OTTAWA – The Federal Court of Appeal has sided with the third party internet service providers in their defence of the August 2019 CRTC decision which lowered wholesale rates they pay to the incumbent telcos and cablecos – and established retroactive payments dating back several years.
It was a unanimous 3-0 decision and grants the respondents (the independents) their legal costs, too.
Companies like TekSavvy and Distributel and Start.ca serve tens of thousands of Canadians by leasing space on the networks of Bell, Rogers, Telus, Cogeco and the like and when the CRTC set the new rates with that decision,…
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MONTREAL- Cogeco Connexion announced Wednesday it will spend $4.5 million to expand its network to 5,000 homes and businesses in the municipalities of Val-des-Monts (north of Gatineau), Lac à la Truite, and Lac Rond (both north of Montreal).
“We remain committed to offering the best services to our customers and to meeting the highest standards of connectivity and reliability through ongoing investments in our network infrastructure, while also upholding our societal goal to provide the best access to our communities,” said Frédéric Perron, president of Cogeco Connexion, in the press release.
With a fibre network deployment of 173 kilometres, these two…
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HAMILTON – When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and local music venues closed, musicians and artists were left without stages to perform on because no crowds were allowed to gather.
The Westdale Theatre has partnered with Cable 14 (connected online thanks to Clearcable) to present Live From The Westdale to give artists a platform.
The community channel co-owned by local cable companies Cogeco and Rogers, Cable 14 has been showcasing the talent of Hamilton for 50 years, bringing the voices of countless musicians and artists from the region to the airwaves.
Live From The Westdale is a series of television specials recorded…
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OTTAWA and GATINEAU — In October of last year, the vast majority of Canadian Internet service providers met or exceeded the maximum download and upload speeds they advertised, according to the second edition of the CRTC’s Measuring Broadband Canada report, released today.
The study was conducted by broadband testing firm SamKnows on behalf of the CRTC, and was based on measurement data collected from October 1 to 31, 2019. Using the data collected from 2,035 “whiteboxes” deployed to Canadian homes, the study examines download and upload speeds, latency, packet loss and web page loading time. Participating ISPs include Bell Aliant,…
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MONTREAL – Louis Audet probably fielded more than a few calls and emails this long weekend. It seems people just don’t believe his company can’t be bought.
After repeatedly saying last week his family has no intention of selling its controlling interests in Cogeco and Cogeco Communications, despite the $10.3 billion purchase offer made by Altice USA – and was reiterated again later – which would have then seen Rogers Communications buy the Canadian operations, Audet (above) felt he had to say it yet again on Labour Day Monday.
This could perhaps be partly in response to Rogers pushing…
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MONTREAL and TORONTO – Rogers is not just going to quietly walk away from its attempted purchase of Cogeco’s Canadian assets, which the company made clear with another statement today which says it would maintain the company’s headquarters in Montreal and hire even more people if shareholders approve the purchase.
As reported, Altice USA made a $10.3 billion bid for Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications because it wants the company’s American network operations, Atlantic Broadband. The U.S. company came to an agreement to sell Cogeco’s Canadian operations to Rogers, which is already a significant Cogeco shareholder.
Cogeco’s board and controlling shareholder…
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NEW YORK and TORONTO – Despite the utter rejection of its bid to buy Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Cable Wednesday, suitors Altice USA and Rogers Communications issued a release Thursday indicating they will continue to push for the acquisition, saying the $10.3 billion offer is more than fair.
“We strongly believe that we presented a very attractive offer – one that would reward all Cogeco shareholders with a significant premium – and we stand by that offer. We remain committed to pursuing this transaction and are open to engaging with shareholders and the boards in a constructive dialogue.”
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Additional deal would have seen Rogers get Canadian ops for $4.9 billion
By Greg O’Brien
NEW YORK – It was a fast news cycle for Cogeco on Wednesday.
The day opened with the announcement Altice USA, which owns broadband and cable providers Optimum (formerly Cablevision) and Suddenlink, among other assets, offered to buy Cogeco Inc. (CGO) and Cogeco Communications Inc. (CCA) for C$10.3 billion. It submitted the offer to Cogeco on Tuesday after the close of markets and announced it had done so before they opened on Wednesday morning.
Altice also said it entered into an arrangement to sell all of Cogeco’s Canadian…
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GATINEAU — The CRTC today announced it has approved a broadcasting licence for Toon-A-Vision, the kids channel owned and operated by Dartmouth, N.S.-based Atlantic Digital Networks.
Toon-A-Vision currently operates as an exempt programming service, but with today’s CRTC decision it is now licensed as a national, English-language discretionary service. The animation channel launched in 2018 and is widely distributed on Eastlink and Bell. Earlier this year, Toon-A-Vision announced it was launching on Cogeco. Exempt specialty services have to apply for a licence once they reach 200,000 subscribers.
Toon-A-Vision has been granted a five-year licence which will expire August 31, 2025….
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Bell and cablecos argue Cabinet proves them right
By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Independent and incumbent internet service providers have filed letters to the Federal Court of Appeal explaining the impact of the Federal Cabinet’s decision last weekend on the CRTC’s decision to slash wholesale internet rates and whether it should factor into the court’s ultimate decision.
On August 15, one year following the decision by the CRTC to slash wholesale internet rates, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) said the Regulator’s decision “do not, in all instances, appropriately balance the policy objectives of the wholesale services framework” and that in…
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