Author Archives: Roland Renner

Mobile Wireless Competitors for Sale

It is clear that Industry Canada and the CRTC do not want a re-consolidation to occur. It is less clear if they can adjust the rules more in favour of competition. Continue reading

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BCE Acquisition of Astral Media Round 2 Part 3 – Telus Strategy vs BCE Strategy

Given BCE’s history in the content business, the Telus strategy has a lot going for it. Continue reading

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BCE Acquisition of Astral Media Round 2 Part 2

Last week participants filed their objections to the second BCE application to acquire Astral Media.  There were 834 interventions in total, many of which are one-page letters of support or opposition. There are three different categories of organizations that filed … Continue reading

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BCE Buys Astral Media Round Two

The production sector fears a corporate culture clash with Bell and a buyer that is so big it does not have to negotiate. Continue reading

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Sun News Wants to be on Basic Cable

Good commentary from Terry Field on Sun News trying to get on basic cable in a new CRTC proceeding. http://www.troymedia.com/2013/01/25/canadian-tv-consumers-are-still-the-real-losers/ Three things going on here.  The first is political.  Sun News thinks it represents a mainstream part of Canadian opinion … Continue reading

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Supreme Supreme Court Rules CRTC does not have jurisdiction to implement broadcaster fees for cable carriage

The fee for carriage would have allowed the traditional over the air broadcasters like CTV, and Global, to charge a fee to the cable, satellite and other distributors for the right to carry their signals.  These fees would have been … Continue reading

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Google Fibre Begins Service in Kansas City

Google’s fibre network in Kansas City will turn on its first customers today. http://www.fiercecable.com/story/google-fiber-schedules-first-1-gbps-installations-kansas-city/2012-11-13?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal Meanwhile the cable industry has been working on its next major upgrade to its data over cable technology, DOCSIS 3.0  Telcos have been expanding their FTTH … Continue reading

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Westerners more likely to buy NetFlix

Here is another interesting result from the CRTC’s “Communications Monitoring Report”.  Western Canadians subscribe to NetFlix in far greater numbers than Ontarians. The subscription percentage is 71% higher for Albertans (14.5%) compared to Ontarians (8.5%).  Atlantic Canadians are not that … Continue reading

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Traditional Broadcasting and Video Distribution Still Prospers

In spite of all the hype around Internet video, the traditional broadcasting system continues to very well. The CRTC’s “Communications Monitoring Report 2012″ was released in September. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/publications/reports/PolicyMonitoring/2012/cmr.htm It contains many interesting results that are directly related to the issues … Continue reading

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CRTC to Implement Wireless Industry Code of Conduct

The CRTC is holding a proceeding to establish a Code of Conduct for the Wireless Industry (meaning cell phones).   This is unusual for the telecom industry although it has been used by the CRTC on the broadcasting side.  The Broadcasting … Continue reading

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CRTC denies BCE acquisition of Astral Media

…the Commission must evaluate applications for a change in effective control against the objectives set out in the (Broadcasting) Act, as well as its own policies and regulations. The Commission considers that the concerns related to competition, ownership concentration in … Continue reading

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US telcos and cablecos complain that Kansas City gave Google a better deal

US cablecos and telcos are upset that Kansas City gave Google a better deal on access to municipal infrastructure than they get.  Now they want the same deal, complaining that the Google deal is unfair and “not a level playing … Continue reading

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