Gigabit Internet in 3% of Canadian homes by end of 2016: Deloitte

Media | 01/12/2016 10:09 pm EST

The availability and adoption of gigabit Internet in Canada is expected to grow this year, with almost three per cent of Canadians subscribing to the service by the end of 2016, according to Deloitte...

CRTC proposes fund for local TV news

Media | 01/12/2016 8:33 pm EST

The CRTC is proposing a new fund to support local TV news programming, which would be funded by existing financial resources within the broadcasting system. The proposal was included a paper released Tuesday, which will be used...

Cisco opens Toronto innovation centre

Media | 01/12/2016 3:01 pm EST

Cisco Systems Inc. on Tuesday announced the opening of its new innovation centre in Toronto. It said in a press release that it's one of nine Cisco Innovation Centres around the world, and it will focus on accelerating and...

SaskTel partners with University of Regina to deploy wireless technology

Media | 01/11/2016 2:49 pm EST

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. announced Monday it has partnered with the University of Regina to deploy new wireless technology manufactured by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. It said in...

Changes ahead for TV sector in 2016

Media | 01/08/2016 9:14 pm EST

If industry and regulators spent much of 2014 talking about the future of TV in Canada, 2016 will provide the first glimpse of what that future might look like. “If 2015 was the year for announcing changes, I guess 2016 will be the year for actually making the changes and implementing them, because there are a lot of things that the CRTC had put out last year and a lot of them come into effect this year,” 3Macs analyst Troy Crandall said in a phone interview. The biggest of those will be the CRTC’s implementation of the new skinny basic and pick-and-pay rules, which came out of its Let’s Talk TV proceeding on the future of television. By March, TV providers will be required to offer a skinny basic TV package, priced at no more than $25 a month, and either...

TV service provider code takes effect September 2017

Media | 01/07/2016 10:21 pm EST

Television service providers have another 20 months before they are forced to abide by a new code governing their relationship with customers. The CRTC on Thursday released a finalized version of its television service provider...

Videotron buys Fibrenoire

Media | 01/07/2016 6:45 pm EST

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron announced Thursday it has acquired Fibrenoire, a company that provides fibre-optic connectivity services to businesses, for $125 million. It said in a press release that acquiring the company would help “meet the growing demand from business customers for...

Community TV channels do not meet CRTC standards: CACTUS

telecom | 01/07/2016 4:44 pm EST

The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) said Thursday that most cable community TV channels do not meet CRTC standards for operating a community TV channel,...

Bell top in wireless speeds, Rogers in LTE: OpenSignal

telecom | 01/07/2016 3:49 pm EST

A new report analyzing wireless network performance among Canada’s biggest three players says BCE Inc. has the fastest speeds, while Rogers Communications Inc. has the best LTE coverage....

Shaw’s FreeRange TV first step in transition to IP-based system

Media | 01/06/2016 9:09 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. on Wednesday began publicizing the first phase in a transformation of its television service that it hopes gives consumers reason to choose its TV service over competitors and over the option of having no TV service at all. It announced the availability of an application called FreeRange TV, which...

Laurie McAllister appointed ACTRA director of performers’ rights

Media | 01/06/2016 4:46 pm EST

The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) announced Wednesday the appointment of Laurie McAllister as the new director of ACTRA's performers’ rights society and its recording artists’ collecting society. It said in a press release that McAllister joins ACTRA with experience in...

Bell’s claim FTTH investment at risk is ‘fear-mongering’: CNOC

telecom | 01/05/2016 9:48 pm EST

Small Internet service providers (ISPs) are asking the government to reject an appeal, filed by BCE Inc., of a CRTC decision that mandated access by smaller competitors to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH)...

CraveTV remains unavailable without TV subscription

Media | 01/05/2016 9:15 pm EST

CraveTV will be available online to all Canadians some time this month, a spokesman from BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division said Tuesday, and access did not open up on Jan. 1, which had previously been the announced plan....

