TORONTO – Dave Dobbin, the former president and CEO of Toronto Hydro Telecom, now known as Cogeco Data Services after the cable company bought it for $200 million this year, has been hired by John Bitove to run DAVE, the entrepreneur’s nascent wireless company, reports the Financial Post.
Bitove’s DAVE (Data and Audio-Visual Enterprises) Wireless spent about $243 million to acquire spectrum during this summer’s auction in several areas, such as Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and pieces of Ontario.
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TORONTO – Canwest Global CEO Leonard Asper said today that the changes in the media world and the slumping overall economy means that his company has only just begun the fight for structural changes on the regulatory front.
In leading off his comments this morning in a conference call with financial analysts over his company’s quarterly results – including a billion-dollar write down – Asper sounded angry about the new policies on specialty channels and broadcast distribution undertakings released October 30th by the CRTC. Specifically, the part of the decision that denied his company’s request for a…
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ON THE SURFACE, the 2008 Canadian Association of Broadcasters convention went off with nary a hitch.
Speeches and panels were mostly interesting, attendance was stable compared to last year and the country’s broadcasters did their usual good job in celebrating their best and brightest while we were all entertained by various musical acts over about a 42-hour span at the Westin Hotel.
Behind the scenes though, it’s a much different story. Now, while no one would go on the record with me about any of this, it became quite clear while talking to many people on the show floor…
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GATINEAU – Shaw Cable must change the way it treats and markets Canada’s gay and lesbian category one digital specialty service Outtv, the CRTC ruled today.
The specialty service and Shaw have had a long and rocky history, dating to its launch in 2001 as Pridevision, back when it was owned by Score Media. Ownership of the channel has changed a couple of times since and the most recent owners, extremely frustrated at how the big western cableco has treated the channel, went to the Commission earlier this year for help.
Tuesday’s decision found that Shaw has subjected the…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco reported today that growth and acquisitions in the cable sector helped to drive up their consolidated revenue by 16.5% to $292.9 million for their fourth quarter, and by 14.4% to $1.1 billion for their fiscal year end.
Revenue-generating units (RGU) in the cable sector grew by 41,100 for the quarter and 231,209 net additions for the year, for a total of 2,716,874 RGU at August 31, 2008, the company’s press release said. FYI – one subscriber with voice, Internet, analog and digital cable TV equals four RGUs.
"Our fourth-quarter was marked by the entry of Cogeco…
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MONTREAL – Ian Collins has been named acting president of Cogeco Data Services, the company announced today.
He was president of FibreWired Hamilton prior to joining Cogeco Data Services as vice-president, operations in the fall of 2005. Collins has been responsible for leading the technical direction, planning, construction and maintenance of the Cogeco Data Services fibre network.
In partnership with the management team, Collins will be responsible for leading the market growth and development of Cogeco Data Services, with operational responsibilities for business strategy, sales, marketing, network operations, product development and customer care in his new role as acting…
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TORONTO – Facing a "moderate recession" in Canada, our cable and media companies seem well positioned to weather a deteriorating economy, says a recent analyst’s research report.
BMO Capital Markets financial analyst Tim Casey – who covers cable and media in Canada – admitted that while he was lowering his overall earnings forecasts “for the second time in three weeks” based on an “underlying thesis” of a “moderate recession in Canada” like the one we endured in the early 1990s, most companies seem well positioned to ride it out.
On the radio side, which is of course tied to…
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MONTREAL – Dave Dobbin, president of Cogeco Data Services has resigned, the company announced today.
He has decided “to pursue new career goals” with a new telecommunications start up, effective November 28, 2008, says the Cogeco press release.
Dobbin was president and CEO of Toronto Hydro Telecom and stayed with its new owners, Cogeco, when the municipal telecom firm was purchased earlier this year for $200 million.
"Cogeco Data Services is a solid business and we will work with the team in place to continue to develop our service offering. We are in a position to continue to…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC said Tuesday it will publicly disclose the aggregate financial data of large broadcast distribution undertakings (cable and satellite companies) and large conventional television and radio broadcasters.
“Although it was set out in Broadcasting Public Notice 2008-6 as its preliminary view, the Commission is now convinced, based on the comments received at the proceedings on the Diversity of Voices and the BDU regulatory frameworks, that the public disclosure of the aggregate financial data of both large BDUs and/or MSOs and large OTA television and radio broadcasters by ownership group would serve the public interest and would…
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EXTON, Pa. – Organization for the inaugural SCTE Canadian Summit is well under way and registration is now open for the event which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 3-4, 2009, at the Toronto Congress Centre.
SCTE Canadian Summit 2009 is designed to facilitate an exchange of technical information for Canadian engineering professionals to help them maximize opportunities and overcome challenges specific to the cable telecommunications industry in Canada both now and in the near future.
The program committee organizing it are senior technical executives from the big five multiple system operators in Canada. SCTE board of directors…
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