By Ahmad Hathout
Carriers will have to come to an agreement over the wholesale rate charged for domestic roaming, with the CRTC only acting as the decider of last resort, the regulator announced Monday.
The announcement means the CRTC is moving away from what is called “Phase II” costing methodology, which involves the national carriers submitting cost studies, typically for a five-year forward-looking period, so all regional competitors are paying the same rate.
This time, the commission is choosing to go the commercial negotiation route guided by rate benchmarks it will publish on an annual basis, which it said will include weighted…
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By Connie Thiessen
Anthem Sports & Entertainment has reached an agreement to acquire Hollywood Suite, the owner and operator of four linear TV channels and accompanying digital on-demand service, pending CRTC approval.
Launched in 2011, Hollywood Suite is the largest pure-play movie service in Canada, with its film-focused 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s channels available in over 10 million homes via Rogers, Bell, Telus, Amazon Prime Video, Cogeco, Eastlink, and Freedom Mobile, among other cable providers.
Anthem – which has offices and studios in Toronto, Los Angeles, Denver, Nashville, New York, and Cleveland – says Hollywood Suite’s ability to satisfy both traditional linear viewers and on-demand focused digital…
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The Ontario government announced Monday an investment of $34 million to bring high-speed internet to 3,000 homes and businesses in 14 communities and four First Nation communities across southwestern Ontario.
The money will pass through the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) project.
Recipients of the funding include Cogeco, which will cover Chatham-Kent, Essex County, Lambton County, the Township of Walpole, and Wellington County, and TekSavvy, which will cover its hometown Chatham-Kent and Delaware Nation at Moraviantown.
Other recipients include Execulink, which will cover Elgin County, Lambton County, Middlesex County, Oneida First Nation, and Oxford County; Beyond Air and BrookeTel, which will both…
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Cogeco announced Tuesday the hiring of a chief commercial officer, who started last week Monday.
Mike Henry is responsible for “leading the sales and marketing, digital, brand, product and community relations teams” of both of Cogeco’s telecom business across both Canada and the United States.
“Henry brings 30 years of leadership experience from the financial sector, where he has led pivotal transformations and overseen value creation, while keeping customer experience at the forefront of the organizations he has served,” a Tuesday press release said. “Henry most recently held the position of Executive Vice-President, Consumer Banking, Digital and Strategy at Home Trust….
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By Connie Thiessen
Cogeco has reportedly withdrawn its offer of employment to Montreal radio veteran Martin Spalding, who was to assume the helm of Cogeco Media as its president.
His appointment was announced to employees on Wednesday, however La Presse now reports that in a subsequent follow-up memo on Friday, Cogeco President Frédéric Perron relayed to staff that the former Bell Media and Astral Radio veteran would not be joining the company after all.
Spalding was to set to take over from Caroline Paquet, who had held the role since July 2021. The former longtime Quebecor executive parted ways with Cogeco earlier in the week.
Spalding had been working in Montreal media for most of…
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By Connie Thiessen
Martin Spalding has been named the new president of Cogeco Media.
Spalding succeeds Caroline Paquet, who had held the role since July 2021. Paquet came into the job after almost two decades with Quebecor, with her most recent title there being vice president of marketing and content at Vidéotron.
A former Bell and Astral executive, Spalding has been in the Montreal market for more than 30 years. Up until 2021, he served as Bell Media’s regional vice president and general manager of local radio and television for eight years, overseeing 10 general managers in the day-to-day operations of…
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As Cogeco continues preparations to launch wireless services in Ontario and Quebec, the Montreal-based cable company announced Monday strategic partnerships with an undisclosed national wireless network operator and Eastlink to facilitate the development of Cogeco’s wireless service in Canada.
Cogeco has signed a five-year mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) agreement with the national wireless network operator, giving Cogeco access to its wireless network. The agreement prevents Cogeco from disclosing the name of this network partner, said a Cogeco spokesperson when contacted via email by Cartt.
In addition, Cogeco has entered into a separate five-year agreement with Eastlink for the…
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The CRTC has asked Rogers and Cogeco to continue to provide competitors access to their networks as the regulator moves to address the impact of copper decommissioning on the wholesale internet market.
On the same day the regulator released its wholesale rate decision, the CRTC sent a letter to various large and regional telecoms Tuesday notifying them that it is asking Rogers and Cogeco to continue to provide competitors access to its older facilities as they move toward pure fibre.
Rogers and TekSavvy asked the CRTC in June to suspend a Part 1 application filed by the independent…
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Competitors are left wondering about rates and implications of five-year access immunity
By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Tuesday ordered the largest telephone companies to provide wholesale access to their existing last-mile fibre networks across the country by February 13, 2025, but is shielding from the regime any new builds for five years.
The order is an expansion of the temporary regime ordered in November 2023 that forced Bell and Telus to provide competitors bundled access to their middle- and last-mile fibre networks in Ontario and Quebec, which has been in force since May 7. The CRTC will keep the existing rates…
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By Ahmad Hathout
The Federal Court has granted a fresh website-blocking order that will force broadcasters to block websites streaming different sports league matches for next season.
The July 9 order draws on previous site-blocking precedent but deviates in that it is being applied to multiple sports in a single order. It also applies a permanent ban on the defendants from broadcasting the unlicensed content, though the reason for the site-blocking order in the first place is because said defendants, who can operate from abroad, have historically not stopped the activity.
As such, the order captures all live pre- and regular season…
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