Bell launches another challenge to Super Bowl simsub rules

Media | 01/05/2016 7:23 pm EST

BCE Inc. has opened up its battle against the CRTC's plan to ban simultaneous substitution during the Super Bowl on another front. On Dec. 14, Bell filed for leave to appeal against a particular decision the CRTC published on Nov. 19 regarding how it would implement its policy determinations regarding simultaneous substitution, which were initially announced last January. The CRTC's posting in November detailed how it intended to issue an order that would exempt the 2017 Super Bowl from the simultaneous-substitution regime, thereby making it possible for people in Canada to view U.S....

TV regulatory changes could cost 15,000 jobs: report

telecom | 01/05/2016 4:15 pm EST

New CRTC regulatory changes from the Let’s Talk TV decisions could lead to a loss of more than 15,000 Canadian jobs and take $1.4 billion from the Canadian economy annually by 2020, according to a new report released Tuesday...

Bell’s appeal of wholesale code to proceed

telecom | 01/05/2016 4:12 pm EST

BCE Inc.'s application to appeal the CRTC's wholesale code, governing the relationship between TV service providers and channel operators, will go forward, the Federal Court of Appeal has decided. The court issued its decision to grant Bell leave to appeal on Dec. 22, according the court's website. Bell launched legal proceedings against...

Nokia gains control of Alcatel-Lucent

telecom | 01/04/2016 9:49 pm EST

Nokia Corp. said Monday that it has won control of telecom-equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA with almost 80 per cent of the company's outstanding shares tendered in response to Nokia's acquisition offer. Nokia said in a...

Toronto telecom provider seeks condo access

telecom | 01/04/2016 9:07 pm EST

Beanfield Technologies Inc., an independent provider of fibre-based Internet, TV and phone services in Toronto, is asking the CRTC to help it gain access to one of the few condominium buildings it isn't already connected to in...

Competition Bureau says Telus will pay $7.3M in premium texting case

telecom | 01/04/2016 3:04 pm EST

The Competition Bureau said Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Telus Corp. to end legal proceedings in relation to premium texting services that former and current customers have paid for. The Competition Bureau said in a press release that Telus would issue up to $7.3 million in refunds to customers after it found Telus made “false or misleading representations in advertisements for premium text messages in pop-up ads, apps and on social media,” and added that this was...

BlackBerry mum on quarterly smartphone sales

Media | 12/18/2015 2:53 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. did not provide figures on smartphone sales for its third fiscal quarter, leaving it undisclosed how well its first smartphones to run on Android software are selling. The Canadian smartphone-maker and...

Shaw-Wind deal means no Rogers merger on horizon: analysts

Media | 12/17/2015 11:00 pm EST

Financial analysts said Thursday that the surprising move by Shaw Communications Inc. to buy Wind Mobile means any potential merger between Shaw and Rogers Communications Inc. won’t happen any...

Shaw provides Go WiFi to ferry commuters in Vancouver

telecom | 12/17/2015 6:38 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. announced Thursday that it is partnering with Vancouver’s transportation authority to provide Shaw Go WiFi for free to all passengers travelling on the SeaBus ferry route. It said in the press...

Additional comments can be added in local-TV review

telecom | 12/17/2015 5:06 pm EST

The CRTC said Thursday that parties participating in the policy review for local and community TV programming can submit additional information to already submitted comments that were made in November.  The regulator said...

Shaw says timing, current market dynamics made Wind deal attractive

Media | 12/17/2015 3:43 pm EST

The economics of entering Canada’s wireless market through the acquisition of Wind Mobile today are better than past opportunities Shaw Communications Inc. has had to enter the mobile sector,...

Ericsson renews contract with Eastlink for 3 years

telecom | 12/17/2015 3:31 pm EST

Ericsson AB announced Thursday that it has renewed its agreement with Eastlink to expand and upgrade its LTE and HSPA networks, as well as continue to be the exclusive supplier for radio access network equipment for another three...

