HAMILTON — In a virtual ceremony Tuesday night, Rogers and Cogeco co-owned community TV station Cable 14 was awarded the Outstanding Business Achievement Award of the Year in the medium-sized business category by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.
The annual awards event recognized local companies whose business achievements made an outstanding contribution to Hamilton during 2019.
More recently, Cable 14 has played a vital role for the local community during the Covid-19 pandemic. The channel partnered with the city of Hamilton’s emergency operations centre to help bring pandemic-related information to local residents. To support the activation of the city’s emergency operations…
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By Denis Carmel
GATINEAU – On May 15, the CRTC sent a request for information to parties involved in its wireless policy review asking: Does the ongoing situation with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic change the views you have previously put forward on any of the issues being examined in this proceeding? Explain why or why not with supporting rationale and evidence, as necessary.”
We expected few minds to have changed and the responses filed on May 29, were almost unanimous. We’re paraphrasing here, but the answers are: “The current crisis reinforces what we’ve been saying.” The anti mobile virtual network…
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TORONTO — The Ontario government today reconfirmed its commitment to invest $150 million to improve broadband and cellular service in rural, remote and underserved areas of the province.
The funding was previously announced in July 2019 as part of the province’s $315-million initiative called Up to Speed: Ontario’s Broadband and Cellular Action Plan.
“As we carefully restart the economic engine of Canada, every region and every community will play a role in bringing jobs and prosperity back to our province,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford, in today’s news release. “By investing in reliable broadband and cellular service, we are…
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GATINEAU — As part of the CRTC’s ongoing wireless policy review, the Commission has directed Bell Mobility to disclose information previously designated as confidential regarding cost estimates related to the implementation of seamless roaming.
The order comes in a procedural letter dated May 29, in which the CRTC says Bell Mobility must “disclose its estimate of the per-border initial setup and ongoing maintenance costs associated with seamless roaming.” Bell is to provide the information to the Commission by June 5.
The request for disclosure came from Cogeco Communications in an April 30th letter submitted to the CRTC.
The Commission notes in…
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TORONTO — CTV Life Channel is starting a month-long, nationwide free preview on Tuesday, June 2, which will feature a new Tuesday-night lineup of wedding series and Saturday wedding-themed movie marathons.
Running until July 9, the CTV Life Channel freeview will also see the series debut of Double Your Dish on Monday, June 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET. Hosted by real-life couple Chef Rodney Bowers and radio and TV personality Meredith Shaw (pictured in centre), the eight-episode, self-shot cooking series helps viewers make the most out of their meals by transforming one base recipe into two totally different dishes.
“We’re thrilled…
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Regional carriers acknowledge opportunity exists, though
By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – It was heartening to hear from a handful of the top Canadian telecom executives on Wednesday when they detailed how their companies have, admirably, responded to the Covid-19 crisis.
Suspensions of overage fees, no disconnects, working with businesses and consumers to defer payments or re-do packages to help as they struggle financially, serious progress on remote health (especially by Telus), self-installs, employees working from home, networks which have remained robust and resilient, and charitable contributions too numerous to count, it has been an 11-week stretch like none of us have ever…
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By Ken Kelley
TORONTO – Cogeco president and CEO Philippe Jetté said Wednesday he believes the company’s own network advancements are the key to helping fend off Bell’s fibre expansion throughout southern Ontario.
Jetté (above) told the TD Securities Telecom and Media Conference (held online), the company isn’t yet seeing any material impact stemming from Bell’s Fibe rollout in cities like Hamilton, where the two are in direct competition with one another.
“In terms of overlap, Bell isn’t moving fast,” Jetté said. “We’ve seen them take 1% of the fiber-based network. We aren’t too concerned about their progress in these areas, as…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC has accepted Cogeco Connexion’s request for final offer arbitration with Bell Media regarding a dispute between the companies over wholesale rates for distribution of Bell’s French language youth channel VRAK.
In a letter dated May 21, the Commission asks Cogeco and Bell to file their final offers for the linear and multiplatform wholesale rates for distribution of VRAK by Cogeco. The final offers are due by June 5, 2020. After examination, the Commission will select one in its entirety and the decision will be binding on the two companies (unless of course they come to…
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By Ahmad Hathout
EDMONTON – A Calgary bylaw that sought to regulate the relationship between private entities and the city for access to municipal rights-of-way is not binding on telecom companies, the Alberta Court of Appeal said Thursday.
The highest court in the province upheld, 2-1, a lower court’s determination that the terms of the bylaw be amended to remove “telecommunications services” from the definition of “utility provider” because telecommunications is the jurisdiction of the federal government. The bylaw forced entities to get – in some cases multiple – permits to construct within rights-of-way.
The bylaw effectively gave the city the power…
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Incumbents wanted to postpone until it can be done in person
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal will hear the wholesale rate appeal via online videoconference in June, the court said Monday, after the appellants sought last week to have the hearing held in person – even if that meant delaying the proceeding.
Eastlink, Rogers, Cogeco, Shaw, and Videotron as well as Bell sent letters to the court last week requesting the delay because they argued the complexity of the case could not be hashed-out over videoconference. The arguments were challenged by TekSavvy and the Canadian Network Operators…
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