OTTAWA – Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and MTS Allstream have all told the CRTC that they are opposed to BCE and Rogers’ proposal to take control of sports channels Leafs TV, NBA TV Canada and Gol TV Canada from parent Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE).
The interventions filed by the independent distributors claim that the move, which comes as part of the BCE/Rogers $1.32 billion bid for a majority stake in MLSE, “are bad for the Canadian broadcasting industry, further extending the control exerted by these large vertically integrated conglomerates”.
“Increasing the already extensive market power enjoyed by vertically integrated programming…
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MONTREAL – When Cogeco Diffusion purchased three regional music radio stations from Corus Quebec in 2011, they were "moribund," vice-president Richard Lachance told journalists on Wednesday.
In one case, with a two per cent market share, "the photocopier reached more people," he joked.
So the broadcaster is reinventing those three stations (which were part of a larger, $80 million 10-station purchase announced in spring 2010), changing their format from music/talk to news/talk and hoping to replicate the huge ratings success the company has seen with talk radio in Montreal.
The three stations – CKOY-FM…
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TORONTO – Cogeco Data Services celebrated the opening of its new state-of-the-art data centre in the heart of Toronto's business district.
The new centre will serve local customers as well as organizations requiring easy access and low latency connections to Canada's largest business and financial institutions. The company said that the move comes as more organizations move from on-site environments to cloud computing and hybrid service models.
"The trend has been to move data centres outside the downtown core because real estate is at a premium in major economic hubs like Toronto," said president Tony Ciciretto, in the announcement. "But Canada's largest business…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC will stage a public hearing starting Tuesday morning to consider 18 renewal applications from radio stations that are in apparent non-compliance with the Commission’s radio regulations and/or certain conditions of licence.
One of the applicants, Aboriginal Voices Radio (AVR), issued a statement Monday accusing the Commission of censorship after being directed to restrict its presentation to matters pertaining to its licences for CKAV-FM Toronto, CKAV-FM-2 Vancouver, CKAV-FM-3 Calgary, CKAV-FM-4 Edmonton and CKAV-FM-9 Ottawa. AVR, in association with the National Indigenous Media Association of Canada, had proposed that the CRTC also review its native broadcasting policy at that…
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TORONTO and MONTREAL – The Independent Production Fund is investing $1.5 million in 15 new Canadian web drama series.
The scripted drama series (10 English / 5 French) represent a range of genres including comedy, adventure, thriller, sci-fi and fantasy for different target demographics and distribution platforms (click here for the list of 2012 recipients).
The IPF, which is incorporated as a private foundation with charitable status, operates on the interest generated by a $33 million endowment and by recoupment from its investments. Through locations in Toronto and Montreal, it also administers the Cogeco Program Development Fund and the Bell Broadcast…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has rolled out its new Internet packages in Cornwall and Leamington, ON.
The new Turbo 20 package offers a download speed of up to 20 Mbps, upload speeds of up to 1.5 Mbps and a monthly data transfer capacity of 80 GB. For this package, bandwidth usage that exceeds the specified monthly data transfer capacity limit will be billed at $1.50 per additional GB, with a maximum of $50 per month.
The package is currently available for a promotional price of $44.95 per month for 12 months for customers who also subscribe to Cogeco's television and/or home…
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TORONTO – Rogers-owned easy-listening pop music station CHFI-FM held on to top spot in the Toronto radio market with a 13.1% share, down slightly from the winter period’s first place 15.8% share, according to the Spring 2012 portable people meter (PPM) report released by BBM Canada.
For the 13 week period from February 27 through May 27, 2012, Toronto’s second spot went to CBC Radio One (CBLA-FM) with a 10.1% share, while Bell Media’s CHUM-FM rounded out the market’s top three stations with a 9.7% share.
CBC Radio One (CBU) moved into first place in Vancouver with a 10.9% share, followed…
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OTTAWA – The dispute between Bell Media and a group of independent distributors known as the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG) will go to final arbitration on June 29, the CRTC said Thursday.
As Cartt.ca has reported, Cogeco Cable, Telus, EastLink, MTS and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance have balked at the terms of carriage offered to them by Bell Media for its 30-some specialty channels. Alleging undue preference against Bell, the CIDG object to packaging, penetration, and other terms offered to them by Bell Media. Bell says that its wholesale costing model, a penetration based rate card that it says…
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TORONTO – Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) has kicked off a new television campaign to help promote its descriptive audio service AMI-audio.
AMI-audio is the world's largest broadcast reading service whereby volunteers read and record current articles from newspapers and magazines, which are then broadcast on TV and online.
The campaign's 30 second TV spot features a blind man walking into a variety store. He sets up the story of an attempted robbery and then clicks on a television set to reveal the AMI audio channel where the announcer completes the news story. It is airing nationally in English Canada on a…
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I DARE ANYONE TO disagree with this statement: “A child without access to the Internet will find life increasingly difficult in the information age.”
National Cable and Telecommunications Association president and CEO Michael Powell said it Monday morning during his keynote speech to delegates in the standing-room-only opening general session at the 2012 Cable Show here in Boston. He was singing the praises of the U.S. industry’s Connect to Compete initiative where all of the major American cable companies have teamed up with the Federal Communications Commission and a large number of other corporations to push…
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