Shaw looks to enter wireless market with $1.6B deal for Wind

telecom | 12/17/2015 1:45 am EST

The Big Three may have just become the Big Four, as Shaw Communications Inc. announced Wednesday it is attempting to become a wireless provider by acquiring Wind Mobile. Shaw said in a press release...

Rogers gigabit Internet, 4K set-top box now available

telecom | 12/16/2015 8:55 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc.’s gigabit Internet service is now available in “select neighbourhoods in downtown Toronto” and the greater Toronto area, Rogers said Wednesday.  In October, the company announced...

Jim Pattison Group appoints Ross Winters director of programming

Media | 12/16/2015 6:39 pm EST

The Jim Pattison Group announced Wednesday in a press release it has appointed Ross Winters as its new director of programming. It said in the release that Winters will support program directors who are responsible for programming and content on the company's 43 radio stations in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It added that he will also provide overall strategic leadership to the programming departments of the radio stations as well as their management team. Winters spent the past 10 years as program director at Corus Entertainment Inc.’s Rock 101 FM, based in Vancouver, and was program director for two years at CFOX, another rock radio station in Vancouver, the release noted. ...

CRTC consults on off-tariff roaming agreements

telecom | 12/16/2015 6:26 pm EST

The CRTC on Wednesday started a consultation that asks whether it should refrain from regulating some arrangements between incumbent wireless carriers and smaller operators regarding domestic roaming where the terms or conditions...

Bell denied request for relief on original-content condition

Media | 12/16/2015 5:00 pm EST

The CRTC has denied a request by BCE Inc.'s Bell Media division to delete a condition of licence for its French-language specialty channel Vrak.TV that requires it to show 104 hours of original,...

CIRA warns about Internet traffic routed through U.S.

telecom | 12/16/2015 3:22 pm EST

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is warning people that, more often than they think, Internet communications between them and an endpoint in Canada often goes through the United States, making it subject to...

Rogers partners with Trustwave on business security

Media | 12/16/2015 3:02 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. announced Wednesday a new portfolio of cybersecurity solutions for Canadian businesses to detect and prevent global cyber-attacks. It said in the press release that the service will provide business...

OpenMedia wants privacy commish to investigate ‘stingray’ tech

telecom | 12/15/2015 9:45 pm EST

Internet advocacy group OpenMedia is asking the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to investigate possible police use of “stingray” surveillance technologies. OpenMedia said in a press release Tuesday the technology “simulates cell phone towers in order to trick nearby mobile phones into connecting to them and revealing their locations,” and is capable of monitoring large groups of people, recording calls and intercepting content of voice calls and texts, “and even of extracting the encryption keys people use to protect their data.” The organization said the privacy commissioner should investigate law enforcement agencies’ use of the technologies,...

CRTC denies TekSavvy relief in Toronto wholesale issue

Media | 12/15/2015 9:02 pm EST

The CRTC has denied TekSavvy Solutions Inc.'s request for interim relief in a situation where Rogers Communications Inc. is slated to replace some legacy cable in a Toronto neighbourhood with...

Wind Mobile upgrades Vancouver area coverage

telecom | 12/15/2015 6:25 pm EST

Wind Mobile announced Tuesday that it is adding antennas and deploying new spectrum in the Vancouver area as an initial step in a cross-Canada network upgrade. "Wind customers in the greater Vancouver area are already...

Relevance trumps affordability in reasons to forgo Internet: Ipsos

telecom | 12/11/2015 8:54 pm EST

Newly released survey results show that almost 10 per cent of Canadians still do not have Internet access at home, and more people cite its relevance to their personal lives than affordability as a...

Walmart announces mobile payment function for U.S.

telecom | 12/11/2015 3:20 pm EST

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Thursday that it is launching a mobile-payment function for stores in the United States. It said in a press release that certain stores will start accepting mobile payments from the Walmart app this...

