THE CABLE INDUSTRY MIGHT not like reading this, heading into the local forbearance hearings next week, but residential phone choice seems pretty real to me.
If there was any doubt about it, my local newspaper, The Hamilton Spectator, delivered ample evidence last Wednesday. In the mess of inserts I curse about that usually flutter out of the thing, three glossy direct marketing pieces caught my eye: One from Primus; another from Rogers; and the third from Direct Energy.
Primus was a pure low-cost sell. “Get TalkBroadband and save big on your home phone service,” it said, beside a garish…
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GATINEAU – After a wave of complaints, the CRTC has decided to extend the deadline to respond to a Bell Canada request.
Bell Canada recently applied to the CRTC for permission to price its VOIP voice services differently in Ontario and Quebec. Current regs say that if Bell offers a low price in one of its regions, it must make that price available in all regions.
It made the application on September 2nd, and the Commission gazetted it September 9th, asking for comments from interested parties within five days.
As reported by www.cartt.ca, the Canadian Cable Television Association complained –…
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Cogeco Cable and Videotron have signed a new multiyear distribution agreement with Speed Channel, the companies announced today. With Videotron reaching 1.4 million subscribers in Quebec and Cogeco Cable Canada Inc. 830,000 in both Ontario and Quebec, “Speed’s programming reaches as many fans in those areas as possible,” says today’s press release.
The U.S. channel also recently renewed with Rogers Cable, which included some video on demand. The Cogeco-Videotron release didn’t mention VOD content.
“The extension of these distribution deals with Videotron and Cogeco Cable firmly cements…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable is interested in buying into the Portuguese cable market, reports a newspaper there.
The Telecom Paper, (subscription required) a trade journal out of the Netherlands, says Portuguese business daily newspaper Jornal de Negócios reported last week that Cogeco is preparing a bid to purchase Portuguese cable operator Cabovisao.
Cabovisao, as some in the industry may know, is the primary asset of Cable Satisfaction International Inc., a cable company based in Montreal and launched by some former Videotron executives, that owned cable operations in Portugal and the Caribbean. CSII entered bankruptcy protection in 2003.
The Telecom…
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GATINEAU – This sounds something like the Spike TV debate.
In January this year Discovery Wings changed its name to The Military Channel and significantly altered its programming. Soon after, the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association asked for a change in the eligible satellite list to reflect the switch.
The CCTA has submitted that the Commission’s current authorization to distribute Discovery Wings extends to The Military Channel. The U.S. channel is owned by Discovery Communications.
On Monday, however, the CRTC issued a call for comments on the CCTA’s request to alter the list. The channel remains on the digital…
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TORONTO – The Ontario Hockey League, along with Rogers Cable and Cogeco Cable today announced the 2005-06 broadcast schedule of games for the OHL Action Pak.
The schedule includes an unprecedented 439 game broadcasts through the 2005-06 regular season schedule. Additional broadcasts will be announced during the 2006 OHL Playoffs.
The OHL Action Pak on Rogers and Cogeco was introduced last November and offers Digital Cable subscribers throughout Ontario and New Brunswick with more Ontario Hockey League game coverage than ever before.
In addition to the OHL Action Pak, live OHL broadcasts of local games can be seen live…
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TORONTO – Manitoba Telecom Services president Cheryl Barker said Tuesday that the company recently added its 45,000th digital television customer, meaning the Manitoba telco now serves over 20% of all TV customers in Winnipeg.
During a panel session at the BMO Nesbitt Burns Media and Telecom conference Tuesday in Toronto Barker said that the company hit the mark on September 5th (leaving unsaid the sizable dent the figure put in Shaw Cable’s customer rolls in the city).
MTS TV is a digital subscriber line delivered digital TV service which offers three streams of digital TV and high speed Internet to…
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TORONTO – Sonic hit the shelves this week, a new music magazine developed by Max Trax, Galaxie and Toronto-based ad agency ZiG. It’s a free bilingual consumer publication “for music lovers with a thirst for knowledge and a desire to constantly expand their music collection,” says the press release. Sonic (Volume I, Issue I, at right) will be distributed to all Canadian cable and satellite providers beginning the week of September 12.
The 20-page premiere issue features rock icons U2 on the cover, as well as articles looking at seven genres of music found throughout the…
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THIS IS A BIG JOB. No wonder Rogers Communications Group’s president and COO Nadir Mohamed doesn’t want to talk about succession. He’s got lots on his plate to worry about now, rather than what his next job might be.
Besides, last week’s National Post Business article beat that story to death (and then some) last week.
What we wanted to know is where the company’s priorities lay. What’s job one for him rightnow? How is he going to bring together two disparate groups (cable and wireless, together a $5 billion business), two completely different technological platforms, into a cohesive,…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable is extending its digital phone service to non-high speed Internet customers in Burlington, Oakville, and Windsor, Ont.
The VOIP service was launched on June 8 but was initially available only to customers who also subscribed to Cogeco’s high speed internet connection. The service was so popular, though, that the company decided to offer it on a standalone basis.
Residents in neighbourhoods served by Cogeco in the three Ontario cities can subscribe only to the VOIP starting at $54.99 a month. Those with a Cogeco high speed connection or cable television subscription will pay $49.99 a…
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