Search Results for: cogeco

Cable / Telecom News

Telecom Sales Practices: Why you need to know what “suitability” and “aggressive” mean

GATINEAU – If we may paraphrase some of the reaction by TekSavvy, Tbaytel and Eastlink representatives Wednesday morning in front of the CRTC it would be: "It seems strange to mandate us to continue being nice to our customers." These three smaller independents (respectively, a wholesaler, a municipally owned telco and a regional wired and wireless carrier) also all had the same story to tell when it came to the dubious sales practices which have been so far outlined by consumers during the CRTC’s Telecom Sales Practices hearing this week in Gatineau:… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Cable 14 – Hamilton opts for Evertz’ DreamCatcher production platform

BURLINGTON, ON – Hamilton-area community television channel Cable 14 has completed its upgrade to the DreamCatcher (DC-ONE) replay system and live production suite offered by Evertz Technologies. DC-ONE provides the advanced production tools needed for any demanding live production, including zooming, splitscreens, ganged inputs and transcoding in a streamlined, easy to use platform that is fully upgradable, reads the news release. Noting that its replay system operators come from a variety of backgrounds, including college and high-school interns, Cable 14 said that the DC-ONE platform’s intuitive interface enabled operators to rapidly adapt to live production workflows. In addition, DC-ONE’s feature… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

The Federal Court of Appeal struck down the Wholesale Code? Not so fast

ON MONDAY, WE described a Federal Court of Appeal decision as one that strikes down the CRTC’s TV Wholesale Code. Bell Canada had appealed the Code to the Court, saying the way it was implemented fell outside the CRTC’s jurisdiction – and in its decision released Monday the Court agreed with Bell, saying the Commission had no authority under section 9(1)(h) of the Broadcasting Act to meddle in private carriage contracts the way the Wholesale Code mandates. The decision seemed to us to be the end of that Code – and we were bolstered in that… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

FairPlay: CRTC says it doesn’t have jurisdiction under the Telecom Act, and dismisses site blocking proposal

Better to leave it to various Acts review GATINEAU – The CRTC announced this morning it has dismissed a proposed website-blocking regime which would address copyright piracy, dubbed FairPlay Canada by its backers. The Commission ruled it does not have the jurisdiction under the Telecommunications Act and so it did not consider the merits of the proposal, saying in a release this is best considered under the Copyright Act, over which it has no jurisdiction. The Copyright Act, is under review, on which Cartt.ca has been reporting on Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

RADIO: What do long term ratings trends say about Montreal’s station format flips?

RADIO RATINGS ANALYSIS is a complex task, as we’ve been saying. For radio station promotion departments getting their quarterly analysis in Canada's five largest markets, it's about toying with the numbers — age, gender, time of day, relative growth — until your station becomes number one, or at least number one in categories advertisers like. But what about longer-term trends? We took Numeris top-line ratings data over the past seven years to capture portraits of stations in those five major markets who made changes to their programming, and what happened to their audience as a result. For the sake of a… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Copyright Act Review: Radio has its say on Parliament Hill

OTTAWA – Despite three tornados having torn through the city just days prior, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology reconvened in Ottawa on Monday to further discuss the Statutory Review of the Copyright Act. Speaking before the committee, Nathalie Dorval, chair of the board of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and VP regulatory and copyright at Cogeco Inc., noted private radio broadcasters have contributed $47 million in Canadian content development funding. Dorval said the majority of this funding is directed to Canada’s four largest music funding agencies, FACTOR, Quebec’s Musicaction, Radio Starmaker Fund and Fonds Radio Star, all of… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Ericsson’s “complex” sale of Media Solutions stake will take longer than first thought

STOCKHOLM – Ericsson’s sale of the majority stake of its Media Solutions business to private equity firm One Equity Partners is proving to be “more complex” than first thought and will likely not close until year end, the Swedish tech maker said Tuesday. As part of the ongoing work to close the transaction, an independent brand known as MediaKind has been formed and is developing the business in line with a new business plan.  Ericsson announced the sale in January. “The carve-out of MediaKind from Ericsson’s global structure to create a new company, jointly owned with One Equity Partners,… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

More time to weigh in on Quebec City radio market

OTTAWA – The CRTC has extended the deadline for comments and replies on whether or not the radio market in and around Quebec City can sustain more stations. The Commission issued a call for comments earlier this month regarding the market capacity and appropriateness of issuing a call for radio applications in Quebec City, as well as Sainte-Marie and the Regional County Municipality of Portneuf, both of which are small towns within transmitter range of Quebec City.  On Monday, it issued amendments to all three of those Broadcasting Notices of Consultation, pushing out the deadline for submitting… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

BDU Renewals: Providing set-top box viewer data now a condition of licence, CRTC says

OTTAWA — Canada’s largest, vertically integrated BDUs have a little over a year to start providing set-top box data to a national STB-based audience measurement system — a new condition of licence imposed by the CRTC when it announced August 2 the collective renewal of soon-to-expire licences for various terrestrial BDUs. As it renews their respective licences for a new term starting September 1, 2018, the CRTC is imposing a condition of licence on Bell, Rogers, Shaw and Videotron that will require them to provide the set-top box (STB) data they collect regarding programming services they distribute to a national… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

3500 MHz consult: Mid-band spectrum – the best for everything?

OTTAWA –The responses filed to ISED’s consultations on the 3500 MHz and 3800 MHz band pit incumbent fixed wireless service providers against mobile operators eager to deploy 5G services. The terrestrial operators, however, face opposition from satellite operators eager to protect the C-band. Caught up in the cross-fire are customers and communities who are reliant on existing services – both terrestrial and satellite. Comments by a number of parties have been posted in response to Gazette Notice SLPB-004-18 — Consultation on Revisions to the 3500 MHz Band to Accommodate Flexible Use and Preliminary Consultation on Changes to the… Continue Reading