Wind to launch LTE by end of 2016 with new financing

telecom | 12/10/2015 10:46 pm EST

Wind Mobile is looking to make LTE service available to at least some of its customers by the end of next year, after announcing it has borrowed $425 million to help it do so. On Thursday, Wind issued a press release that...

Cogeco Cable considers name change

telecom | 12/10/2015 8:36 pm EST

Cogeco Cable Inc. will ask shareholders to vote on a name change to Cogeco Communications Inc. at its annual meeting in January. The company said in a press release Wednesday that the “new name better expresses the...

IoT spending to nearly double by 2019: IDC

telecom | 12/10/2015 6:10 pm EST

Worldwide spending on the Internet of Things will rise from $698.6 billion US this year to $1.3 trillion US in 2019, according to International Data Corp. IDC said in a press release Thursday that the “regions that will...

Telus expands wireless coverage along B.C. highway

telecom | 12/10/2015 5:31 pm EST

Telus Corp. said in a press release Thursday that it has spent $5 million on five new wireless sites in B.C. along Highway 3. The move will bring “wireless service to approximately 105 kilometers of highway and the...

Bell ranked highest in mobile network performance

telecom | 12/09/2015 8:38 pm EST

BCE Inc. was tops in RootMetric’s 2015 Canadian mobile network performance review that was released Wednesday, with Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. not far behind. The U.S.-based mobile analytics company said in the report that Bell scored an overall national performance rating of 94.5 per cent, while Rogers scored 93.7 per cent and Telus scored 93.6 per cent. Results were based on performance metrics across several categories such as network reliability, network speed, data speed, call performance and text performance. RootMetrics said that Bell “delivered top speeds...

CRTC denies application to amend third-language exemption order

telecom | 12/09/2015 5:34 pm EST

The CRTC denied an application from Ethnic Channels Group Ltd. Wednesday to amend the exemption order for discretionary TV services serving fewer than 200,000 subscribers in order for third-language...

Old domestic roaming charges still being worked out

telecom | 12/09/2015 5:04 pm EST

The CRTC has asked Canadian wireless carriers that provided roaming access to other domestic carriers — when legislation was in effect that capped domestic roaming prices to retail rates — to file new information,...

Power struggle at company headed by ex-BlackBerry boss: report

Media | 12/09/2015 2:57 pm EST

Three board members of Powermat Technologies Ltd., a maker of wireless mobile-device chargers, are suing the company and CEO Thorsten Heins, accusing them of unauthorized operations that threaten the...

Future CraveTV prices unclear for non-Bell customers

telecom | 12/08/2015 9:56 pm EST

Subscribers to BCE Inc.’s TV services will pay more for CraveTV starting in February, though the company isn’t saying how much customers who get the streaming service through other TV-service providers, or those...

ADR files complaint against Bell

Media | 12/08/2015 5:41 pm EST

A Quebec TV station that focuses on disseminating public-safety and police-related information has filed a complaint against BCE Inc. for its impending exclusion of carriage of the channel, though the CRTC has ordered Bell to keep ADR.TV (Avis de recherche) available for subscribers at least until the matter is sorted out. According to a filing that appeared on the CRTC website on Tuesday, ADR is accusing Bell of several regulatory violations, including undue preference. ADR said in its application that by not carrying ADR, Bell gives an advantage to its own Canal D Investigation channel, which focuses on police investigations. ADR also said that Bell is acting against an order made by the CRTC at the time of its takeover of Astral Media that it not force TV channels it is negotiating carriage with to accept terms that are "commercially...

Verizon would consider buying core Yahoo business: report

Media | 12/08/2015 2:48 pm EST

Verizon Communications Inc. would consider buying Yahoo Inc.'s core Internet business, which includes its email, news and sports sites, as well as its advertising technology, according to a report...

Samsung to pay Apple damages for iPhone infringement: report

Media | 12/07/2015 9:10 pm EST

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has agreed to pay Apple Inc. more than $548 million US as determined in a court decision earlier this year related to an earlier ruling that Samsung infringed certain...

