TORONTO and GATINEAU — Kids channel broadcaster WildBrain Television (formerly known as DHX Television) is asking the CRTC to step into its ongoing dispute with Cogeco Connexion over the distribution of its Family Channel, Family Jr and CHRGD channels.
According to a Part 1 application filed January 19 by WildBrain, and posted to the CRTC website on January 28, WildBrain and Cogeco have been engaged in “protracted negotiations” regarding the carriage of the three kids-oriented channels by Cogeco. (WildBrain’s French-language Télémagino channel is not part of the dispute.)
WildBrain says it presented a proposal to Cogeco on April 27, 2020,…
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TORONTO — In what is arguably one of the most connected and fibre-rich cities in Canada, the city of Toronto is planning to build its own municipal broadband network “to help bridge the increasing digital divide by expanding access to affordable high-speed internet to underserved Toronto residents”, says a press release issued by the city last week.
The city once owned a fibre network built by Toronto Hydro, but sold it to Cogeco in 2008.
Despite the wide availability of Internet connectivity across the city, “some Torontonians are being left behind because of the high price of reliable internet service…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. announced this week that its new emissions reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
The new targets are “consistent with levels required to meet the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement,” reads the release.
SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature that defines and promotes best practice in science-based target setting and independently assesses companies’ targets, explains Cogeco’s announcement. “This makes Cogeco the first and only telecommunications company in Canada with SBTi-approved targets.”
Cogeco has committed to the…
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MONTREAL – Voice, data and messaging solutions provider Babytel announced last week it is repositioning of the company as Cloudli.
The new name and brand better aligns the company “with its mission to enhance how businesses of all sizes communicate internally and with their customers – how, where and when they want – without compromising security, reliability and efficiency,” reads its press release.
Cloudli provides work-from-anywhere unified communications apps for small and medium businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs; VoIP connectivity solutions optimized for businesses of any size; and digital fax solutions that use new technologies without disrupting established workflows.
Originally founded in 1982…
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Advanced service joins all-in-one-video push
By Greg O’Brien
MONTREAL – This week, Cogeco Connexion became the latest company to tell consumers if they want all of their video in one place, epico is the best place to find it.
After an extended trial period with employees (1,200 of the company’s 2,000 Canadian employees have it in their homes) and a handful of customers (over 12,000 customers now have epico), the company took the wrapper off the newest, and for now the most advanced, pay-TV system in Canada. We’re calling it that because its Android TV operator tier operating system from MediaKind gives…
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Telus achieves lowest network latency
SEATTLE — As was the case in the previous quarter, Rogers Communications ranked as the fastest fixed broadband provider among top Canadian providers in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to Seattle-based Ookla’s latest Speedtest Global Index measurement of network speeds in Canada.
Based on Speedtest Intelligence data from October to December 2020, Ookla awarded Rogers a fixed-broadband speed score of 147.12. Close behind was Canada’s other big cable company Shaw Communications with a speed score of 146.96, followed by Telus (105.9), Bell Canada (103.62), Cogeco (98.27), Videotron (94.65) and TekSavvy (39.36).
Ookla’s speed score…
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By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Canada’s largest telecoms are telling the Supreme Court of Canada a lower court fumbled a decision in favour of lower wholesale rates by attributing a line of reasoning that was allegedly never made by the CRTC, abrogating its responsibilities to review the correctness of the regulator’s decision.
That line of reasoning is based on how the CRTC structured its decision in the summer of 2019, when it ordered a lower rate at which smaller telecoms pay for and sell bandwidth from the larger telecoms. At issue in front of the Federal Court of Appeal was whether…
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MONTREAL — As we told you Friday, Cogeco Connexion is officially launching today its new IPTV service, Epico, which offers an entertainment experience combining the Internet and television.
Epico is based on the MediaKind platform which is integrated into Google’s Android TV ecosystem and on the advanced expertise of the Cogeco engineers who contributed to the development of the final Epico product, says Cogeco’s press release.
“We are excited to provide our customers with the latest technology in home entertainment, while using a progressive marketing approach for its introduction in the market. More than 1,200 employees were our…
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MONTREAL – During its conference call with financial analysts on Friday morning to discuss its first quarter results, Cogeco president and CEO Philip Jetté announced the company will being marketing its new video/broadband service, Epico, next week.
While the company has been testing the product with employees and has been targeting some customers for upgrades, customers will begin to see the marketing push very soon.
Epico will be available to “85% of our Canadian footprint,” said Jetté. Cogeco’s primary markets are the Oakville to Niagara Falls corridor in Ontario, as well as the Windsor region, and portions of southern Quebec, centred…
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MONTREAL – On Thursday evening, Cogeco Inc. reported revenue increased by 4.5% in its 2021 fiscal first quarter, ended November 30, 2020, to reach $646.4 million.
Canadian broadband services revenue increased by 2.2% “as a result of the cumulative effect of sustained demand for residential high speed Internet since the beginning of the pandemic due to customers spending more time at home for work, online education and entertainment purposes, and rate increases implemented for certain services, partly offset by a decline in video service customers,” said the press release.
At its U.S. Atlantic Broadband division, “services revenue increased by 9.8% in…
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