LAST YEAR AT THIS time, Kevin Crull was into week three of his transition from long-time telecom executive to the leader of the largest Canadian broadcasting company.
Now president of Bell Media, the company which owns the CTV and CTV2 conventional TV networks, 29 specialty channels including market leader TSN, 33 radio stations and the Sympatico.ca portal, Crull came over from Bell Canada’s telco side, having run Bell Residential Services for five years. For a decade prior to that he was a senior executive with AT&T and US West.
One of his final projects at Bell Canada was writing the business…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. has completed a private placement issue senior unsecured notes for a total of $35 million.
The company said Monday that net proceeds will be used to reduceCogeco’s bank debt.
Interest on these Notes, which mature November 7, 2021, is payable semi-annually in arrears on November 7 and May 7 of each year starting May 7, 2012.
www.cogeco.ca
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable is adding Sun News to its lineup in Ontario starting Tuesday.
For the past six months, Cogeco Ontario customers have been able to watch the channel via the old over-the-air Sun TV signal that is scheduled to cease operation at midnight on October 31. The channel, a joint venture between Quebecor’s TVA Group and Sun Media Corporation, will be available on channel 195 (SD) and 705 (HD), plus be added to Cogeco’s ‘Digital Select’ theme package.
“We always strive to provide the most interesting and relevant offering on the market”, said Ron Perrotta, Cogeco’s VP of marketing…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable CEO Louis Audet said yesterday that the existing subscription TV model of providing large multi-channel programming packages to customers will soon be a thing of the past as companies evolve towards a model of more choice and flexibility.
Speaking to financial analysts after the company’s release of its strong fourth quarter results, Audet said irrespective of the CRTC’s demand for a report on providing more choice to the consumer (as the Commission has demanded as part of its Vertical Integration Policy), the overall video market will push cable in that direction.
“It’s…
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MONTREAL – Surging fourth quarter profits helped drive Cogeco’s “strong” year-end results, the cable and media company said Thursday.
For the fiscal year ended August 31, Cogeco Inc. reported a 9.2% increase in consolidated revenue to reach $1.44 billion, while fourth-quarter consolidated revenue grew 12.5% year-over-year to $375.4 million.
Quarterly net income was $21.1 million, up almost 72% from $12.3 million in the same period last year, though the company recorded a $9 million net loss for the year due in large part to an $225.9 million impairment loss of recorded on its investment in its Cabovisao subsidiary in Portugal.
"Cogeco posted…
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TORONTO – Canadian telephone companies long sought a way to deliver a TV experience to their customers.
Bell Canada opted early on for a satellite solution, having come to realize during many technical trials during the 1990s that delivering a quality TV experience on par with what cable could offer was still years away.
Other Canadian telcos continued to test the delivery of digital television signals using various technological options through the 1990s and early 2000s. Cost, inefficient compression technology, and the physical limitations of the telco plant all held back viable solutions to the telephone company’s missing link when it…
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MONTREAL – Guy Laflamme has joined the board of Montreal-based ISP Colba.Net Inc, replacing Bertrand Bolduc as director of the company.
Laflamme was CFO of Vidéotron from 1975 to 1984 before launching Portuguese cable company Cabovisao, which is now owned by Cogeco.
No reason was given for Boluc’s departure from the role.
www.colba.net
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has added almost 100 hours a month to its on-demand content in Quebec, aimed at women, cooking and home decor enthusiasts, and movie fans.
The new content includes Mlle Sur Demande, CASA Sur Demande, addikTV Sur Demande plus Cinepop Sur Demande, a Cogeco Cable exclusive. It is available now to Quebec-based customers who subscribe to one of these channels and have access to Cogeco On Demand.
"Our customers are real fans of the shows offered by Mlle, CASA, addikTV and Cinepop, but sometimes their schedules just don't allow them to tune in right at broadcast time, and they'd…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has added TVA Sports to its programming lineup in Quebec, and is offering the French-language sports channel to its digital TV customers in the province free of charge for one year.
The new channel is available now on channel 88 in SD, and in HD on channel 538. Effective October 31, 2012, TVA Sports will be added to Cogeco’s 'Franco' and 'Selectif' programming packages.
“As soon as we heard the announcement that TVA Sports was going to be created, we expressed a keen interest, and we're extremely pleased to be able to carry it”, said Ron Perrotta,…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has redesigned its high speed Internet packages in Ontario and Quebec to offer customers more speed and higher data transfer capacity, plus lower rates if they exceed their monthly caps.
Effective immediately, Ontarians may choose from new packages called ‘Express 4’, ‘Express 8’, and ‘Turbo 14’, while in Quebec, the new packages are called ‘Express 3’, ‘Express 7’ and ‘Turbo 14’. They replace Cogeco’s former Lite, Lite Plus and Standard offers, respectively.
Cogeco Internet customers in territories where DOCSIS 3.0 technology has been launched in may also choose a brand new package called ‘Turbo 20’ which offers download speeds…
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