TORONTO – Reaction to the new Canadian Media Fund (CMF) was predictably mixed, but the consensus seems to be that the distributors got what they wanted.
For starters, the CMF’s new “streamlined” and “independent” board will be made up of seven members – two appointed by the government, and the other five nominated by the fund’s five largest contributors, namely Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Videotron and Cogeco. The old board had 21 members, and was dominated by producers and cultural groups.
Minister Moore confirmed that the five members cannot be current employees of these companies, but, as to whether they…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco has added a new Internet service to its lineup for Ontario and Quebec customers, called High Speed Internet (HSI) Lite Plus, and HSI Intermediaire, respectively.
The new package will allow download speeds of up to 3 Mpbs, and has a monthly load bit capacity of 20 GB.
"We believe that this new package will be highly attractive to clients who – while not heavy users – use the Internet every day. As people’s needs to share music, videos or other formats and demand for increasingly faster download speeds continue to grow, we are pleased to offer our customers…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has added Sportsnet East HD to its line-up in Quebec, in most of the areas where Cogeco offers digital and HD television.
The sports channel, which carries Ottawa Senators hockey, Blue Jays baseball, and other sports programming, is available on channel 545.
“Cogeco Cable is committed to enriching its customers’ HD Television viewing experience”, said Ron Perrotta, vice president of marketing and strategic planning, in the press release. “The addition of Sportsnet East HD to our Québec HD TV offering allows our viewers to discover the outstanding quality of this technology. Our HD programming now includes 24…
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WINNIPEG – Canwest Global said yesterday afternoon it has launched a “strategic review” of its five E!-branded conventional television stations. Saying they are no longer core assets, the company wants to sell the stations and says it should take no more than six to eight weeks to conduct this review.
The stations in question are CJNT-TV in Montreal, CHCH-TV in Hamilton, CHCA-TV in Red Deer, CHBC-TV in Kelowna and CHEK-TV in Victoria. There are three other E!-branded stations out west, but those are affiliates owned by Pattison Broadcasting.
The sale of the stations is one of several choices being…
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TORONTO – Praise was near universal for the brand new Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers Canadian Summit, which wrapped up Wednesday afternoon at the Toronto Congress Centre.
The final registration number for delegates has not yet been tallied as there were a large number who registered on site, but the show was very well attended with delegates from across Canada – from the Territories to Regina to Newfoundland – and all points in between.
If there were any complaints, it’s that the show wasn’t big enough (and that it snowed too much on Tuesday…). The 40 vendor tables sold…
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EXTON, PA and TORONTO – The inaugural Canadian Summit of The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) will be held in at the Toronto Congress Cente next week, February 3 – 4, 2009.
It is designed to facilitate the exchange of technical information specific to Canada among engineering professionals. Cartt.ca is the media partner for the event.
Speakers will include Dermot O’Carroll and Tony Faccia of Rogers Cable, Chris MacFarlane of Cogeco Cable, Dennis Steiger of Shaw Cablesytems, Pierre Roy Poretta of Videotron, Steve Irvine of EastLink, Preston Gilmer of Sigma Systems, Oleh Sneizko of Aurora Networks, Scott Atkinson of Shaw…
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TORONTO – Bruce Marshall from Mountain Cablevision has been elected as president of the Ontario chapter of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) for the 2009 term.
Boris Eventov (Cogeco Cable) has been named vice president; James Myles (Rogers Cable) is treasurer; and Bill McMillan (TVC) is secretary.
Robert McCann (Clearcable Networks) will serve as director of training and events, and Daniel Sacolle (Cogeco Cable) is director of certifications.
www.scte-ontario.com
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MONTREAL – Despite the weakened economy, Cogeco Inc. maintained a solid growth curve in the first quarter of fiscal 2009, the company reported.
Consolidated revenue at Cogeco Cable (including its territories in Quebec, Ontario and Portugal) increased by 18.9% to $299.4 million, consolidated operating income before amortization grew by 23% to reach $119.7 million, consolidated net income amounted to $23.6 million, compared to $20.4 million for the same period of the prior year, an increase of 15.7%, free cash flow reached $17.8 million, a 17.6% decrease over the prior year, and operating margin increased to 40% from 38.6%.
Revenue-generating…
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TORONTO – The Ontario Chapter of the Society of Telecommunications Engineers announced Monday that Daniel Sacolle (Cogeco Cable), Bill McMillan (TVC Inc.) and James Myles (Rogers Cable TV) have been elected by the membership to serve on the board of directors for the 2009/10 term. They assumed their roles as of January 1, 2009.
Departing the board are chapter president Laura O’Hare, and vice-president Lawrence Watson (Rogers). The two new board members (McMillan and Sacolle) plus Myles, who was re-elected, join Boris Eventov (Cogeco Cable), Rob McCann (Clearcable Networks) and Bruce Marshall (Mountain Cablevision) to form the six-member 2009…
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THE FINAL PUSH IS on for the inaugural SCTE Canadian Summit, to be held at the Toronto Congress Centre February 3-4.
The conference promises to be a key date in the engineering calendar for Canadian cable telecommunications engineers, technicians and vendors looking to share information and broaden their knowledge on challenges like switched digital, DOCSIS 3.0 and other myriad network issues.
While vendor tables have long been sold out, registration for the conference is still open and can be accessed by clicking here. As well, the deadline for nominations for the first-ever young Canadian Engineering Professional of the…
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