GATINEAU – Revenue from Canadian broadcasting services declined 6.6% to $15.8 billion in 2019-2020 compared to 2018-2019, the CRTC says.
This is highlighted in the broadcasting portion of the CRTC’s Communications Market Report (CMR; formally the Communications Monitoring Report), released last month, which covers the broadcast year spanning from Sept. 1, 2019, to Aug. 31, 2020, and as such includes around six months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The $15.8 billion in revenue does not include revenues from Internet-based services, known as over-the-top services (OTT), operating under the CRTC’s digital media exemption order.
Over half of the revenues were generated by broadcasting distribution…
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MONTREAL — Cogeco Inc. today unveiled its first Climate Action Plan and its Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures (TCFD) report, which outlines the key steps the company is taking to address climate change as well as its processes and strategies to assess and manage climate-related risks and opportunities.
“This plan aims to facilitate access to all the information related to our climate change strategy,” reads a Cogeco press release.
“Climate action must be a priority for all industries as a continued collective effort is required to build a prosperous and sustainable economy. Cogeco is determined to demonstrate strong and…
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STONEY POINT, Ont. — The Ontario government announced today construction is now underway on a $3.7 million broadband project that will connect more than 945 homes, farms and businesses in Stoney Point, Ont., to high-speed Internet services starting in May 2022.
Stoney Point is located in the municipality of Lakeshore in Essex County, east of Windsor.
The contract for the project was awarded to Chatham, Ont.-based TekSavvy Solutions Inc. in October 2020 by Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) as part of a larger government investment in broadband upgrades in Essex County.
According to SWIFT’s approved project webpage, TekSavvy is receiving…
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TPIA providers say they’ve had to make tough financial decisions to stem the bleeding
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s large telecommunications companies are claiming third party internet service providers have never had it better with the interim bulk internet purchase rates the CRTC made permanent in May.
The telecoms were responding to petitions to the federal government to overturn the May decision filed by large independent internet service provider TekSavvy, ISP National Capital FreeNet, and the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), an organization representing smaller telecoms who lease network space from the larger carriers. In the decision, the regulator said it…
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GATINEAU – More concerns about Rogers Communications’s proposed acquisition of Shaw Communications were shared with the CRTC during day three of the hearing, Wednesday.
While the day’s presentations showed the deal definitely has its supporters, it also highlighted the many concerns there are about the consequences of the deal in its current form on the Canadian broadcasting system generally, and on independent broadcasters and consumers specifically.
TLN Media Group Inc. and Ethnic Channels Group Limited, who presented together to highlight issues specific to Canadian ethnic independents, told the Commission that despite their opposition to the deal in their written submission, they…
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GATINEAU – Despite attempts to delay it, the CRTC hearing into Rogers Communications Inc.’s application to acquire Shaw Communications Inc.’s broadcast assets will begin Monday, Nov. 22 at 9 a.m. MT/11 a.m. ET.
“Edward Rogers, Brad Shaw and members of their respective executive and regulatory teams will be appearing on next weeks panel,” a Rogers spokesperson confirmed with Cartt.ca via email.
The CRTC announced this morning the hearing will be held in a hybrid format and as such, only parties appearing in person will be allowed in. It will be available to watch on the CRTC’s website.
Throughout the week,…
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TORONTO – Accusations of unfair conduct, cautious optimism and a Ben Affleck meme – the Canadian Telecom Summit’s regulatory blockbuster panel, held Tuesday, had it all.
The panel (pictured above left to right) was moderated by Globe and Mail reporter Alexandra Posadzki, and featured Ceri Howes, head of regulatory at Opensignal, Dennis Béland, vice-president of regulatory affairs, telecommunications at Quebecor, Geoff White, executive director of Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC), Paul Beaudry, vice-president of regulatory affairs at Cogeco, Ted Woodhead, senior vice-president of regulatory at Rogers Communications, Samer Bishay, CEO of Iristel and Stephen Schmidt, vice-president of telecom policy…
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By Lynn Greiner
There is a lot of talk these days around the digital economy, and how cloud, edge, and 5G (the three buzzwords of the year) fit in. The short answer: it’s complicated.
During his Canadian Telecom Summit keynote, Bhushan Joshi, head of sustainability and corporate responsibility for North America at Ericsson, pointed out it is a multimodal problem with several drivers – access, affordability, and digital readiness.
“This multimodal nature of the ICT of the digital divide makes it harder to close this digital divide,” he said. “We need to leverage ICT solutions including 5G to close the digital divide…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. announced yesterday its fiscal results for its fourth quarter ended Aug. 31, which showed revenue increased 4.9% to $655.1 million compared to the same period last year.
On a constant currency basis, revenue increased 8.4%. This was attributed to growth in the company’s Canadian broadband services revenue, which increased 10.1% mainly due to the company’s acquisition of DeryTelecom last December.
Revenue growth was also attributed “to growth in the number of Internet service customers and a higher value product mix, combined with rate increases implemented by certain services, partly offset by a decline in video and telephony…
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QUEBEC CITY — The federal and Quebec governments today announced they are providing $6.3 million in funding to Cogeco as part of the Canada-Quebec Operation High Speed initiative to support the deployment of high-speed Internet services to 690 households in Les Basques Regional County Municipality by September 2022.
The total cost of the broadband project is $7.7 million, which includes Cogeco’s contribution. The municipalities covered by the project include Sainte-Françoise, Sainte-Rita, Saint-Guy, Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, Saint-Clément and Saint Médard.
“Cogeco is currently taking inventory to confirm the exact number of households that currently do not have access to high-speed Internet and will be…
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