TORONTO – Women in Film & Television – Toronto (WIFT-T) and the Foundation for WIFT-T have added four new directors to its boards for the 2016-2017 term.
Announced at the organization’s annual general meeting this week, the newly elected directors for WIFT-T are Sonia Brar, VP information technology at Bell Media, and Marilyn Orecchio, VP national sales at Corus Entertainment. The newly elected directors for the Foundation for WIFT-T are Dianna Klisanin, development consultant, and Linda Stregger, BA, CPA CMA, media industry tax specialist at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLC.
“We are pleased to welcome Sonia Brar and Marilyn Orecchio to the WIFT-T…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Former politician turned radio host Nathalie Normandeau is suing Cogeco for wrongful dismissal after the company allegedly suspended her without pay following her arrest in March.
According to a Montreal Gazette report, Normandeau, who is also Quebec’s former deputy premier, worked as a radio host at Cogeco-owned FM93 in Quebec City on the show Normandeau-Duhaime le midi. She was arrested March 17 by the province's anti-corruption unit Unité permanente anticorruption (UPAC), and said she was dismissed from FM93 shortly thereafter.
In a lawsuit filed at Quebec Superior Court, Normandeau (pictured) says the presumption of innocence must prevail, especially as the charges against her…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Connexion is investing $250,000 to expand its fibre optic network to the residential area surrounding the 13e Rang road, in the Municipality of Orford Township in Quebec.
Work to install the network will take several months, and allow residents to enjoy the full spectrum of Cogeco Connexion services, including television, high-speed Internet and telephony.
“The ongoing expansion of our network into high-potential markets is a business priority for us,” said marketing & innovation VP Daniel Boisvert, in the news release. “To that end, we are leveraging several different leading-edge technologies that can enable very high speeds. In the…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Cogeco Peer 1 has named Scott Adams as vice-president and general manager for Canada, the company said Wednesday.
Adams (pictured), has worked with organizations such as Verizon and IBM, and brings extensive experience in sales and general management to his role. Based in Toronto, he will be responsible for the tactical and strategic direction of the organization in the Canadian region, overseeing operations and driving revenue growth.
“We have appointed Scott to this role to support our continued growth in Canada”, said Cogeco Peer 1 president Philippe Jetté, in the announcement. “Scott's proven track record in driving growth and…
Continue Reading
Feds must study past report to lead the future, according to Audet
TORONTO – The Canadian financial markets suffer a bias against risk, which has led to an unfortunate under-investment in innovation, Cogeco Inc. CEO Louis Audet told the Canadian Club today at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto.
In a wide-ranging speech that touched upon a wide number of things, Audet tied them all to the problems he believes are afflicting Canada and its economy. He noted many of the developed economies around the world are now facing stagnant growth rates – but noted that as Canadians, we have the…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Three of the country’s smaller, but major, ISPs have told the CRTC’s basic service objective hearing that it shouldn’t micromanage the broadband file by explicitly developing mechanisms to deal with service gaps. SaskTel, Cogeco and MTS all believe that governments are far better positioned to handle infrastructure and affordability issues.
In his opening remarks on Monday, SaskTel president and CEO Ron Stiles argued market forces combined with targeted government funding has worked for the vast majority of communities in Saskatchewan. To encourage additional broadband deployment, the CRTC should stay away from “prescriptive” approaches but rather set new higher…
Continue Reading
TORONTO – Independent specialty movie service Hollywood Suite announced today the launch of the new web version of the Hollywood Suite GO app (HSGO).
The newly designed VOD service is an extension of the premium movie channels and is available at hsgo.ca for Hollywood Suite subscribers from Access Communications, Cogeco, Eastlink, Hay Communications, MTS, NorthwesTel, Rogers, Shaw, Shaw Direct, Source Cable, Telus Optik TV, and VMedia.
“We are excited to offer our subscribers another platform to watch their favourite movies from Hollywood Suite, allowing them to experience their cinematic choices, anytime, anywhere,” said David Kines,…
Continue Reading
Chair's comments change the focus of the hearing, puts government, industry, on notice, to get their acts together
GATINEAU – The the second week of the CRTC's basic service objective (BSO) hearing featured a rare moment of reflection from CRTC chairman and CEO Jean-Pierre Blais which will now alter the focus of this hearing. Below are Blais' unedited personal thoughts, made just prior to Monday's lunch break.
Those of you who are familiar with CRTC proceedings will appreciate that it is unusual for Chairs to make formal remarks beyond those made at the beginning of the oral hearing.
But this is an exceptional…
Continue Reading
GATINEAU – Some 66,000 Canadians, or just 0.5% of Canadian television households, have signed up for the new slimmed down basic TV programming packages five weeks after they debuted, the CRTC said Friday.
The Commission asked ten of the country’s biggest TV service providers – Access Communications, Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Telus and Vidéotron, to add up subscribers to their new basic television packages. These ‘skinny basic’ packages, priced at $25 or less, debuted March 1st amidst great fanfare touting choice and affordability.
TV service providers also began offering either pick-and-pay for individual channels or small packages of…
Continue Reading
MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. saw its second quarter revenue increase by 7.7%, to reach $578.5 million in the second quarter of 2016, driven by growth in the company’s the cable and enterprise data services segment (which it now calls its communications segment)
The improvement of its American broadband services operations, combined with favorable foreign exchange rates compared to the same period of the prior year, helped drive results, says the company’s Wednesday evening press release.
Adjusted EBITDA increased by or 10.1%, to reach $252.1 million compared to the same period of fiscal 2015, and was also helped by the…
Continue Reading
