BÉCANCOUR AND SAINT-HONORÉ, QC – Residents and businesses in 26 Quebec communities are next in line to receive improved high-speed Internet thanks to a joint federal-provincial investment.
Five projects in the Centre-du-Québec region were selected under the Québec Branché program (French web page). These projects represent a total investment of $18,369,850, of which the Government of Quebec is contributing $5,645,909 and the Government of Canada is contributing $2,146,293.
Bécancour Regional County Municipality, Bell Canada, Sogetel and Cogeco Connexion will receive the funding to provide broadband Internet services to 8,791 homes in 16 communities in Centre-du-Québec. Details are Continue Reading
TORONTO – Cogeco Peer 1 has unveiled an updated and refreshed version of its Map of the Internet app, a 3D visualization of the world's networks and how they are connected.
Built as an educational tool for anyone who has ever wondered what the Internet actually looks like and how it has evolved, the open source Map of the Internet app for iOS and Android brings to life all the networks worldwide that are interconnected to form the Internet. Users can explore where Google and Facebook are located on the Internet, in addition to ISPs, Internet exchange points,…
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OTTAWA—Public policy should not dictate matters of jurisdiction, lawyers for Bell Canada argued on Tuesday before the Federal Court of Appeal in the company’s nearly two-year-long quest to have the court overturn the CRTC’s mandatory Wholesale Code.
Bell Canada argues that nothing in the Copyright Act or Broadcasting Act gives the Commission the right to impose certain prices and other commercial terms for TV programmers to license their programming to BDUs, which is Bell’s main beef with the Wholesale Code.
“There is no doubt that the CRTC has wide discretion” to regulate programming negotiations, “but its power to do so is…
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TORONTO – Hollywood Suite is gearing up for a five-week national free preview promising a slew of films including 28 premieres.
From December 1 through January 5, viewers can stoke their holiday spirit with perennial festive favourites such as Die Hard, Gremlins, Scrooged and White Christmas; celebrate John Lennon on December 8 with A Hard Day’s Night, Imagine: John Lennon, and Across the Universe; remember Carrie Fisher on December 27 with When Harry Met Sally and Postcards from the Edge; plus ring in the new year with a Star Trek marathon.
Hollywood Suite owns and operates four exclusive HDTV channels featuring…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. last week announced its fourth quarter revenue increased by 1.1%, to reach $578.5 million, driven by growth of 1.4% in its Communications segment.
That was partly offset by a decrease in its media division and business sector.
Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) decreased by 2.7% at August 31, 2017, to reach $251.4 million compared to the same period of fiscal 2016. Profit for the period amounted to $71.1 million, compared to $80.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.
Free cash flow reached $51.8 million, a decrease of 41.1%, compared to the…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC has pushed back its deadline for comments pertaining to TV channels wishing to renew their places in the basic programming package.
After recently announcing that it would kick off its 9(1)(h) hearing on April 30, the Commission said Wednesday that the deadline to submit interventions, comments and answers is now December 8, 2017, and not November 16 as first announced. The deadline for the applicants to submit their replies is December 18.
The new deadlines comes as a result of a joint procedural request from BCE, the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance, Cogeco, Quebecor, Rogers, Shaw and…
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GATINEAU – It looks as though a portion of a CRTC decision that flew under the radar for many people has wrecked what was an excellent promotional outlet for Canadian specialty services and charities.
In decision CRTC 2015-86, part of the Let’s Talk TV process, the Commission surprised the industry by tightening the rules surrounding how the two minutes of local advertising time made available each hour by U.S. channels such as CNN, A&E, Golf Channel and TLC could be used.
Dubbed “local avail” time, American cablecos and other pay TV carriers have turned the sales of…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Connexion is extending its new UltraFibre 120 high-speed residential Internet package to more areas of Quebec as it continues to upgrade its network.
The company said Tuesday that it is boosting upload and download speeds on some of its residential Internet packages in select areas of Newport and Roberval, and launching its new high-speed UltraFibre 120 and unlimited UltraFibre 120 packages for residential customers.
Customers subscribing to Cogeco’s UltraFibe 40, UltraFibe 40 Unlimited, UltraFibe 60 or UltraFibe 60 Unlimited in these areas will automatically be upgraded to the increased speeds at no extra costs.
www.cogeco.ca
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GATINEAU – CRTC commisioner Christopher MacDonald’s persistent questioning on day one of the hearing into license renewals for several BDUs roughly translated to: “What’s taking so long with the set top box viewership data?”
Quebecor, Rogers, Shaw and Eastlink, all members of the Set Top box working group (check), each had very similar answers to MacDonald’s line of questions. Essentially the answers boiled down to: “What we’re doing is hard, pioneering, and with an uncertain business model, so yes, it’s a slow process.”
The group first met more than two years ago.
During the CRTC’s Let’s Talk TV process,…
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TORONTO – Bell Media’s CraveTV is now available to Cogeco customers in Ontario.
Subscribers now have access to more than 10,000 hours of television content for instant streaming, including Emmy Award winner The Handmaid’s Tale and all three seasons of original series Letterkenny (pictured). Customers may subscribe to Crave TV through Cogeco’s call centre and log in on the Crave TV app with their Cogeco My Account credentials.
“This evolution in our offering is consistent with our ongoing commitment to better meet the changing needs of our customers, while offering them an amazing entertainment experience,” said Cogeco Connexion marketing and innovation VP…
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