The CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) has granted Toronto-based VMedia four licenses that will allow them to offer their internet television packages to clients across Canada – while the service is already being offered in the TO, it will take three to six months to reach the other provinces.
According to CBC News, the VMedia packages include all of the major Canadian and U.S. networks as well as a selection of specialty channels, making them a close match to the new criteria for cable bundling set out by the CRTC earlier this year.
Started in 2006, VMedia is a Toronto-based Canadian broadcast distribution undertaking (BDU) licensed by the CRTC that offers a unique entertainment portal to Canadian consumers that combines conventional and specialty TV channels with access to internet-delivered (over-the-top, or OTT) content. As an independent internet service provider VMedia also offers the high-speed internet that consumers need to use their content at home.
“We are very grateful to the Commission for its decisions,” said CEO Alexei Tchernobrivets, in a news release (Cartt.ca). “These licences now position us to be the first independent ISP and BDU serving customers across Canada.”
“Our industry leadership and new approaches to content distribution drew a lot of attention to our applications, and in the course of the process the CRTC addressed some pretty important issues,” added company advisor George Burger. “We feel this is a mini-policy decision that provides a roadmap for how independent ISPs can conduct themselves as licenced broadcasting distribution undertakings.”
Photo: VMedia
