By Connie Thiessen
OTTAWA – New data shows the Canadian Energy Efficiency Voluntary Agreement (CEEVA) for Set-Top Boxes has resulted in a 58% drop in average energy consumption since the program’s launch in 2017.
Five of the largest Canadian Pay TV service providers (Bell Canada, Cogeco, Rogers Communications, Shaw Communications, and Videotron) are signed on to the program in addition to manufacturers (CommScope, EchoStar Technologies, and Technicolor, soon to become VANTIVA), the Consumer Technology Association and CableLabs. A second program was launched in 2019 for small network equipment (SNE), such as modems and routers.
According to a new independent annual report, the program has resulted in a fifth consecutive year of…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Consolidation on the wholesale front in Canada’s telecom industry is not reducing competition, Bell’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer Glen LeBlanc (above, right) told BMO Capital Markets media and telecom analyst Tim Casey (above, left) at BMO’s 23rd annual Media and Telecom conference yesterday.
“There’s a very large reseller market… I think there’s 950 competitors in Canada,” LeBlanc said. “The barriers to entry are minimal, the largest is still in business – TekSavvy – and appears to have zero intention of selling.”
LeBlanc’s appearance at BMO’s conference comes not long after Bell announced it reached an agreement to…
Continue Reading
By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL — RNC Média is flipping two of its music stations to hybrid sports talk to create a network of French-language sports talk stations in Quebec.
Called BPM Sports (in reference to beats-per-minute measurement of heart rate), the new network launches Aug. 29 with a new lineup that includes morning man Jean-Charles Lajoie and former 98.5 FM host Paul Houde, and collaborators including former TSN Radio host Tony Marinaro and former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre.
In addition to 91.9 Sports in Montreal, the new network takes over RNC’s Vibe top-40 music stations in Quebec City and Gatineau.
“It’s not a…
Continue Reading
OTTAWA – When the federal government announced it was proposing a new telecommunications policy direction to the CRTC back in May, it emphasized how it would improve competition.
This is supposed to help ensure telecommunications services are affordable and encourage innovation in the industry.
The proposed policy direction compels the CRTC to consider, among other things, how its decisions “encourage all forms of competition and investment”. But while several telecommunications service providers (TSPs) that submitted comments to the government on the proposed policy direction seem to agree competition is important, there is disagreement on what kind of competition the CRTC…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL — Bell announced today it has been recognized for its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance in corporate responsibility and environmental standards by Corporate Knights magazine.
Bell was named the top telecom and fourth company in Canada overall on Corporate Knights’ Best 50 Corporate Citizens list, an annual ranking that “evaluates 332 of the largest Canadian companies on a set of 24 environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators to single out the Best 50 that Corporate Knights considers ‘the vanguard of corporate sustainability leadership in Canada,’” a Bell press release explains.
Only three telecom providers made the list: BCE Inc….
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The Ontario government announced today it is helping bring high-speed Internet access to up to 266,000 homes and businesses as it seeks to connect all premises in the province by the end of 2025.
“The province has signed agreements with eight internet service providers to bring access to as many as 339 municipalities across Ontario,” a press release explains. “The internet service providers were selected through a two-stage competitive process and are part of Ontario’s historic investment of nearly $4 billion to bring access to reliable high-speed internet across the province.”
The process used by the government…
Continue Reading
SEATTLE – Telus was Canada’s fastest national mobile operator and Shaw was the fastest fixed broadband service provider amongst the country’s top providers in the second quarter of 2022, according to Seattle-based broadband and mobile network testing company Ookla, which released its Q2 2022 results today.
Mobile
Ookla reported Telus had a median download speed of 79.09 Mbps. Bell, meanwhile, had a median speed of 72.46 Mbps and Rogers had a median speed of 60.36 Mbps. (Please see chart above.)
Rogers, however, had the fastest median upload speed for Q2 2022 at 9.21 Mbps compared to Telus (7.98 Mbps) and Bell (7.42…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc.’s third quarter revenue increased 16.3% year-over-year to $754.8 million, according to the company’s financial results for the quarter ended May 31, 2022, announced yesterday.
On a constant currency basis, the company saw an increase in revenue of 14.9%.
“American broadband services revenue increased by 31.7% in constant currency, mostly resulting from the Ohio broadband systems acquisition completed on September 1, 2021 and organic revenue growth driven by a higher Internet service customer base, higher value product mix and annual rate increases implemented for certain services,” a press release explains.
“Canadian broadband services revenue increased by 2.5% mainly as…
Continue Reading
Expert group concludes work with little attention given to website blocking proposal
By Amanda OYE
OTTAWA – The work of the government’s Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety, which was appointed in March to provide advice on the government’s proposed approach to dealing with harmful content online, has come to an end with the summary of its final session being posted online last week, but the government will continue seeking input on the matter from Canadians and stakeholders throughout the summer.
“I thank the expert advisory group for their work,” said Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez in a statement emailed to Cartt.ca….
Continue Reading
TORONTO and MONTREAL — The Canada Media Fund (CMF) announced today the appointment of five new directors to its management team as the organization continues its restructuring plan to build a more inclusive screen-based industry in Canada.
“Alongside the executive team, the five directors will help to implement our new content-centric, platform-agnostic funding model to better invest in authentic stories from across Canada, realize our Equity & Inclusion strategy, and strengthen our communications with the public, the industry, and government,” reads a press release announcing the new appointments.
“I’m delighted to welcome this group of dedicated professionals to our team,”…
Continue Reading
