TORONTO – While calling for other Canadian companies to follow his lead and grow abroad, Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet added that recent changes to certain tax rules make it far more difficult for Canadian companies to consider expanding beyond Canada.
In 2006, Cogeco acquired Portuguese cable company Cabovisao and turned it into a fine, EBITDA-producing piece of the company. Audet also added he has traveled to a total of 15 countries looking for more buys.
In a speech Monday to the Canadian Club at the Royal York hotel in Toronto, Audet targeted the federal government’s March 2007 announcement…
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OF ALL THE CONFLICTING complaints we’ve heard so far about the hearing still ongoing in Gatineau which will decide the future policies to govern specialty channels and BDUs, the question in the headline has been the most often repeated – from all sides of the debates.
The issues are so numerous, so complex, then again so connected to each other, it’s a wonder the five-member CRTC commissioner panel can make sense of everything. And there are just so many unanswered questions.
Last week at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, one couldn’t help but marvel at the utter sense…
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GATINEAU – What would have been fun, was a debate.
Day three of the CRTC hearings into BDU and specialty service regulations featured the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, two groups with decidedly different constituents, and points of view, on the future policy direction of the TV industry.
The CAB represents most broadcasters in Canada who together serve basically 100% of the Canadian population. The CCSA, on the other hand, has a far smaller group of members whose companies deliver cable and broadband service to under a million rural Canadians.
While each had their turn…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. earned $15.9 million in the second quartered ended February 29 as revenues improved 14%, or $33.5 million, to $271.9 million.
That compares with a profit of $34.5 million on revenues of $238.4 million a year ago. But the results a year ago included a one-time gain of $31 million.
In cable, revenue-generating units (RGUs) reached 2,624,885 with 56,196 net additions in the quarter.
The number of net additions to basic cable in the Canadian market stood at 1,869 customers compared to a growth of 5,277 customers for the same period last year due to the…
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IT’S FUN TO PROGNOSTICATE. To try and read the tea leaves and make educated (or not) guesses about certain things. Sports (pro and amateur) is utterly built around such predicting, thanks to the billions of dollars bet on the games every year.
Similarly enormous amounts of money and the fate of our industry are collectively at stake beginning this week when the cable, satellite, telco and specialty broadcasting community take their turn in front of a panel of CRTC commissioners who will largely determine how the broadcast distribution undertaking and specialty services industries will be run for perhaps the…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable said Thursday it had expanded its phone service to Ridgeway, Ontario.
The phone service costs $44.99 a month for customers who also take Cogeco’s high-speed Internet and TV services. Cogeco also has an introductory offer of $10 off per month for a year to subscribers who take the triple-play bundle.
Cogeco’s phone service includes unlimited calling in Canada and the continental United States, and features such as voice mail, call display, call waiting, visual call waiting and call forwarding.
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable said Tuesday it had completed the acquisition of MaXess Networx, EnWin Energy Ltd.’s telecommunications division in Windsor. The sale was announced on March 11, 2008.
“The completion of this acquisition represents a significant step for Cogeco Cable because it strengthens Cogeco Business Solutions Data services,” said Cogeco Cable president and CEO Louis Audet. “We feel it really represents a win-win situation, where both MaXess and Cogeco Cable customers will benefit from the new expertise the acquisition of MaXess brings. This acquisition is also perfectly in line with our growth strategy.”
Maxess Networx operates a broadband…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. announced Tuesday that it has been entirely released, without costs, from its obligations to CIBC as guarantor of Groupe TQS, contracted on December 14, 2008.
The release of Cogeco follows the repayment by Remstar Corporation of all sums owed by Groupe TQS to CIBC, Cogeco said in a statement.
Remstar won the bidding competition for the financially-troubled Quebec TV network earlier this month, and is now in the process of finalizing details of the purchase and presenting its proposals to creditors. TQS is 60% owned by Cogeco and 40% by CTVglobemedia.
Creditors will vote on…
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TORONTO – National radio sales continued its strong performance with an 8.8 % increase in the second quarter of the 2008 broadcast year, ended February 29, 2008, according to information provided by Canadian Broadcast Sales (CBS).
“Given our strength at the midpoint of the year, we continue to forecast an overall increase for national radio in this broadcast year of approximately 8%, assuming the Canadian economy remains healthy.” said Patrick Grierson, president of CBS, in a release. “We’re seeing good growth geographically, especially in the west. In Q2, the national retail category continued to lead all sectors, capturing…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable announced today the launch of its Digital Phone service in Bic, Sainte-Luce, Ste-Blandine et St-Fabien, St-Gédéon and St-Martin-de-Beauce, Québec.
Residents can now take advantage of Cogeco Cable’s all-inclusive Digital Phone offer for as little as $39.99 per month if they subscribe or are already a subscriber to Cogeco Cable’s high speed Internet and/or cable television service.
www.cogeco.ca
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