How do Shaw’s decisions on Canwest, mobile look today?

Media | 12/07/2015 8:30 pm EST

Yesterday's actions can have a profound influence on tomorrow. Such a notion might apply to a couple of decisions Shaw Communications Inc. has made in the last half-decade. The first of those was its 2010 move to spend $2 billion to purchase the broadcasting assets of Canwest Global Communications Corp., which included...

Federal government funds Internet expansion in eastern Ontario

telecom | 12/07/2015 5:40 pm EST

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, formerly known as Industry Canada, announced Monday that it is funding high-speed Internet services for about 1,000 households in communities...

Netflix’s share of peak traffic hits 37% in North America: Sandvine

Media | 12/07/2015 4:50 pm EST

Audio and video traffic — or real-time entertainment — now accounts for more than 70 per cent of download traffic on fixed Internet networks during peak periods in North America, with Netflix Inc.'s share now 37.1 per cent, an increase from 36.5 per cent a year earlier, according to a report released Monday...

Roam Mobility offers SIM cards for vistors to Canada

telecom | 12/04/2015 5:22 pm EST

Otono Networks Inc.’s Roam Mobility, a provider of SIM cards for out-of-Canada mobile usage, announced Friday it is launching a new SIM card for visitors to Canada. The Vancouver-based company said in a press release that...

Recommendations key to discovery, experts say at CRTC event

Media | 12/03/2015 10:43 pm EST

MONTREAL — A panel discussing discoverability of content at a CRTC event Thursday stressed the importance of recommendations and curation as strategies to help viewers find content in an environment with more options than ever. “Algorithms are necessary but not enough,” said Jean-François Gagnon,...

Final domestic-roaming tariffs approved, for now

telecom | 12/03/2015 8:36 pm EST

The CRTC has accepted, for the time being, tariffs proposed by the wireless incumbents for what smaller carriers in Canada have to pay to have their customers roam on the bigger companies' networks. The commission said in a...

Smartphone shipment growth slowed this year: IDC

telecom | 12/03/2015 5:32 pm EST

Worldwide smartphone shipments in 2015 are expected to be 9.8 per cent more than last year for a total of 1.43 billion units, marking the first time that percentage growth for this product has been less than double digits, International Data Corp. said Thursday. The research group said in the press release that slower growth is “expected to intensify slightly over 2015 to 2019,” due to lack of growing demand for mobile phones running on Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone software and other phones running on other platforms other than Google Inc.’s Android or Apple...

Telus launches new cloud services for businesses

telecom | 12/03/2015 2:52 pm EST

Telus Corp. announced Thursday it has expanded its cloud services to offer Canadian businesses a suite of managed infrastructure as service solutions that include private and public cloud offerings, as well as a hybrid of the two....

Google folds Songza into new, free music service

Media | 12/03/2015 2:41 pm EST

Google Inc. is folding its music-streaming service Songza into a new ad-supported, free tier of Google Play Music. Wendy Manton, a Google spokeswoman, said in an email that this is happening everywhere Songza had been available,...

Shaw provides better public WiFi for premium plans

Media | 12/02/2015 8:38 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. announced Wednesday that all customers who are subscribed to its Internet 30, or any broadband Internet plan above that, will have access to download speeds six times faster when connected to any of the...

B.C. community temporarily without Internet service

telecom | 12/02/2015 7:03 pm EST

Onewayout.net Society, the only Internet service provider in Stewart, B.C., has shut down its services as it awaits the provision of new connections, courtesy of Telus Corp. and another small British Columbia-based ISP. In a...

Nokia shareholders approve Alcatel-Lucent acquisition

telecom | 12/02/2015 6:08 pm EST

Nokia Corp. said Wednesday that its shareholders have approved the company's proposed acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent SA. Nokia said in a press release that it has also received all necessary regulatory approvals earlier than expected and that the transaction is expected to close within the first three months of 2016. "We are delighted that the vast majority of Nokia's shareholders recognize the long-term value creation opportunity that this proposed combination represents," Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said in the release. "We now encourage Alcatel-Lucent shareholders and...

