Stingray Digital Group Inc., Stingray announced. In a press release, the company said Lepage would take on the role of senior...
Phasing out CBC/Radio-Canada’s sale of digital ads and tweaking tax laws to prevent companies from claiming exemptions for advertising on foreign digital platforms are among the...
Wireless service providers aren’t necessarily adhering to Wireless Code rules mandating that customers receive paper copies of their privacy policies, according to a new CRTC-commissioned report. The report, published on the CRTC’s website Friday, is part of the ongoing Wireless Code review,...
Heritage Canada has issued a series of help-wanted ads for the CRTC — including for the not-yet vacant position of chair. Four new job openings are now on the government’s appointments website for the roles of chair,...
An application by Stingray Digital Group Inc. to bring over its non-Canadian jazz music program has been approved by the CRTC. Published on the commission’s website Tuesday, Stingray describes Djazz as a 24-hour niche service of Dutch origin that provides swing, bebop and contemporary jazz, “including concerts from around the world, recording sessions, club gigs, interviews, video clips and related documentary programs.” ...
Ajit Pai has been picked by the new U.S. president to lead the United States' telecom regulator, Pai announced on Twitter Monday. In a statement, Pai said he looks “forward to working with the new Administration,...
The United States is officially withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, after president Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday. Advocacy group OpenMedia said in a press release following the announcement that Canada should also reject the deal. In Canada, the...
Telus Corp. led the telecom pack in December for government relations activity, according to the federal lobbyists’ registry, logging 14 monthly communication reports. In addition to...
Removing tax deductions for advertising on non-Canadian online media outlets could help the beleaguered local media and news sectors, while saving the government money, according to a new paper from...
Sarah Schmidt is leaving the Broadbent Institute to become the director of media relations and issues management at Rogers Communications Inc., according to a Monday report by The Hill Times. Schmidt was the Institute's director of communications after starting as the editor of its PressProgress project in 2013, according to the Institute’s website. Previous to that, she was a reporter for Postmedia News (formerly Canwest News Service) for 10 years and a reporter at the National Post for nearly two years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also wrote...
Sprint Corp. has agreed to acquire a 33-per-cent stake in music streaming service Tidal in an agreement that will see it offer exclusive music content for its customers. The deal will provide...
The American telecom regulator said it is entering the final stage of its incentive auction for repurposing 600 MHz spectrum for wireless use. In a statement Wednesday, outgoing Federal Communications Commission (FCC)...
Former Rogers Communications Inc. regulatory chief Ken Engelhart is joining StrategyCorp, the consulting company announced. In a Jan. 13 press release, the company said Engelhart — who served as senior...
GATINEAU, Que. — There are unique considerations for wireless carriers when contemplating the switch to next-generation 911 (NG911) services, a CRTC panel was told on the penultimate day of a...
The CRTC said Thursday in two decisions it has approved three channels — Stingray Brava, Bestseller and Mult — for distribution in Canada. Stingray Digital Group Inc.'s Stingray Brava is an...
A new survey has found that while the majority of United States respondents think consuming pirated video content is illegal, a chunk don’t seem to care how it impacts content creation. Despite about 69 per cent of U.S....
Celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary has the country’s telecom regulator in his sights as he launches his campaign for leader of the federal Conservative Party. O’Leary, who...
BCE Inc.’s business customers now have access to IBM Corp.’s MobileFirst enterprise apps for devices running on Apple Inc.’s iOS operating system. “Bell will combine its expertise in...
Filling all 13 spots allotted to CRTC commissioners could go a long way in addressing what some are calling decades of ongoing disparity between the demographics of those who make decisions about the country’s broadcasting and telecommunications sectors and the rest of Canada, according to advocacy groups, community broadcasters and researchers keeping an eye on the composition of the regulator. There are six vacant positions on the commission, following the departure of Candice Molnar, whose five-year term as the regional commissioner for Manitoba and Saskatchewan ended Jan. 9. With...
Starting Monday, Twitter Inc.’s live-streaming app will host a nightly showing of a Canadian media program for the first time. The Agenda with Steve Paikin, a current affairs program produced by the publicly funded...
A report prepared for the Privy Council Office found Canadians were generally in favour of increasing contributions to Canadian content, but don’t believe those increases should be passed down...
