Without a major regulatory change, the traditional TV industry here faces a chilling future
IF THE CRTC DOESN’T, at long last, review the 1999 New Media Exemption Order, the Canadian TV industry as we know it may well perish in the next five years, at the cost of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs – all while production of Canadian content shrivels to whatever the CBC makes.
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission reached a compromise deal with the subscription TV titans in the States over the American regulator’s so-called push to “unlock the…
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TORONTO – Bell Media’s Investigation Discovery (ID) and Discovery Science will both be opening up for a four week free preview September 22 through October 19.
The timing will coincide with the launch of new ID series Las Vegas Law, Vanishing Women plus new special Adnan Syed: Innocent or Guilty? (pictured), featuring the convicted murderer and subject of the acclaimed Serial podcast. Highlights from Discovery Science include the debut of new series How To Build…Everything and Alaska Mega Machines.
The four-week preview is available through television service providers including Bell and Bell Aliant, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, Shaw Direct, Telus,…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC shouldn’t bow to pressure from the vertically integrated (VI) entities and loosen any regulatory measures on their activities, according to comments from the non-VI broadcast distributors.
In comments to the licence renewals of the large English and French-language ownership groups (for which a public hearing is coming in November), the non-VI BDUs tell the Commission that in fact it needs to strengthen regulations ensuring the VI companies (Rogers, Bell and Quebecor) don’t exhibit any anti-consumer and anti-competitive behaviour.
Telus says the Commission has rules to ensure carriage contracts for TV channels are done on…
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MONTREAL – Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Communications Inc. have named Luc Noiseux as senior vice-president and chief technology and strategy officer, effective immediately.
Noiseux (pictured) joins Cogeco from Accedian Networks where he was most recently VP of research and development. He also held several senior research and development roles at Alcatel-Lucent.
At Coegco, Noiseux will be responsible for the development of emerging technology selection and deployment plans, and for the corporate strategy and strategic planning process, reads Monday’s announcement. He will also act as a partner and trusted advisor to officers and members of the senior executive team at both the…
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TORONTO – Bell Media’s Discovery is gearing up for its first-ever nationwide free preview this fall which will include the debut of Frontier, its first original Canadian scripted drama.
Set against the raw backdrop of 1700s Canada, Frontier (pictured) stars Jason Momoa in a thrilling action-adventure series that revolves around warring factions vying for control of the fur trade in a ruthless game of wealth and power. The series will debut on November 6. Other programming highlights include the return of Canada’s Worst Driver and the premier of new original Canadian series Tougher Than It Looks? on October 24.
Discovery’s free preview…
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Smithard to be promoted
MONTREAL- Cogeco Communications announced Friday Louise St-Pierre (right) has decided to retire as president and CEO of Cogeco Connexion.
Effective September 1, 2016, Ken Smithard, vice-president, performance, organizational efficiency and information technology, will become president of Cogeco Connexion. St-Pierre will remain in an advisory role until November 30, 2016, to ensure a smooth leadership transition, says the press release.
Since joining Cogeco in 1999 as vice president and chief information officer, St-Pierre has held subsequent roles of increasing responsibility within Cogeco Connexion's senior management team, eventually being named president and CEO in 2013.
"On behalf of the…
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MONTREAL — Cogeco Connexion is getting a refreshed look with a new brand identity being unveiled today in an advertising campaign launched in Quebec and Ontario. The new tagline “Switch on Amazing” will feature in Cogeco Connexion’s branding going forward.
“Switch on Amazing is a tagline that embodies our commitment to offering our clients an unmatched experience at every level of interaction with Cogeco,” Daniel Boisvert, vice-president of marketing and innovation for Cogeco Connexion, said in a news release.
The “Switch on Amazing” branding was developed to showcase the company’s distinctive strengthens in providing the best customer service in its…
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OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) said today it has received a letter from the CRTC indicating the Commission is deferring consideration of almost 60 complaints filed against community TV channels until their cable licence renewals this fall.
The complaints were filed by CACTUS in partnership with community groups earlier this year, and were concerned with cable community TV channels operated by Eastlink, Cogeco, Shaw and Rogers. According to CACTUS, the channels either fail to air adequate local content (generally 60% of the program schedule) or adequate citizen-generated content (generally 50% of the schedule)…
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MONTREAL – Five years ago, during a surprisingly competitive CRTC process to award new commercial AM radio stations in Montreal, one independent group burst onto the scene with grand promises to revolutionize the industry. Within two years, the three investors had acquired three licences for AM talk stations and the industry was filled with hope of new jobs and new alternatives to incumbent stations owned by major corporations.
But five years later, the group has nothing to show for it. It has already lost one of its three licence authorizations, and in November will lose the other two if it…
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MONTREAL – A $450 million writedown of its Business ICT services segment contributed to third quarter losses at Cogeco Inc., the company announced Thursday.
For the period ended May 31, 2016, losses amounted to $381.9 million of which $117.7 millionwas attributable to owners of the corporation, compared to a $66.3 million profit in the same period last year of which $22.6 million was attributable to the owners of the corporation. According to the news release, the decrease is mainly due to the non- cash pre-tax impairment of goodwill and intangible assets of $450.0 million and from $10.5 million related to…
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