CRTC asks Videotron why zero-rate and not increase data caps

Media | 12/02/2015 4:37 pm EST

The CRTC is asking Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to answer 16 questions regarding its Unlimited Music service, including why it chose to launch a zero-rating service rather than increase data caps....

Mobilicity investors’ suit against government moves forward: report

telecom | 12/02/2015 3:24 pm EST

The $1.2-billion lawsuit against the federal government by the original backers of wireless startup Mobilicity is moving ahead, according to a report in the Globe and Mail. An article appearing on the newspaper's website Tuesday said the Ontario Divisional Court last week rejected the government's motion seeking...

Rogers to continue providing wireless services for Quebec government

Media | 12/02/2015 2:45 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. announced Wednesday it has signed an agreement with the Centre de services partagés du Quebec (CSPQ) to continue its wireless services for up to 10 years with the...

Wind responsible for 72.5% of code breaches last year: CCTS

telecom | 12/01/2015 10:49 pm EST

Wind Mobile had 422 confirmed breaches of the CRTC’s wireless code last year, or 72.5 per cent of the total compiled by the Commission for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) in...

Eric Baptiste gets extension at SOCAN

Media | 12/01/2015 5:55 pm EST

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has granted Eric Baptiste another five-year term as CEO. SOCAN said in a press release that the reappointment will extend Baptiste's tenure with the...

Tablet shipments to be down 8.1% this year: IDC

Media | 12/01/2015 5:22 pm EST

Global tablet shipments will be down 8.1 per cent for 2015 overall, though tablets with detachable keyboards are expected to see strong growth for this year and in 2016, according to International Data Corp. The technology...

BlackBerry says it’s shutting down BES in Pakistan

Media | 11/30/2015 10:03 pm EST

BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday that it will stop operating its BES enterprise servers in Pakistan as of Dec. 30 due to the insistence of the Pakistani government that it get "unfettered access" to communications on the servers. A blog post by Marty Beard, BlackBerry's chief operating officer, initially said BES...

Distant TV signals losing value, service providers say

Media | 11/30/2015 9:13 pm EST

OTTAWA — Canada's major TV service providers argued before the Copyright Board of Canada on Monday that they should pay less for distant-TV signals because these channels are losing value as...

CRTC says incumbents can’t change terms in interim roaming rates

telecom | 11/30/2015 8:55 pm EST

The CRTC has told Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Telus Corp. that the terms and conditions in interim tariffs the incumbents filed following the CRTC’s move in May to regulate some roaming rates must be consistent with the agreements in place at the time the decision was made. In its decision on the wholesale wireless proceeding last year, the CRTC said it would begin regulating the roaming rates the three incumbents charge smaller carriers, and directed the incumbents to file...

David Purdy to leave Rogers

Media | 11/30/2015 6:42 pm EST

OTTAWA — David Purdy, senior vice-president of content at Rogers Communications Inc., said Monday that he will leave the company and that an official announcement will be issued later this week. Purdy told the Copyright Board of Canada, during a hearing to set the royalty rates that TV...

Broadcasters advised to ‘pick their winners’ as pick-and-pay approaches

Media | 11/27/2015 9:58 pm EST

As the Canadian TV industry approaches an era where customers have more choice over the channels they subscribe to, large broadcasters should “pick their winners” and consolidate into a...

Major mobile providers offer extra gigabyte

telecom | 11/27/2015 7:44 pm EST

The three incumbent mobile-service providers and their flanker brands were all offering Black Friday specials, lasting until the Sunday, Nov. 30, that included an extra gigabyte per month on select plans. BCE Inc., Rogers...

