GATINEAU – On January 19, 2021, WildBrain Television, which owns kids and family-focused specialty services aimed at children filed an application with the CRTC against Cogeco Cable, claiming the BDU did not follow the principles of the TV Wholesale Code and the standstill obligations which forbids the discontinuation of service carriage during negotiations.
However, an intervention filed in support of Wildbrain’s complaint explores a deeper issue: The code is broken because large distributors like Cogeco hold too much power over smaller broadcasters like Wildbrain, which owns Family Channel, Family CHRGD, Family Junior and Telemagino.
Wildbrain’s complaint is a central…
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Working group includes members from Bell, Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Cogeco, Eastlink and CWTA
TORONTO — Investment in the telecommunications sector is key to Canada’s future prosperity and governments must focus on regulatory clarity, timeliness and stability to help drive greater investments in critically needed infrastructure, says a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.
The think tank today issued the first communiqué from its telecommunications policy working group which includes among its 19 members the chief regulatory experts from Bell, Rogers and Telus, as well as executives from Cogeco, Eastlink and Shaw Communications, and CWTA president and CEO Robert Ghiz. The…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Bill C-10 passed second reading unanimously last Tuesday and was officially referred to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for study, which of course, has already begun.
The prior two meetings on the bill to amend the Broadcasting Act were, for all intents and purposes, labelled a pre-study of the legislation, in order to get a heard start hearing witnesses before the bill was approved in second reading.
So, officially, the meeting last Friday was the first meeting to officially look at the legislation.
However, the committee chair informed members and witnesses at the start of the meeting…
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DUFFERIN COUNTY, Ont. — Rural broadband funding organization Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology announced today Bell Canada has begun construction on a $829,000 project to increase access to broadband services in Dufferin County.
First announced in September 2020, the project will see Bell install 17 kilometres of fibre to bring improved broadband services to more than 300 homes and businesses in the community of Mansfield, about an hour’s drive north of Toronto. The joint venture between SWIFT and Bell is expected to be completed with services fully available by early 2022, says SWIFT’s press release.
“With shovels now in the ground…
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Cogeco, TekSavvy, to build
CHATHAM – Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology today announced it has awarded $19.3 million in contracts to expand fibre networks to 4,584 households and businesses throughout Chatham-Kent and within Delaware Nation – Moravian of the Thames community.
$7.4 million comes from SWIFT’s member municipalities, including Chatham-Kent, to support the expansion of broadband services throughout the municipality and within Delaware Nation – Moravian of the Thames community. $11.9 million will be contributed by the service providers doing the construction, which includes TekSavvy.
“The commitment and contributions of SWIFT, TekSavvy and the Eelŭnaapéewi Lahkéewiit (Delaware Nation) Council has provided an optical…
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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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