A branch of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it had concerns with the differential pricing practices used by Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. as it...
MONTREAL — Moves by Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. into the Canadian data centre business won’t compete directly with Cogeco Inc., which is changing its data...
The union representing members of the television and media sectors is asking the CRTC to reverse or suspend its decision banning simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl in order for its impact to be fully considered. In a Wednesday letter to CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais and commissioners, Unifor president Jerry Dias said the decision, which bans the swapping-out of American advertisements for Canadian ones during the game, comes at a time when the government is currently undertaking a review of broadcast policies, led by Heritage Minister Mélanie...
There are still many unknowns as wireless carriers move to 5G networks in the coming years, including questions about how much companies will charge for service, though prices have the potential to...
Amazon.com Inc. must pay a $1-million fine over the pricing practices on its Canadian website following a Competition Bureau investigation. The bureau said in a press release Wednesday that Amazon compared its...
Last month, Amazon.com Inc. announced that its data centre business was expanding into Canada, a move that illustrates what some say is the need for more data points as an increasing amount...
What began more than three years ago as a $350-million claim of patent infringement against BCE Inc. devolved into a pale imitation of its former self and will lead to...
On Friday, the CRTC approved two new radio stations for the Edmonton market, granting a licence to an Alberta numbered company for an ethnic commercial AM station and to the Société...
Vancouver-based multi-platform network (MPN) BroadbandTV Corp. has launched in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt, the company...
A former chairman of the CRTC is backing the concept of levying a new tax on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as the heritage minister mulls ways to rejig the country’s cultural institutions. In a memo...
The initial pinch of the CRTC’s decisions on two important issues in 2016 — wholesale rates and pick-and-pay — will be felt in the new year, according to Canaccord...
Canada is in a good position to be an “early mover” of Internet of Things (IoT) adoption, but it’s still falling behind in key areas required for forward momentum, according to a new report from the Public Policy Forum. In the December report published on the Public Policy Forum’s website Wednesday, the Canadian think tank identified recommendations “for governments, business and post-secondary institutions that will allow consumers and businesses to take...
A tepid launch of Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime video streaming service in Canada doesn’t seem likely to pose a challenge to existing players in the Canadian streaming market — for...
Canadian law enforcement and government agencies made over one thousand requests for customer information to Facebook Inc. in the first six months of 2016, four times more than the...
BCE Inc. has dropped its second lawsuit alleging copyright infringement against a small Internet protocol TV (IPTV) provider, following changes the company made to its service. Bell Media launched the action against Zazeen Inc. in November, alleging that the company was...
Stingray Digital Group Inc. has purchased an international specialty channel focusing on classical music from Germany’s Unitel GmbH & Co. KG, the company announced Tuesday. Unitel will...
BCE Inc. and the National Football League (NFL) have filed appeals in federal court arguing that the CRTC lacks the authority to ban the use of simultaneous substitution for the Super Bowl. The latest appeals, filed Dec. 28, come after the Federal Court of Appeal granted Bell the opportunity to challenge the decision, made official by the CRTC in August. It’s a ban that has drawn criticism from politicians on both sides of the border. In September, a court dismissed an earlier appeal by Bell and the NFL, stating it was premature. In last week’s...
The number of Canadians surprised by the extra charges on their monthly wireless bills continues to decline, according to the latest CRTC-commissioned study on the efficacy of the Wireless Code. In a...
Despite having less than two months until the Feb. 5 kick off at the 51st Super Bowl, BCE Inc. has yet to start the process with the courts to put a stop to a decision prohibiting...
BCE Inc. has received approval to carry an American TV station, the CRTC said Tuesday. In a decision posted online, the CRTC said WBTS-LD Boston will be added to the list of non-Canadian programming services and...
The CRTC has granted approval for Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. to transfer its broadcast distribution licences to BCE Inc. as part of an overall $3.9-billion acquisition of the provincial provider. In a...
There isn’t much disagreement between some of the country’s biggest media and telecom service providers over whether foreign entities, such as over-the-top providers like Netflix...
Two MPs are asking the CRTC to reverse its decision on simultaneous substitution for the National Football League's (NFL) Super Bowl, a week after four United States congressmen demanded the same,...
