TORONTO – The Canadian broadcast and telecom industries appear to have plenty to say about the proposed merger of Bell and CTV. With comments and interventions due on Tuesday, three weeks in advance of the CRTC hearing, most stakeholders offered their conditional support, but only with safeguards in place to preserve industry competition.
Rogers tied its support of the deal to Bell’s continued opposition to the issue of value-for-signal (a.k.a. fee-for-carriage). Bell, Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw and Telus at one point banded together to challenge the CRTC before the Federal Court of Appeal arguing that the Commission lacks the power…
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OTTAWA – It was good to be a TV distributor in 2010.
That’s the message we see in the CRTC’s aggregate financial data recently posted on the Commission’s web site. Expenses are up (in some cases, way up), but then again, so was revenue, and profits.
• According to the data submitted to the Commission by the big cable and satellite companies for the 2010 broadcast year (ended August 31, 2010), the largest six companies (Shaw, Bell, Rogers, Videotron, Cogeco and Bragg) together earned $12.15 billion in revenue from their video, high speed internet and VOIP telephone services (the data does…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco has bulked up its roster of on-demand content in Ontario with the addition of NFL Network On Demand and Big Ten Network On Demand.
NFL Network On Demand (channel 657) and Big Ten Network On Demand (channel 658) are available for free to customers who are subscribers of those channels, representing more than 25 hours of new sports content as the playoff and Bowl season approach.
"Enriching Cogeco Cable’s Video On Demand offering is just one of the many initiatives Cogeco constantly deploys to bring its digital cable TV subscribers an entertaining line-up that’s always fresh”, said Ron…
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WE JOURNALISTS JUST love our year-end lists, don’t we? They are everywhere. However, we don’t do predictions here. They only thing I have found to be certain when trying to predict the future is that nearly all the time, the predictions are wrong.
So instead, here’s our list of 10 open questions heading into 2011.
1. How much market share will the Telus and Bell Canada IPTV services take from incumbent cable companies? The user experience of the Microsoft Mediaroom-driven Optik TV and Fibe TV is just so darn good and so darn integrated (I’d switch just for the whole-home PVR…
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OTTAWA-GATINEAU – The CRTC has given Cogeco the green light to move forward with its acquisition of Corus Entertainment’s Quebec radio stations.
Friday’s decision included approval of Cogeco’s request for an exception to allow it to maintain a third FM station featuring a talk-radio format in the Montreal market, in addition to the two permitted by the common ownership policy. However, the CRTC refused Cogeco’s request to transform the CKOY-FM Sherbrooke station into a rebroadcasting transmitter of CKAC-AM Montréal, saying this would result “in the loss of a local voice in the Sherbrooke market”. It has asked Cogeco to divest itself…
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MONTREAL – Following in Rogers’ footsteps, Cogeco has rolled out the Galaxie Music video-on-demand service free of charge to its digital TV subscribers in Ontario and Quebec.
The service allows viewers to select their choice of music videos, or choose from pre-programmed playlists created by a team of music professionals. The lineup currently features 12 playlists and 100 individual songs, and will be updated regularly.
"Beefing up Cogeco Cable’s Video On Demand offering is just one of the many initiatives Cogeco constantly deploys to bring its digital cable TV subscribers an entertaining line-up that’s always fresh”, said Ron Perrotta, VP of marketing…
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TORONTO – The future of cable is “outstanding”. Just ask Louis Audet, the president and CEO of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Cable.
Speaking with Cartt.ca prior to presenting the company’s 2010 financial results to shareholders in Toronto last week, Audet shared Cogeco’s plans for wireless, why he’s not worried about Netflix, and his thoughts on vertical integration in Canada.
“There are good reasons to believe that”, Audet said about his unshakeable belief in the cable industry’s rosy future. “It’s not a wanton statement.” A perfect example of cable’s ability to evolve is Cogeco’s plans to trial addressable advertising in Canada next year. “This…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable’s unionized employees in Quebec have approved in principle two new collective bargaining agreements governing their working conditions.
The new collective bargaining agreements, which will be in force for the next four years, are slated for signature on December 20, 2010 following several months of negotiations. They were presented to employees during general meetings held between November 30 and December 12, 2010.
"I’m pleased with the settlement in the new collective agreements”, said Louise St-Pierre, SVP of residential services, in a statement. “It is very much in line with Cogeco Cable’s vision of labour relations. Knowing that employees…
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MONTREAL and HAMILTON – This is something the entire Canadian TV and advertising industry will watch very closely.
Cogeco Cable said Monday it has entered into agreements with Invidi Technologies and Channel Zero to trial the Invidi Advatar addressable targeted advertising system with TV broadcaster CHCH.
Advatar lets television advertisers deliver tailored messaging to individual households during a commercial break. This technology uses public domain demographic information to accurately pinpoint consumer needs and interests, enhancing the relevance of advertising commercials to unique viewers, as Cartt.ca has reported previously.
Addressable advertising simply put, means more efficiency for everyone. Media buyers can market to specific…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has brought its faster Internet packages to Smiths Falls, ON.
Its ‘Ultimate 30’ high speed Internet packages offers speeds of up to 30 Mbps for downloads and up to 1.5 Mbps for uploads with a monthly download cap of 125 GB. For the ‘Ultimate 50’ package, speeds can reach up to 50 Mbps for downloads and up to 1.5 Mbps for uploads with a monthly download cap of 150 GB.
Customers of Cogeco’s television or home phone service will pay $59.95 per month for ‘Ultimate 30’, while ‘Ultimate 50’ will cost $99.95 per month. Cogeco customers who subscribe only to its…
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