Shaw introduces new WiFi, security products for business

telecom | 11/27/2015 6:49 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc. announced Friday it is introducing SmartWiFi and SmartSecurity, two services that will provide small- and medium-sized businesses with WiFi and network security solutions. It...

Nicholas Kyonka joins CWTA

telecom | 11/27/2015 6:45 pm EST

Nicholas Kyonka, a former reporter with The Wire Report, has been appointed as the project manager for the structure, tower and antenna council of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA). Kyonka said in an email Friday that the position relates to a new arm of the CWTA and is meant to be a resource for stakeholders within the wireless industry with information on best practices, standards and regulations about transmission equipment for the wireless industry.    Kyonka was a reporter with The Wire Report between 2011 and 2014....

SaskTel expands fibre-to-the-home

telecom | 11/27/2015 4:45 pm EST

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. announced Friday it will be deploying its InfiNet fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in residential areas of two cities in Saskatchewan by next year. SaskTel said in a press release...

Supreme Court upholds tariffs on ‘broadcast-incidental copies’

Media | 11/26/2015 9:38 pm EST

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with the Society for Reproduction Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers in Canada (SODRAC) in a dispute with CBC/Radio-Canada over whether the latter should pay for “broadcast-incidental copies” of musical works for television or Internet productions CBC had been...

James Moore named UNBC chancellor

Media | 11/26/2015 6:16 pm EST

The University of Northern British Columbia said Thursday that former industry minister James Moore has been named its next chancellor. The Prince George, B.C.-based school said in a press release that Moore, who was industry...

Incumbents seek little change in domestic data roaming tariffs

telecom | 11/25/2015 11:06 pm EST

The domestic roaming rates for voice and text services BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc. and Telus Corp. have asked the CRTC to implement are significantly lower than what they currently...

Internet becoming more common news source: MTM

Media | 11/25/2015 9:28 pm EST

Television remains the main source of news for most anglophone Canadians, though the Internet is becoming increasingly used as individuals' primary way of getting news, according to survey results released Wednesday. Media...

Bell’s mobile-TV appeal hearing on Jan. 19

Media | 11/25/2015 6:30 pm EST

BCE Inc.'s challenge to the CRTC's decision to ban mobile-TV plans where data used does not count against customers' data caps will be heard before the Federal Court of Appeal on Jan. 19. A notice in the case file on the court's website indicates the hearing will be held in Toronto. Telecom researcher Ben Klass, who launched the...

Rights holders seek to double royalties for distant TV signals

Media | 11/24/2015 10:32 pm EST

OTTAWA — Rights holders of programming shown over distant TV signals are seeking to at least double the amount of money they receive from TV service providers, on a per subscriber basis, for...

PIAC asks CRTC to deny Bell’s review-and-vary request

telecom | 11/24/2015 9:31 pm EST

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is telling the CRTC to reject an application by BCE Inc. that asks the commission to amend its wholesale wireline decision. In October, Bell asked the CRTC...

CRTC approves purchase of Quebec radio station

Media | 11/24/2015 6:07 pm EST

The CRTC approved an application by Torres Media asking for permission to acquire, from Radio Express Inc., and continue operating CKOD-FM, a French-language radio station located in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Que., about an hour outside Montreal. The regulator said in a decision that between 2005 and 2009 the station had been granted a short-term licence but had “numerous instances of non-compliance,” such as non-payment of Canadian content development (CCD) contributions, failure to submit logger tapes and failure to file annual returns. The regulator noted that it was off the...

Forbes downplays potential MTS selloff after Allstream deal

telecom | 11/23/2015 9:38 pm EST

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. CEO Jay Forbes on Monday downplayed the likelihood that the whole company could be sold in the wake of a deal to unload its business communications division, Allstream....

HBO deal bolsters CraveTV against Shomi, Netflix: experts

Media | 11/20/2015 10:15 pm EST

BCE Inc.’s move to acquire exclusive rights to HBO programming on all platforms and become the sole operator of HBO Canada will make its CraveTV over-the-top (OTT) service more competitive...

