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CRTC Denies CAIP Request for Interim Relief from Bell's Throttling

By Michael Geist

The CRTC this morning denied CAIP's request for interim relief blocking Bell's throttling practices.  The Commission ruled that CAIP did not meet the standard for interim relief.  It acknowledged that there is a serious issue to be determined, but it was not convinced that there will be irreparable harm if the relief was not granted.  While CAIP is undoubtedly disappointed, I don't think this decision is much of a surprise.  The standard for interim relief is very high and given the ability to provide monetary compensation at a later date, the CRTC took a pass on stopping the throttling practices based on the limited record of evidence.  The CRTC has left the door open to addressing throttling and net neutrality in a serious way, however.  First, it ruled that there is a serious issue to be determined.  Second, tomorrow it will release the details on how it plans to address the substantive issues of the throttling complaint.  Combined with the draft new media document, there is a real possibility of hearings in the fall on throttling and net neutrality in Canada from both a broadcast and telecom perspective.

Full post as published by Michael Geist on May 14, 2008 (boomark / email).