MONTREAL – Not surprisingly, Quebecor-owned Videotron was the first TV service provider to trumpet the arrival of the Sun News Network, also owned by Quebecor, which launched nationally Monday afternoon.
Canada’s newest all-news channel, a re-brand of the over-the-air Sun TV in Ontario and simltaneously a digital specialty channel elsewhere, “is poised to shake up the Canadian news media landscape”, according to Videotron’s news release. With a mixture of “hard news” by day and “straight talk” by night, the network features talent such as Charles Adler, Ezra Levant, Theo Caldwell, Brian Lilley, Krista Erickson, Pat Bolland, Alex Pierson and David Akin.
“The network is…
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MONTREAL and QUEBEC CITY – Radio broadcaster Cogeco Diffusion announced Monday afternoon it was granted an interim injunction by the Superior Court of Québec against two former employees.
Sébastien Lavoie and Jean-Pascal Lemelin, respectively the former Program Manager and Music Director and former Assistant Program Manager and Music Director for Québec City radio station CFOM (102,9 FM) and the Québec City and regional CKOI radio stations resigned on March 29, 2011 and left the company the same day.
They have since joined Astral Media’s NRJ Radio in the city.
“The purpose of this injunction is to preserve confidential program data belonging to…
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MONTREAL – Despite gains at its main Cogeco Cable unit, second quarter profits at Cogeco Inc. were modest, the company announced Friday.
Cogeco Inc. recorded a net profit of $10.6 million for the quarter ended February 28, 2011, almost identical to a year ago when it posted profits of $10.5 million. Revenue rose 6.6% to $350.6 million, led by its cable sector and the purchase of Corus’ 11 radio stations in Quebec, which closed in February.
Cogeco Cable posted a net income of $31.2 million, up 4.6% from $29.8 million in the same period last year, while revenue grew 5% to…
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OTTAWA – As Bell Canada stole the show with its usage-based billing (UBB) backdown earlier this week, the fact that the cable companies also suggested that billing on an aggregate use basis might be a more palatable approach was overlooked.
Under this type of model, the independent ISP which leases network capacity from a facilities-based carrier would be charged for a pre-determined amount of bandwidth that it could then offer to all of its customers. If the small ISP exceeds this amount, it would be charged additional fees. The current UBB approach contemplates charging independent ISPs on per-customer basis….
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TORONTO and VANCOUVER – Telus and Cogeco Data Services have both stepped up to honour of Earth Hour on Saturday night.
Telus said that it will turn off all non-essential lights at 8:30 p.m. local time on March 26 at 28 of its major buildings across Canada in response to Earth Hour 2011’s global call to action in respect of climate change.
"By taking part in Earth Hour we are not only supporting a global initiative that raises awareness of the need for all of us to act responsibly, we are making a statement in support of environmental sustainability," said Josh Blair,…
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MONTREAL – Philippe Jette has been named vice president and chief technology officer of Cogeco Cable. In this capacity, he will be responsible for the company’s technological direction and strategic development, as well as the use and management of technologies for new and existing products.
Over the past two decades, Jette (pictured) has managed and lead business units and engineering organizations, telecommunications networks, and product and technology in Canada – through stints with Rogers, Bell Mobility and Bell Canada – and abroad.
"I am proud to have Philippe…
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PETERBOROUGH, ON – Luc J. Grimard has joined the sales and product support staff at Capella Telecommunications Inc., the voice, video and data systems distributor announced Monday.
Working out of the company’s Montreal office as the technical sales representative, Grimard’s primary role will be to provide bilingual pre- and post-sales support for digital technologies used in head-end facilities. Prior to joining Capella, Grimard was manager of digital services, and IT/technical support manager for Cogeco Cable.
“A large part of Capella’s success is due to our ability to provide expert technical advice and assistance to our customers, and Luc’s presence on our team will…
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MONTREAL – The Federal Court of Appeal has refused to hear an appeal by Astral Media to halt the now completed sale of 11 Quebec radio stations to competitor Cogeco.
According to a Canadian Press report, Astral spokesperson Hugues Mousseau expressed disappointment with the move, and accused the CRTC of “flouting its own policies and rules of procedure”.
Astral filed a motion with the Federal Court of Appeal last month seeking to overturn the CRTC’s decision to allow Cogeco to maintain a third radio station in the Montreal market. The move relaxes the Commission’s common ownership policy limiting…
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WHILE BRAD SHAW is now CEO of a much different Shaw Communications than the one his father JR and brother Jim built and ran, one aspect hasn’t changed.
No handlers.
As a journalist, I’ve interviewed many CEOs and other senior executives at large corporations. Most of them come to interviews with one or two others in tow who keep tabs on the interview or have other tasks. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s just not the way the Shaws do things. Never been their style. When a reporter calls the company with a question, invariably the president or CEO is the…
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TORONTO – While generating profit remains a key goal for companies, how you create profit is even more important according to a Cogeco Data Services survey.
"While generating profit will always be the fundamental tenet of creating and selling goods and services, our survey results show that for many companies, how you create profit is even more important," said Cogeco Data Services president Tony Ciciretto in a press release. "Canadian business leaders are now saying that finding innovative ways to boost productivity is a smarter, more sustainable route to profitability rather than focusing on just cutting costs."
"The more a company…
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