MONTREAL – Videotron added 56,200 new telephony customers, 28,800 high speed Internet customers and 33,000 illico digital cable customers in the second quarter of 2006, ended June 30th.
However, it only netted a gain of 1,200 cable subscribers when the new digital subs are added to its basic sub losses (a turnaround from Q2 2005 where the company tallied a net loss of 11,900 subs). Subscriber churn is always higher in the second quarter for cable as students disconnect and go home for the summer. At the end of June, Videotron had over 283,000 voice over IP telephony customers,…
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MONTREAL – Beginning Wednesday, Vidéotron will gradually roll out its residential cable telephone service in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region and Montérégie, mainly in Sorel.
This new extension covers more than 90,000 potential households, and means 74% of its basic subs will be passed by its local telephony service, which is well known in the province for its low price of $16.95 a month, which is actually a dollar higher than when it launched in 2005.
Videotron is closing in on 300,000 voice customers (it had 227,000 at the end of March), but we will find out this week what the…
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OTTAWA – Videotron has asked the Commission to add five more third language channels to the list of eligible satellite services.
The Quebecor-owned MSO has asked for:
* Caracol Television International, a 24-hour-a-day/7-day-a-week channel from Columbia that broadcasts entirely in Spanish. It is considered a general interest channel, although its programming consists primarily of soap operas, as well as news and public affairs, informal educational, sports and drama programs. None of the programs are subtitled.
* HTV is a 24-hour-a-day/7-day-a-week specialty channel. It offers programming focused on Latin American music, including pop, rock, ballads, salsa, merengue, cumbia and the…
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GATINEAU – The CRTC today announced it’s allowing RDI to increase its hourly advertising by up to 50%, amending its licence from a former maximum of eight minutes per hour, to a new maximum of 12 minutes.
The CBC applied for the RDI change, saying it would give the French-language information channel the same maximum as its English-language Newsworld service. The CBC also pointed out that most specialty channels can air up to 12 minutes of ads in each clock hour.
The proposal was opposed by private broadcasters, including TVA, Astral, Cogeco Radio-Télévision, and Corus, who were upset that…
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"REGULATORY APPROVAL" are the two stock words every media sale announcement made in Canada has attached to it. As in: "Agreement XYZ will close after the required regulatory approval."
Wednesday’s big buy is no different as it will have to pass under the Competition Bureau’s and CRTC’s magnifying glasses, smudged and cracked as they appear to be sometimes. In the official release, Bell Globemedia and CTV CEO Ivan Fecan said: "With regulatory approval, we intend to serve Canadian audiences with both CTV and Citytv stations."
This time, though, that particular sentence means regulatory approval will only be able to come…
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OTTAWA – With re-comments re-due today on the CRTC’s reconsideration of its 2005 decision on voice over IP telephony regulation, three of the four largest Canadian MSOs came down on the side of the Commission in a joint submission filed this afternoon.
Last month, the Federal Cabinet told the CRTC it had to re-think the decision it made on VOIP telephony and have a decision – again – within 120 days of the May 7th announcement. The cabinet edict was in response to appeals filed by all but one of Canada’s incumbent telephone companies.
Cogeco Cable, Quebecor Media’s…
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MONTREAL – SR Telecom has hired Marc Girard as senior vice-president and CFO, effective August 15, 2006.
Girard was most recently vice-president and CFO of the Aeroplan Income Fund, and previously was vice-president and treasurer of Quebecor Inc. He also held various senior finance roles within the Bell Canada Enterprises.
"The appointment of Marc Girard as CFO is another important step in positioning SR Telecom for future success" said William Aziz, interim president and CEO of SR Telecom. "He brings the experience, leadership and appropriate financial discipline necessary to recognize and capitalize on the opportunities for profit enhancement in…
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MONTREAL – Quebecor Media’s popular portal company, Canoe, named former Sympatico executive Patrick Lauzon its executive vice-president.
Lauzon "will steer Canoe’s national growth and development strategy and oversee all business units, including the Canoe.qc.ca and Canoe.ca portals, the commercial sites Jobboom, Micasa.ca, Autonet.ca, ClassifiedExtra/ ClasséesExtra, Flirt.ca/Réseau Contact, and several new products currently under development," says the press release.
Lauzon (pictured below) has more than 13 years of experience with media and Internet companies. He was responsible for media sales and business development at Sympatico/MSN and occupied a number of key positions at Bell Canada and its subsidiaries. He is…
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MONTREAL – Due to copyright issues and bandwidth needs, cable operators have been unable and/or reluctant to offer high definition video on demand.
Today, however, Quebecor Media-owned MSO Videotron announced concert tour footage from La Tournée Star Académie is now available through its illico digital cable service. The concert tour features performers from TVA’s reality program Star Academie – and since TVA and Videotron are both owned by the same company, there are no copyright qualms.
TVA has signed a deal with Star Académie’s producer, Productions J (the production company owned by Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau’s long-time partner,…
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OTTAWA – The CRTC’s much anticipated decision on which, if any, of the 2005 pay television applicants will receive a license will be announced this morning, www.cartt.ca has learned.
Early in 2005, an application by former Alliance Atlantis executive George Burger for a new pay television license kicked off the whole proceeding. The Commission called for other applications and received three others from Quebecor Media’s Archambault Group, an all-Canadian bid from Channel Zero (Movieola, Silver Screen Classics) and one from former WIC owners, the Allard family.
Burger’s Spotlight TV application is backed by Lawrence Tanenbaum’s Insight Sports,…
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