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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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – At 9 a.m. Saturday, the federal government released its ruling on the cabinet appeal of the CRTC’s August 15, 2019 decision on new wholesale rates third party internet access ISPs must pay incumbent network operators.
It required a few readings to understand.
A year ago today, the CRTC issued an order setting the final rates for wholesale internet access (including over $300 million in retroactive payments) and the large ISPs did not like it one bit. They appealed it to cabinet, consistent with section 12 of the Telecommunications Act. The Act also says that Cabinet…
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Telus supports Bell’s plan to strike Matrix from the record
By Greg O’Brien
GATINEAU – Of the 11 organizations to respond to the CRTC’s request for comment on Bell Canada’s demand to strike a key economic report from the public record of the wireless policy review proceeding, only one supports the idea.
Bell has asked the Commission to remove a report from the official record of the policy review which underpins the Competition Bureau’s submission to the CRTC that a modified, but mandated, mobile virtual network operator regime must be established. The Bureau’s final comments and the report done by Matrix Economics…
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TORONTO — The Canadian Telecom Summit will be a digital-only event this year and has been re-rescheduled for November 17-19, 2020.
Traditionally held in June, the in-person conference was postponed until September, due to Covid-19 and restrictions on public gatherings. However, in an email, organizers have announced a virtual Canadian Telecom Summit will now take place in November.
“Given the limitations on indoor gatherings proposed by governments across Canada, The Canadian Telecom Summit team has created a brand-new Virtual Event Platform. Safety is top priority for our partners, delegates, and staff, while maintaining connections, networking, and bringing the industry together,” reads…
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PETERBOROUGH and MONTREAL — Suppliers Lindsay Broadband and Belgium-based Accelleran announced today Cogeco Communications is testing their one-box small cell solution for LTE deployments in hybrid fibre coax (HFC) networks with DOCSIS backhaul, as part of a multivendor field trial on Cogeco’s network in Quebec.
Lindsay and Accelleran have partnered to deliver a one-box solution (the LBSCS-A1-EA, pictured) comprising an LTE small cell operating in the 3.5 GHz band, an industrial-hardened DOCSIS 3.1 modem, and a surge-protected power supply system (40-90 VAC cable plant input is converted to DC and Power over Ethernet).
This solution is generally intended for deployments in…
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