MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable’s unionized employees in Quebec have approved in principle two new collective bargaining agreements governing their working conditions.
The new collective bargaining agreements, which will be in force for the next four years, are slated for signature on December 20, 2010 following several months of negotiations. They were presented to employees during general meetings held between November 30 and December 12, 2010.
"I’m pleased with the settlement in the new collective agreements”, said Louise St-Pierre, SVP of residential services, in a statement. “It is very much in line with Cogeco Cable’s vision of labour relations. Knowing that employees…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – The future of cable is “outstanding”. Just ask Louis Audet, the president and CEO of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Cable.
Speaking with Cartt.ca prior to presenting the company’s 2010 financial results to shareholders in Toronto last week, Audet shared Cogeco’s plans for wireless, why he’s not worried about Netflix, and his thoughts on vertical integration in Canada.
“There are good reasons to believe that”, Audet said about his unshakeable belief in the cable industry’s rosy future. “It’s not a wanton statement.” A perfect example of cable’s ability to evolve is Cogeco’s plans to trial addressable advertising in Canada next year. “This…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL and HAMILTON – This is something the entire Canadian TV and advertising industry will watch very closely.
Cogeco Cable said Monday it has entered into agreements with Invidi Technologies and Channel Zero to trial the Invidi Advatar addressable targeted advertising system with TV broadcaster CHCH.
Advatar lets television advertisers deliver tailored messaging to individual households during a commercial break. This technology uses public domain demographic information to accurately pinpoint consumer needs and interests, enhancing the relevance of advertising commercials to unique viewers, as Cartt.ca has reported previously.
Addressable advertising simply put, means more efficiency for everyone. Media buyers can market to specific…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has brought its faster Internet packages to Smiths Falls, ON.
Its ‘Ultimate 30’ high speed Internet packages offers speeds of up to 30 Mbps for downloads and up to 1.5 Mbps for uploads with a monthly download cap of 125 GB. For the ‘Ultimate 50’ package, speeds can reach up to 50 Mbps for downloads and up to 1.5 Mbps for uploads with a monthly download cap of 150 GB.
Customers of Cogeco’s television or home phone service will pay $59.95 per month for ‘Ultimate 30’, while ‘Ultimate 50’ will cost $99.95 per month. Cogeco customers who subscribe only to its…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has added travel and cooking content from Canal Evasion and Zeste to its on-demand lineup in Quebec.
"Our customers are real fans of the shows these channels offer, but sometimes their schedules just don’t allow them to tune in right at broadcast time, and they’d like to have more flexibility”, said VP of marketing and strategic planning, Ron Perrotta, in the announcement. “We’ve been wanting to give them control over their television experience – free of charge. That’s what we had in mind when we signed this agreement."
Cogeco’s digital TV customers in Quebec with access/who subscribe…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Rene Guimond has been named vice president of public affairs and communications for Cogeco Inc.
Guimond most recently held the role of vice president of development, new media with Cogeco Cable. He joined the company in 2005 when he was appointed president and CEO of Cogeco Radio-Television (CRTI), taking the helm of the TQS television network and heading Cogeco’s radio operations.
His new responsibilities will be to develop and consolidate synergy between Cogeco’s public affairs and communications resources and to raise the company’s profile with its different markets, including governmental relations, Tuesday’s announcement detailed.
"I am confident that Rene Guimond’s…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet said today that as programmers continue to push carriers for more and better distribution on one side, consumers are pushing back on the other side against price increases and in favour of flexibility – and the two are headed for an inevitable crash.
The CEO of the fourth-largest Canadian cable company told the Scotia Capital 2011 Telecom and Tech conference in Toronto Tuesday morning that there is “a tendency for programmers to try and push things on distributors in greater quantities,” where they want more and more of their channels carried in ever-larger…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Cable has announced a public debt offering of $200 million senior secured debentures series "2".
The interest rate of the debentures was set at 5.15% and priced at $99.807 per $100 for an effective yield of 5.175% per annum. Interest will be payable semi-annually on May 16 and November 16, with the first interest payment on May 16, 2011. They will have a term of 10 years with a maturity date of November 16, 2020, and closing of the offering is expected to occur on or about November 16, 2010.
The company said that the net proceeds from…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Rogers Communications announced late Thursday that it has spent $75 million on voting shares of Cogeco Cable and Cogeco Inc.
Rogers Communications is acquiring the subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Cable (892,250 of them) at a cash purchase price, excluding commissions, of $43.98 per share, for aggregate consideration of $39.2 million. As for Cogeco Inc., Rogers has agreed to purchase 946,900 shares for $35.7 million.
Rogers already owns a large stake of the company’s voting and non-voting shares. The Cogeco Cable shares being acquired represent approximately 2.7% of the subordinate voting shares and after these purchases, Rogers will own…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – On-going turbulence at its European operations helped to pull down fourth quarter profits at Cogeco Inc. by 16.2%.
Net income for the fourth quarter was $12.3 million, down from $14.6 million last year, despite a 5.5% increase in revenue from $316.2 million in 2009 to $333.6 as of August 31, 2010. For fiscal 2010, Cogeco’s revenues increased 5.5% to $1.3 billion, with a net income of $56.3 million, compared to a loss of $79 million a year earlier.
“Despite the slow stabilization of the global economic environment in fiscal 2010, Cogeco managed to achieve strong results, surpassing nearly all…
Continue Reading