Rogers Communications Inc. has abandoned the development of its own IPTV platform and will instead launch an IPTV service using a platform from Comcast Corp., a plan analysts...
The anglophone generation that is in, or nearing, retirement is consuming more traditional TV than their younger counterparts, as less than a tenth of boomers has cut the cord, according to the latest MTM report...
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Tom Wheeler is leaving his post as head of the United States regulator on Jan. 20, 2017. Wheeler said in a written statement Thursday that serving as chairman “during this period of historic technological change has been the greatest honor of my professional life… It has been a privilege to work with my fellow Commissioners to help protect consumers, strengthen public safety and cybersecurity, and ensure fast, fair and open networks for all Americans.” Measures passed during his three years at the commission...
BCE Inc. has named Rob Farina head of iHeartRadio, syndication and strategic initiatives at Bell Media Radio. Farina was previously brought in by the company to help advise on the launch of iHeartMedia Inc.'s free...
Yahoo Inc. has found a new security breach that has compromised more than one billion user accounts, a figure that is double the breach it discovered only a couple of months ago, according to...
Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Prime Video has entered the Canadian market, as part of a worldwide launch for the streaming service, the company announced in a press release Wednesday. The...
Canadians are “generally satisfied” with the speed of their home Internet service, according to a new report from the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). “More than 80 per cent of those surveyed...
Zazeen Inc. is facing legal action from BCE Inc. over its Internet protocol TV (IPTV) service, with the incumbent calling the small provider’s service copyright infringement. In a statement of claim filed with the Federal Court last month, Bell said Zazeen is currently operating “an unlicensed Internet delivered service… that is exempt from licensing by the CRTC.” According to the statement, Zazeen has had a number of agreements with Bell to offer its content since 2013. Zazeen was licensed as a broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU) by the CRTC in...
The 600 MHz spectrum auction in the United States has again been delayed after bidders failed to meet minimum prices for spectrum, and Canada could see similar problems in its own upcoming auction,...
Canadians are broadly in support of making domestic film and TV productions successful internationally and being provided the funding to do so, but don’t share a consensus on where that money...
Canada is violating its trade obligations by banning simultaneous substitution for the National Football League’s (NFL) Super Bowl, four United States politicians said in a letter to the...
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...
Investel Capital Corp., the investment fund that owns Téliphone Navigata Westel Communications Inc. (TNW), has acquired RuralCom Capital Corp., which it said is a “significant...
The CRTC is making changes, including trimming roles and services at its regional offices for what it’s calling a “digital first” initiative, according to an emailed memo circulated by the regulator. On...
OTTAWA — The federal government hasn’t made its case for why law enforcement and intelligence agencies need stronger powers to intercept, decrypt and share citizens’ information, the...
OTTAWA — Canada’s highest court heard arguments Tuesday on whether a court in Canada can order a worldwide ban on websites appearing on Alphabet Inc.’s...
Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube will begin sharing information to help curb the spread of terrorism-related content. “Starting today, we commit to the creation of a shared industry database of ‘hashes’ — unique digital ‘fingerprints’ — for violent terrorist imagery or terrorist recruitment videos or images that we have removed from our services,” the release, posted on Facebook’s website Monday, said. The companies “will begin sharing hashes of the most...
Blue Ant Media Inc. and BBC will launch the BBC Earth channel in Canada in January, the companies said in a Tuesday press release. The channel, scheduled to begin broadcasting on Jan. 24,...
A branch of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is engaging in a “wild goose chase” by investigating a pair of companies’ zero-rating offers, according to one commissioner....
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) has clarified its rules around whether telecom companies have to tell customers if they have disclosed their personal information to other parties. The...
The pick-and-pay options launched by Canada’s TV providers last week aren’t likely to appeal to either current subscribers or those without traditional TV service, according RBC Capital...
A move by Netflix Inc. to allow users to download some content for offline viewing is part of a wider push for customers among streaming services, according to a research note from Desjardins Capital Markets. Analyst Maher Yaghi wrote Friday that over-the-top (OTT) services like Netflix and Amazon.com Inc.’s Amazon Prime have been making efforts “to become more attractive to consumers as competition in the OTT space is increasing.” He said that “this is ultimately a negative for telecom companies, as clients subscribing to OTT...
