TORONTO – The death knell has been sounded so often for radio that many take it as gospel the oldest type of electronic media is on an irrevocable slide downwards.
But with results like these, which have been persistent for some time now, those bells must now be muted.
According to Canadian Broadcast Sales, the national radio sales company that is owned by Corus Entertainment and Rogers Communications, the Canadian radio industry continues to produce strong revenue growth with a 6.8% increase in sales over the first two quarters of 2007. Second quarter growth of 4.9% was supported by…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco-controlled broadcaster TQS created a new position this week, vice-president, new media and corporate affairs and hired former TVA executive Serge Bellerose to fill it.
"There is no question that the emergence of new media is providing great new opportunities and challenges for TQS. Our industry faces technological changes that affect the television landscape on a daily basis. We are well aware of the enormity of the task and it is for this reason that we have created this new position within our management team," said René Guimond, president and CEO of Cogeco Radio-Télévision and TQS, said…
Continue Reading
BURLINGTON – Cogeco Cable launched its Wi-Fi Internet access in Ontario Friday with nearly 150 access points spread throughout the Burlington, Oakville and Hamilton areas.
Now, all Cogeco Cable High Speed Internet (HSI) customers in Ontario will be able to take advantage of this new service, at no additional charge. For Cogeco HSI customers, accessing the Internet or their e-mail accounts through their portable wireless devices outside their home or office will now be as simple as logging in with their Cogeco email address and password, around any of these access points.
“Wi-Fi continues to grow in popularity as…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – "Approving the applications will only further the interests of those who do not want the Canadian broadcasting system to remain fair and competitive and open to new and independent Canadian voices and entrants.
"In addition , it is impossible to marry the applicants request for long term, protected status with the idea that the Commission should be supporting and encouraging investment and innovation in the Canadian broadcasting system," says High Fidelity HDTV in its intervention submitted today on the so-called "digital basic" 9(1)(h) hearing.
In anticipation of the digital migration of analog specialty services, the CRTC asked…
Continue Reading
LEAMINGTON – Cogeco Cable launched phone service in Leamington and Kingsville, Ontario this week.
"Since its initial launch, the Digital Phone service has had a snowball effect on the number of subscriptions to other Cogeco Cable services and its deployment has been enthusiastically welcomed in the markets where it was introduced," says the press release.
Residents can now take advantage of Cogeco Cable’s telephony offer starting at $44.99 per month if they subscribe to Cogeco Cable’s High Speed Internet and cable television service.
www.cogeco.com
Continue Reading
KELOWNA – The second annual Canadian CommTech Trade Show and Training Seminars returns to Kelowna, B.C. and the Okanagan Valley this May 30th and 31st bigger and better than its inaugural year in 2006.
Attendees can expect more exhibitors and technical experts plus over 30% more technical training sessions. Expect more than 400 products and services from over 40 suppliers on display for the customer premise to the central office to the backbone.
Who Should Attend? Those involved with purchasing, safety, design, planning, deployment, construction, networking or maintenance of hardware and/or test equipment for use in the communications industry,…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Quebec’s film and television producers’ association today lambasted Quebecor’s proposal to re-direct its television program development money from the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) to its own self-directed Fonds Quebecor.
Claire Samson, president of the APFTQ, told a news conference Tuesday that the plan, outlined Monday by Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau, is unacceptable in every regard and should be firmly rejected.
“Quebecor has clearly shown its intentions to reserve its new fund exclusively for its own broadcast properties,” she said, which goes against the whole idea behind the CTF’s creation.
Péladeau’s plan, she said, is…
Continue Reading
IT’S STARTING TO LOOK like this year could be the final one for the Canadian Television Fund in its current form.
With two of its four largest contributors (#1 Shaw Communications and #4 Videotron) adamant that they will forward $0 to the CTF – and with a Heritage Minister in Bev Oda who may be sympathetic towards their complaints – at the very least, upheaval is a certainty.
Oda, who on Monday renewed her government’s $100 million annual commitment to the fund, met with representatives of the four primary private sector contributors: Rogers Communications’ vice-chair Phil Lind, Bell…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – It’s no increase (as producers, actors and broadcasters were hoping for) but the $200 million committed to the Canadian Television Fund by the federal government over two years is far more than two of CTF’s primary industry contributors are currently paying.
That is to say, zero.
Hot on the heels of Shaw Communications and Quebecor Media’s decisions to suspend monthly payments to the CTF, Heritage Minister Bev Oda said Friday the federal government is renewing its $100 million a year contribution to the fund through 2008-09.
"This announcement signifies this Government’s commitment to producing quality Canadian programming…
Continue Reading
THE SMALL AND MEDIUM-sized business market has become a crowded place.
All of the big companies have said in the past months they see this market as a place to find big growth. Rogers, Bell, Shaw, Cogeco, Telus et al – all have talked about how well they hope to do in the SME space.
So is there room for small startups like Syntagma Network Services? CEO Theresa Carbonneau thinks so. The company’s small business plan offers a full suite of voice over IP-delivered services including broadband connectivity, voice services, e-mail and web hosting, exchange server hosting, virus scanning…
Continue Reading
