OTTAWA–GATINEAU – The CRTC is once again seeking volunteers to help it measure the performance of home wireline broadband Internet services provided by the country’s major Internet service providers.
Under the Measuring Broadband Canada program, the Commission will work in collaboration with ISPs and broadband testing firm SamKnows to measure broadband performance and test parameters associated with the broadband Internet connection, including download and upload speeds.
While some providers offer advertised speeds of 1Gbps or faster, services above 940Mbps cannot be measured with a conventional speed test, meaning that speed tiers of 1Gbps or faster are excluded from the 2019 Measuring…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Communications has wrapped the $720 million sale of its business information and communications technology services subsidiary Cogeco Peer 1 Inc. to investment firm Digital Colony.
Cogeco Peer 1’s portfolio includes over 3,300 route kilometers of owned, dense metro fibre in greater Toronto and Montreal, as well as several data centers across North America and Europe. When the deal was announced in February, Cogeco said that it would retain “significant” fibre capacity in Toronto and Montreal.
The company said Wednesday that it will use the bulk of the net proceeds from the sale to repay amounts outstanding under its term revolving facility…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL — Leclerc Communication has decided to abandon its deal to acquire two Quebec radio stations after the CRTC refused to approve a key part of the deal on Tuesday.
Leclerc had sought an exception to the CRTC's common ownership policy in order to control a third French-language FM radio station in Quebec City — top-rated talk station CHOI-FM. It had agreed to acquire CHOI and Montreal's CKLX-FM from RNC Media for $19 million last year.
At the CRTC hearing in February, Leclerc vice-president Jean-François Leclerc made clear that if the request for an exception to the…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Communications said Thursday that the president and CEO of its U.S. subsidiary Atlantic Broadband is leaving the company to pursue personal interests.
Richard Shea has been with Atlantic Broadband since it was founded in 2003 and was named its president and CEO at the beginning of 2015. He will remain with the company for a short period of time to ensure a smooth transition.
CFO Patrick Bratton will assume the position in the interim while the search for a successor is underway.
“On behalf of my colleagues and the entire Cogeco Communications team, I’d like to thank Rich for his…
Continue Reading
Industry, others, provide feedback
OTTAWA – On February 26th, the Government of Canada proposed new CRTC Policy direction to put Canadians at the forefront of future telecommunications decisions, as Cartt.ca reported.
By law, this proposed Order must be put for comments for a period of 30 days after being published in the Canada Gazette. April 8th was the deadline for intervenors to make their comments known to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.
(Ed note: By law, the federal government doesn’t have to listen to any of the recommendations, if it has already made up its mind,…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – While second quarter revenues jumped 10.2%, Cogeco Communications saw profits for the period plunge by about 44% without the gains related to U.S. tax reforms that it recorded in the same period last year.
Profits for the period ended February 28, 2019 were $80.8 million, of which $76.3 million was attributable to the owners of the Corporation, down from $143.8 million, of which $140.9 million was attributable to owners of the Corporation in the comparable period of fiscal 2018. The company said late Tuesday that the variation is mainly due to last year's $94 million income tax reduction…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – During the final regular season game of the NHL season aired on TVA Sports this past weekend, the Quebecor-owned broadcaster warned viewers they were going to lose access to the channel when the NHL playoffs begin – and that it’s all Bell’s fault.
Currently, Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau is leading a one-man public campaign decrying the state of affairs when it comes to specialty TV and the wholesale rates his TVA channels receive from carriers (please see our feature interview published here), since they are so much lower than Bell Media channels…
Continue Reading
44% increase in complaints
OTTAWA – The mid-year report from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) once again doesn’t look good for Canada’s telecom and TV providers.
The report released this morning shows a 44% increase in the number of complaints it received from Canadian telecom and TV customers between August 1, 2018 and January 31, 2019. This follows a 73% increase for that same period last year, so there has at least been improvement in the rate of growth in complaints at least.
Canadians complained most often about their wireless service, followed in order by…
Continue Reading
TROIS-RIVIÈRES – Cogeco Connexion today announced the launch of its new managed Wi-Fi solution for small and mid-sized businesses in Quebec.
The complete and customizable solution will support the growing demand for fast and reliable internet connectivity by offering scalable solutions to match their current and future needs of its SME customers, says the release.
"(C)ompanies will benefit from adaptable solutions that can grow with them as they strive to increase their productivity, while reducing their operational and capital expenditures," said Antoine Shiu, vice president, marketing and sales, business solutions. "With the launch of our Managed Wi-Fi solution, our business customers…
Continue Reading
CANOE VENTURES IS hoping 2019 is the year where it begins to help build video on demand advertising together with BDUs and broadcasters into a $200 million marketplace.
The U.S. company (which is co-owned by MSOs Comcast, Cox Communications and Charter Communications) has been the driver behind huge success Stateside, where the VOD ad business is already a US$1 billion market. Canoe alone delivered 26 billion ad impressions in 2018 on 7,476 ad campaigns. It delivers VOD ads to 36 million American households for broadcast clients such as ABC, A+E, AMC, CBS, Discovery, MTV, NBC, Showtime, Univision and others.
Now,…
Continue Reading
