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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TORONTO — NBCUniversal International announced today its all-reality TV subscription streaming service hayu is now available on LG smart TVs running webOS 4.0 through webOS 6.0 in 27 territories, including Canada.
The hayu app offers more than 8,000 episodes of reality content across more than 300 series, including Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Below Deck and the Real Housewives franchises. The service’s wide variety of unscripted sub-genres include home and design, dating, cooking, fashion and true crime.
A Canadian subscription to hayu costs $5.99 per month.
“This has been an incredible year for hayu, with multiple successful launches into new territories and…
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BURLINGTON, Ont. — Cogeco Connexion, the Canadian cable subsidiary of Cogeco Communications, announced today it has hired Chris Burke as the company’s new vice-president of digital and analytics.
His appointment was effective Nov. 1.
Most recently, Burke served as vice-president of digital technology at Manulife’s Global Wealth and Asset Management business, “where he was in charge of the evolution of the technology that powers Manulife’s Global Digital ambitions,” reads a Cogeco Connexion press release.
“I am thrilled to welcome Chris into the Cogeco family,” said Frédéric Perron, president of Cogeco Connexion, in the release. “His over 25 years of expertise in…
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Receives Prince of Wales’ Terra Carta Seal
MONTREAL — Cogeco announced today it has been awarded the inaugural Terra Carta Seal from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI), in recognition of the telecom company’s sustainable business initiatives.
Cogeco is one of 44 companies worldwide to receive the 2021 Terra Carta Seal, “which recognises global companies that are driving innovation and demonstrating their commitment to, and momentum towards, the creation of genuinely sustainable markets,” reads a Cogeco press release.
The seal is awarded to companies whose ambitions are aligned with the Terra Carta (Earth Charter), “a recovery plan for Nature,…
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By Ahmad Hathout
Groupe TVA is asking the country’s highest court to review a case in which it was forced to provide Bell customers its sports signal after it abruptly terminated service in April 2019.
The company applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in late September, two months after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled the CRTC has jurisdiction to force Groupe TVA to continue supplying the company’s sports signal during the 2019 NHL playoffs despite parent company Quebecor not agreeing to the financial terms of the distribution agreement.
The Montreal-based company is asking the high…
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