MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has officially sold off its flagging Portuguese subsidiary Cabovisao – Televisao por Cabo, S.A. to the European Group ALTICE for EUR45 million (approximately $59.3 million).
Cogeco, which announced both the sale and the closing of the transaction on Wednesday, said that the sale price may be subject to adjustments for “certain contingent claims”.
The deal puts to rest speculation that Cogeco was seeking to unload Cabovisao after completely writing off its investment in the company in the third quarter of 2011, amid a net loss of more than $56 million.
Cogeco originally bought Cabovisao for $658…
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GATINEAU – Independent distributors Cogeco Cable, Telus, EastLink, MTS and the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance still hate the terms of carriage offered to them by Bell Media for its specialty channels and so the parties will soon face mandatory mediation in front of a CRTC commissioner as the carriers continue to allege undue preference against Bell.
The carriers, together they are calling themselves the Canadian Independent Distributors Group (CIDG), all object to the carriage agreement put before them by Bell Media for all of the company’s specialty channels, as we have previously reported. Bell Media insists…
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GATINEAU – One thing the aggregate annual financial returns of Canadian broadcast and distribution companies showed is holding the rights to the Olympics, even a home one, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
(Last Friday, February 10th, the CRTC released the 2011 broadcast year aggregate annual returns of large distribution undertakings, multi-system operators and conventional television and radio ownership groups, a requirement under Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2009-560. The 2011 broadcast year ended on August 31st.)
The figures show that at Bell Media (which during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics was still CTVglobemedia) 2011 national ad…
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OTTAWA – As the CRTC prepares to review the relative success of the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF), it has released new numbers for the 2010-2011 period, ending August 31st, which indicate Shaw Communications paid the most into the fund, followed by Bell Canada and Rogers Cable.
Shaw (cable and satellite) combined to pay almost $32 million (an earlier version of this story had an erroneous amount for Shaw), followed by Bell at $25.08 million and Rogers at $24.05 million. Quebecor (Videotron) contributed $13.6 million and Cogeco, $6.77 million.
Shaw, the LPIF’s largest contributor, received only $8.06 million in…
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MONTRÉAL – Cogeco Cable has announced new international long distance plans for its Home Phone customers in Ontario and Quebec.
The new international long distance plans allow customers to further personalize their phone service based on their needs while offering reduced rates says Cogeco.
The Europe Plan, available to both Ontario and Quebec customers, includes calls to 15 countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom), at rates of $5.00 per month for 100 minutes, or $20.00 per month for 500 minutes.
The Discounted Rate Plan, available in Ontario and Quebec, applies to…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has announced it has expanded its home phone service to nine new Ontario communities including: Camlachie, Harrow, Colchester, Blenheim, Ridgetown, Dresden, Port Sydney, Ancaster and Montpellier Trail. Customers from these regions can now subscribe to Cogeco's Home Phone service starting at $14.99 per month.
To sign up, customers can select one of the three packages plus any additional calling features they wish. Cogeco's technical services is free of charge when combined with a subscription to another Cogeco service.
"We're excited to launch our Home Phone service in these 9 Ontario cities because we know it truly is…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco has added five new high definition channels to its lineup in Ontario.
Effective immediately, YTV HD is available on channel 726, Family HD is on channel 725, HGTV HD is on channel 760, Food Network HD is on channel 761 and W HD is on channel 763.
“Our HD TV service offers so much diversity and quality that our customers just want more and more”, said Ron Perrotta, VP of marketing and strategic planning, in the announcement. “Adding these five channels that cater to a variety of tastes and needs is perfectly in synch with our goal of…
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TORONTO – Astral's The Movie Network is offering audiences the chance to sample some of its popular series for free via the on demand and on-line platforms of Rogers, Videotron, Cogeco and EastLink.
The offer, which will run from February 11 through February 26, will include HBO series like Luck, the new horseracing drama starring Dustin Hoffman; Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire; Showtime programming such as Dexter, Nurse Jackie, Californication, and House of Lies; Spartacus: Vengeance from Starz; and original series Call Me Fitz, Less Than Kind, Good Dog and Funny As Hell.
"We are thrilled to be working with…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has released its first corporate social responsibility report.
Using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, such reports typically cover an organization's environmental, social and economic performance. Cogeco noted that the three core environmental issues specifically relevant to its operations include greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the production of primarily electronic waste, and the use of raw materials.
The qualitative and quantitative data contained in the report will serve as the starting point “for a process of continuous improvement to achieve an appropriate balance among our financial, social and environmental objectives”, the company said. It also announced plans to publish…
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MONTREAL – Profits at Cogeco Inc. were up by 20.4% for its first quarter of 2012, largely on the strength of its Canadian operations.
The Montreal-based company said Thursday that profits for the period ended November 30, 2011 were $47.9 million, up from $39.8 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2011. Consolidated revenues were $387.5 million, a 13.4% increase from last year, while revenues for its Canadian operations were up 9.8% to $315.4 million.
Cogeco's primary service units (the sum of its television, high speed Internet and telephony service customers, formerly reported as RGUs) in its cable subsidiary increased 1.8% to…
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