Search Results for: cogeco

Cable / Telecom News

CTS 2018: Bains brings more spectrum for 5G and $10/month broadband for low income families

TORONTO – We’ve oft been in audiences covering dreary, news-free ministerial speeches. The Navdeep Bains keynote to the 2018 Canadian Telecom Summit today in Toronto was not that. The Innovation, Science and Economic Development minister came with a crisp, fully loaded speech which satisfied some important needs for which many of the Canadian telecom gathering’s delegates have been clamoring (and he didn’t say “middle class families” once). An issue which Summit co-founder Mark Goldberg and others have long been hounding various governments about has been the lack of a national, co-ordinated program to help connect low income families to the Internet…. Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

CTS 2018: Good service is about the micro-moments; hiring better and eventually, AI

TORONTO – Powering a customer journey with big data is a new way to look at providing an excellent customer experience, said executives at the 2018 Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday. Antoine Shiu, vice-president of business solutions with Cogeco Connexion said during a panel Monday on customer care he believes that that the journey “starts and ends” with focusing as much as possible on understanding what success looks like for individual customers. Initially, there was a danger of “putting everyone in the same bucket and saying, ‘This is what success looks like,’ when the customer journey is made up of thousands… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Esther Bégin to host new French-language daily show on CPAC

OTTAWA – Veteran journalist and author Esther Bégin is joining Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) as the network's French Anchor. Starting next fall, Bégin (pictured) will host a daily program during sitting weeks of the House of Commons as well as feature interviews with Canadian political personalities. "We are very excited to welcome such an experienced and passionate journalist like Esther Bégin to lead our team," said CPAC president and GM Catherine Cano, in Thursday’s announcement. "She has the important task of making the various issues affecting francophones in Quebec and the rest of Canada known and understood. As we know,… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Cogeco is the biggest winner as six companies pick up residual spectrum

OTTAWA – On Friday afternoon the federal government announced six companies won spectrum in the most recent wireless auction held to sell off residual blocks not claimed in prior auctions. Blocks in the 700 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and PCS G-bands were auctioned for a total of $43.4 million. Click here for the licenses won and regions they are located. “Approximately 94 percent of the allocated spectrum licences went to regional providers and small companies,” said the press release from Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada. Ecotel, Cogeco, Xplornet, Iris, Freedom and Telus… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Louis Audet to step aside at Cogeco; Jetté promoted to CEO. And no, it’s not for sale, thanks

MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications today announced Philippe Jetté will become president and CEO of both public companies effective September 1st, 2018. Current CEO Louis Audet, who has been in the role for 25 years, recommended Jetté and on that day, Audet will become executive chairman of the board. The companies are publicly traded, but the Audet family owns control of the voting shares. Jetté (pictured at left with Audet at the press conference Tuesday), an electrical engineer by training, joined Cogeco as senior vice-president and chief technology and strategy officer in 2011, after running his own consultancy for a… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Gusto preps tasty new lineup for freeview

TORONTO – Just in time for summer, Bell Media’s Gusto is cooking up a free preview with sizzling new programming. The food and lifestyle channel has assembled a summer schedule that includes new original series Where To I Do?, starring design expert Tommy Smythe (The Marilyn Denis Show); Dog Tales Rescue, a docu-series following King City, Ont.’s Dog Tales Rescue and Horse Sanctuary; and Bonacini’s Italy, featuring world-renowned chef and MasterChef judge Michael Bonacini.  Celebrity gourmet Nigella Lawson makes her Gusto debut by whipping up her favourite comfort meals with her latest series,… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Cogeco to disconnect some cottage country villages

BALA, Ont. – According to a report in a local news outlet in Muskoka, Cogeco Connexion is cancelling its TV services in and around Bala, Ont. as of June 5, 2018. Customers there and in seven other surrounding villages have been notified by the company that it is pulling out of the region – one which it provides only an analog cable TV service to about 120 subscribers. Bala is about 25 kilometres northwest of Gravenhurst, Ont. A company spokesperson told Cartt.ca that this is a business decision where it made more sense to leave the… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News, Radio / Television News

Cogeco to buy 10 radio stations from RNC Media for $18.5M

MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. is buying 10 regional radio stations in Quebec and Ontario for $18.5 million from RNC Média. Cogeco Media already owns and operates 13 radio stations, including talk network stations 98.5 FM in Montreal, 106.9 FM in Mauricie, 107.7 FM in Estrie and 104.7 FM in Outaouais; Rhythm FM network stations 105.7 in Montreal, 100.1 in Mauricie and 93.7 in Estrie, CIME 103.9 in the Laurentians, 96.9 CKOI, The Beat 92.5 and Radio Circulation 730 AM in Montreal, as well as FM93 and M102.9 in Quebec City. The new stations are located in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean (Planète 104.5 in… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Bravo readies new dramas for spring freeview

TORONTO – The second season of hit drama The Handmaid’s Tale will headline Bravo’s nation-wide free preview  that will kick off April 24. The Bell Media-owned service said that other high profile premieres rolling out during the freeview include original Canadian crime drama series Carter, starring Jerry O’Connell, on May 15 at 8:00 PM ET, plus detective crime drama Hard Sun, which will make its exclusive Canadian series premiere on May 6. Season two of the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning The Handmaid’s Tale will debut with a two-episode premiere event on April 29 at 9:00 PM ET.  Viewers wishing to catch… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Cogeco’s American broadband services drive Q2 profits, revenues

MetroCast acquisition “progressing according to plan” MONTREAL – Cogeco Communications said that deferred income taxes related to U.S. tax reforms helped to power a jump in profits for its second quarter ended February 28, 2018. Profits of $141.8 million, of which $138.9 million was attributable to the owners of the Corporation, skyrocketed 84.9% from the $76.7 million posted in the comparable period of fiscal 2017.  The company said late Thursday that this was mainly as a result of the $89 million (US$70 million) reduction in deferred income taxes related to the recent U.S. tax reform and the improvement of adjusted EBITDA,… Continue Reading