GATINEAU – The CRTC has approved requests to show VOD and PPV programs that include commercials if they were already aired on Canadian TV and the show is offered for free to subscribers.
The commission will amend the licence for the Bell ExpressVu’s Vu! on-demand and pay-per-view services, and Cogeco’s VOD service, to allow this limited use of advertising.
Bell ExpressVu said the amendment would allow it to compete equally with other Canadian VOD services and evolving PPV media. Cogeco said it would be in the public interest.
Rogers Cable supported the move in its intervention to the commission,…
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OTTAWA – Saying it needs to enhance its prospects among potential viewers and BDUs, Catholic TV channel Salt and Light wants to change to an English specialty service.
The category 2 digital channel targets Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Filipino, English and French-speaking audiences. Its conditions of license say that no more than 20% of its programming can be English or French.
The application requests Salt and Light be able to air 60% English with the rest dedicated to French and third language programming, which will also include Cantonese shows.
"The licensee indicates that reducing the amount of third-language…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable’s third quarter results, like most cable results of late, shows fast growth in telephony subscribers.
The company added 15,400 voice customers in the third quarter of fiscal 2006, ended May 31st, and is connecting 1,600 per week, said company CEO Louis Audet, during a conference call Monday morning. And, the company only passes about 50% of its customers with its voice over IP offering. "We are very satisfied with the third quarter results," said Louis Audet, Cogeco’s president and CEO.
Coverage will be at 75% by the end of August and 90% by the end…
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MONTREAL – While the company’s Rythme FM radio revenue is still rising, Cogeco Inc.’s television division is still a drag on earnings.
Cogeco Inc. president and CEO Louis Audet told a financial analyst conference call after the company released its third quarter results Monday morning that its Quebec broadcast station TQS "continues to be a challenge," but that the fall season looks to be "attracting considerable advertising interest," he said.
Television revenue remained relatively stable in the third quarter compared to the same period last year. TQS generated good audience ratings for Loft Story II over portions of the second…
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MONTREAL – Jules Grenier, Cogeco Cable’s Quebec region vice-president, has been selected to lead its new Portuguese operation, Cabovisao, once the transaction is complete, expected within the next month.
"He is preparing to move as soon as the closing occurs," Cogeco Inc. president and CEO Louis Audet told financial analysts during a conference call today releasing the company’s third quarter results.
Last Tuesday, Quebec Superior Court approved Cogeco’s plan to purchase Cable Satisfaction International Inc. and its main asset, Portuguese cable company Cabovisao. CSII, founded by former Videotron executive Guy Laflamme, has been under bankruptcy protection since 2003. It’s…
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ONE UNINTENDED HAZARD of deregulation is that all other news outlets will be under-reporting the size of the Canadian cable industry this morning.
On Wednesday, the CRTC released the Canadian broadcast distribution industry’s statistical and financial summaries. But the report doesn’t include all distributors.
From 2004 to 2005, revenues, as well as number of subscribers, remained more or less constant for Class 1 cable carriers. However, with growing investments in voice over IP, for example – as evidenced in Shaw Communications’ third quarter report that said capex will rise at a good clip for the next 24 months…
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AS MORE AND MORE TV channels and data applications come on stream, there’s less and less bandwidth available on cable plants.
That’s where switched broadcast, or switched digital video, comes in. While the process is invisible to consumers, it can save up to 60% of a cable company’s bandwidth. Basically, it holds back channels that aren’t being watched from the network.
So, while two neighbors might watch the same TV stream of the British Open since the broadcast channel will nearly always be on, the Pet Network and other smaller channels will be held off the cable plant until…
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MONTREAL – Cable Satisfaction International’s bankruptcy monitor and interim receiver (RSM Richter) will ask a court in Quebec today to approve the recent sale agreement of CSII’s largest asset, Portuguese cable operator Cabovisao.
CSII has been in Companies Creditors Arrangement Act (bankruptcy protection) since 2003.
Cogeco, as was announced nearly two weeks ago, has signed an agreement to purchase the Portuguese operations for $658 million.
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IF RHETORIC AND HYPERBOLE were gasoline, a single spark would have razed the entire Toronto Congress Centre this week.
The speeches from Bell Canada Enterprises CEO Michael Sabia and Telus CEO Darren Entwistle at this week’s excellent Canadian Telecom Summit – as well as comments from a few others who work under them – suggest that not only are the communications of all Canadians utterly crippled by wacky regulation, but that our CRTC stands in the way of all Canuck creativity, innovation and productivity.
It’s an absurd notion, really. But it’s one much of the nation’s consumer media has…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable launched its digital phone service in Niagara Falls today.
Currently, 50% of homes passed in the corporation’s territories have access to digital phone service. Service will continue to be rolled out to most cities in Cogeco Cable’s territories by the end of 2006.
www.cogeco.ca
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