The CRTC said Friday it has approved MBC Drama HD for distribution in Canada. The channel, which originates in South Korea, “provides high-quality dramas and movies drawn from one of South Korea’s largest...
More than two-thirds of anglophone Canadians use the Internet to listen to streaming audio, a number that rises to more than 90 per cent among students and those under 35, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitor...
The CRTC announced Thursday that it will go ahead with a hearing on rules governing French-language vocal music on commercial radio stations that had been postponed since last year. The commission is allowing parties,...
GATINEAU, Que. — CRTC Chairman Jean-Pierre Blais floated the idea that the commission should require a public consultation before a broadcaster closes a TV station during the last day...
OTTAWA — Canada is involved in international discussions about how to address the issue of foreign digital vendors not being subject to domestic sales tax, a parliamentary committee...
As the CRTC’s rules requiring all TV providers to allow customers to sign up for channels individually came into effect Thursday, the regulator emphasized that consumers have to take...
GATINEAU, Que. — The question of whether news stations owned by vertically-integrated (VI) companies need safeguards for journalistic independence came up at the CRTC’s...
The CRTC is collecting feedback on Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc.’s plan to transform into a privately held company. In a notice of consultation posted to its website Wednesday, the commission said it...
Rogers Communications Inc. and Cogeco Inc. have introduced their line-up of stand-alone TV channels a day ahead of the CRTC’s deadline requiring them to do so. The cost for individual channels with Rogers mostly ranges from $4 to $7 for English-language specialty channels to $18 for sports and some international channels, according to its website. Cogeco’s stand-alone channels are priced at between $3.50 and $6 for English specialty channels and up to about $12 to $15 for sports, its website specifies. The second and final phase of the CRTC’s skinny...
Netflix Inc. viewers will now be able to download content from its over-the-top (OTT) service to watch off-line. The company said in a press release Wednesday that the new free feature is included in all plans and...
Glen LeBlanc, BCE Inc.’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer, told an investor’s conference hosted by RBC Tuesday that the company is on track to have its...
GATINEAU, Que. — BCE Inc. has to take both offensive and defensive positions when facing off against international competitors, the company told the CRTC Tuesday, as it took its...
A coalition of artists, including authors, directors and musicians, is asking Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly to consider the compensation artists receive as part of the ongoing review of Canadian content...
The CRTC has approved two new ethnic radio licences — one to a company it previously ordered to stop broadcasting — and a rebroadcast transmitter for another to serve Surrey and Vancouver, British Columbia. The regulator had previously said that it was looking for applications to serve the market because of “demand in the Vancouver market for additional ethnic radio programming services.” On Monday, the CRTC said it has approved the applications...
GATINEAU, Que. — Rogers Communications Inc. said it understands the irony of asking for mandatory carriage for its proposed new regional OMNI service, but that it’s the only way...
CBC/Radio-Canada is asking the federal government for an increase in its funding so that it can eliminate advertising on its platforms. In a submission made as part of a government review of Canadian content in a digital...
Rogers Communications Inc. is proposing a tax credit-based federal program to support Canadian content of all types and on all platforms. In a submission to the Heritage Minister Mélanie...
The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is asking the government to rescind the digital media exemption order (DMEO) as part of its review of Canadian content in a digital age. The DMEO,...
BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron are asking a federal court judge to dismiss an appeal of an injunction banning sales of “pre-loaded”...
Former CRTC commissioner Raj Shoan is alleging that Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and the governor-in-council (GIC) have effectively participated in a “witch hunt” against him by...
The move this week by BCE Inc. flanker brand Virgin Mobile Canada to expand its home Internet into Quebec could put pressure on Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron, Desjardins analyst Maher Yaghi said in a...
Rogers Communications Inc. is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to turn down Voltage Pictures LLC’s case to have the Internet service provider (ISP) pay for its own costs associated with retrieving subscriber...
The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) is asking the federal government to “modernize” and require both over-the-top (OTT) services and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to contribute to the CanCon system. “OTT services in Canada and Canadian-based ISPs are now significant players in our broadcasting system,” the CMPA said in a written submission to Heritage Canada’s review of Canadian content in a digital age, released Friday. “They provide great services and generate substantial revenues from Canadians who are increasingly...