Rogers pays $200,000 to resolve anti-spam violations

telecom | 11/20/2015 4:37 pm EST

The CRTC announced Friday that Rogers Communications Inc. has paid $200,000 to resolve alleged violations of Canada’s anti-spam legislation. The regulator said in a press release that, following an investigation between...

FCC chairman praises zero-rating service

telecom | 11/19/2015 10:01 pm EST

Tom Wheeler, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), told reporters Tuesday a service that exempts some video from wireless data caps is “highly innovative and highly competitive,” Bloomberg...

Wind launches referral reward program

telecom | 11/19/2015 9:08 pm EST

Wind Mobile announced the launch of “Refer a Friend” Thursday, a program that rewards customers for recommending the company to friends. It said in a press release that customers who use the program to refer friends will receive a $10 credit, while the individual they referred will also receive a $10 credit. “The more friends referred, the more rewards earned,” the release said....

Most TV subs won’t scale back under pick-and-pay rules: survey

Media | 11/19/2015 5:54 pm EST

Most Canadians who subscribe to TV services do not intend to scale back their TV packages after the CRTC starts requiring $25 skinny-basic packages and pick-and-pay options next year, according to a new survey. Survey results released Thursday by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing's Canadian...

SaskTel boosts Internet speeds in 10 communities

telecom | 11/19/2015 4:22 pm EST

Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. announced Thursday that it will introduce its high speed advanced Internet service plan to 10 rural communities in Saskatchewan. It said in a press release that Codette, Davidson,...

Shaw’s ViaWest to acquire INetU

telecom | 11/19/2015 2:52 pm EST

Shaw Communications Inc.’s U.S. data-centre division, ViaWest Inc., announced Thursday it is acquiring INetU Inc., a cloud hosting company. ViaWest said in a press release that it will buy the Pennsylvania-based company for $162.5 million US. Nancy Phillips, CEO of ViaWest, said in the release that the acquisition will help “add new...

Rogers launches Fido Internet service

telecom | 11/18/2015 9:54 pm EST

Rogers Communications Inc. announced on Thursday a new Internet service for Ontario under its Fido brand. Information provided by the company by email said customers of its discount mobile service Fido have been asking for...

Blue Ant makes several leadership changes

Media | 11/18/2015 6:56 pm EST

Blue Ant Media Inc. on Wednesday announced several changes to its leadership team, including the appointment of Jamie Schouela to the newly created position of executive vice-president of Canadian networks. Blue Ant said in a...

Videotron ordered to pay $7.4M in LPIF class action

Media | 11/18/2015 4:41 pm EST

A judge has ordered Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron to pay back $6.4 million it improperly billed its customers, plus $1 million in punitive damages. Superior Court Judge Carole Hallée said in a Nov. 11 decision that...

CRTC to release ISP performance results in spring

telecom | 11/18/2015 4:31 pm EST

The CRTC said Wednesday it will, in spring 2016, release a preliminary report on the results of an ongoing study of the broadband performance of various Canadian Internet service providers (ISPs). The regulator said in a press...

Google launches YouTube Kids in Canada

Media | 11/18/2015 4:02 pm EST

Google Inc. announced Wednesday it is launching in Canada its YouTube app for children.  It said in a blogpost that the YouTube Kids app will be a “safer version of YouTube, a family-friendly place for kids to explore...

Most millennials still have subscription-TV service: MTM

Media | 11/17/2015 9:18 pm EST

Seven out of every 10 Canadian between the ages of 18 and 34 have a subscription-TV service in their home, while that proportion is 87 per cent for those 35 and older, according to a new report from Media Technology Monitoring (MTM), a project of CBC/Radio-Canada. It also found 19 per cent of millennials rely on the Internet for watching all of their TV content versus four per cent those who are older. MTM added that 37 per cent of millennials watch content on services provided by Netflix Inc., while that rate is 18 per cent for everyone older. The report noted that only 24 per cent of...