MONTREAL — “I’ve gotten such great press lately,” Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly joked to break the ice in a speech Friday to Montreal’s board of trade. But despite mounting pressure, especially in Quebec, to impose sales taxes on foreign over-the-top services like Netflix, Joly had no new announcements to make, sticking to repeating the promises made in the Creative Canada plan released in September.
“I hear you,” she told the crowd present, including board president Michel Leblanc, who said during his introduction that he expected Joly to explain the government’s position on this issue. She repeated several times that she’s…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Radioplayer Canada, the radio streaming app that features more than 500 Canadian radio stations (most of the big and small chains, except Bell Media and Evanov, who joined iHeartRadio), announced this week its streaming service is available with Amazon Echo, powered by Alexa.
Amazon Echo users may now simply ask Alexa to play their favourite radio station on Radioplayer Canada, once the skill is enabled by the listener.
"This integration with Amazon Alexa is great for Canadian radio," said Julie Adam, senior vice president, Rogers Radio, and board chair of Radioplayer Canada. "The integration echoes the mission of…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Over 100 Quebec business, culture and other leaders have put their names to a new push in the province urging all levels of government to make sure foreign companies selling goods and services digitally in Canada are subject to the same taxes as Canadian companies.
The group, hashtagged #100voix, have put their names behind this declaration: "We cannot allow foreign giants to avoid the taxes that all local businesses must charge. This injustice must be corrected. It penalizes our businesses, our artists and our workers. We have a shared duty to protect Québec and Canadian culture."
Business leaders such…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL and TORONTO – The Cogeco Program Development Fund, the Independent Production Fund and Cogeco Communications announced Monday they’ve concluded an agreement to ensure “the sustainability of the CPDF's Canadian television production funding activities,” says the press release.
This new agreement will become effective on January 1, 2018.
The CPDF and the IPF had been co-operating with each other since 1992 by sharing resources for the processing of funding applications and the administration of the CPDF's program funding activities, which are supported financially by the annual contributions of Cogeco's regulated broadcasting distribution undertakings to independent production funds and the returns…
Continue Reading
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,…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
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…
Continue Reading
