By Denis Carmel
MONTREAL – In its fight against Altice and Rogers, who unsuccessfully launched an unsolicited takeover bid, Cogeco has earned some local support has in response to this attempted takeover.
For example, Marianne Meed Ward, mayor of Burlington (home of the company’s biggest office), wrote in a public statement last week: “As one of Burlington’s largest employers, Cogeco is a key member of our business community and has been a valued contributor to our local economy and connectivity for more than 30 years.”
“I spoke with executive chairman of the board, Louis Audet… who reiterated to me that Cogeco…
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TORONTO — Ethnic Channels Group (ECG) today announced The Africa Channel is now being offered on Bell Fibe TV in Ontario and Quebec.
Available now on free preview on channel 1617, The Africa Channel features English-language Pan-African television series, documentaries, feature films, music, specials, daytime drama, biographies, current business analysis, and historical and cultural content.
“During these challenging times brought on by Covid-19, with families and individuals sheltering in place and travel restrictions cancelling large scale and family events, we are pleased to provide Bell Fibe TV viewers access to the uplifting, educational and entertaining programming featured on The Africa Channel,”…
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MONTREAL – Back in September of 2010, Videotron turned on its own network and made its entry into the wireless market, the company noted today.
The company began learning wireless in 2006, when it started offering mobile service over the Rogers network and then in 2007, it bought 40 megahertz of set-aside spectrum in the AWS auction, allowing it to begin building its own network.
“Quebecor had been gearing up to enter the mobile services market for several years,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO of parent company Quebecor in a press release today. “At the time, we made the…
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KELOWNA – Rogers Communications announced today it has virtually opened its new B.C. customer solution centre in Kelowna.
More than 100 new employees have already been hired and trained virtually, but the centre will bring a total of 350 new jobs to the local economy by 2021, as part of the company’s all-Canadian based customer service team.
All positions will be work from home until the new Kelowna centre can be safely opened, said the company.
“When we first announced our plan to open this new customer solution centre, none of us could have imagined we would be opening virtually, but…
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By Greg O’Brien
ONE OF THE MORE prominent, persistent fictions when it comes to the Canadian wireless business, is that the market isn’t competitive.
Proponents of that myth point to similar pricing, similar services, similar devices, and so forth, as proof Canadian wireless operators march in lock-step, perhaps even consulting one another behind the scenes looking for ways to maintain the status quo. You don’t have to dig very far on Twitter or Reddit, or even in talking to family members, to hear such balderdash.
If you pay attention to the market, however, you can easily see a high level of competitive…
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TORONTO – CBC and Radio-Canada Media Solutions today announced the launch of a branded content division.
Called Tandem, the CBC says it can now enhance its offer to advertisers and media agencies in Canada with the dedicated service for the creation of unique and distinctive branded content.
“The launch of Tandem is in response to what our advertising partners have been asking us for: the opportunity to work with our country’s most trusted media brand to create content experiences that resonate with Canadians on a deeper level,” said Barbara Williams, executive vice-president, in the press release.
“Tandem will help Canada’s strongest brands…
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TORONTO – Hosted by Canadian poet Ieden Wall (above), Canada’s newest late-night talk show, Canadian Jewish TV, kicks off Thursday October 1st at 11:30 p.m. on Rogers Communications’ multicultural broadcaster OMNI 1.
The show will feature interviews and performances from some of Canada’s most notable Jewish figures, and in keeping with Wall’s background, CJTV will also feature a spoken-word short-film series based on new poems from Wall’s upcoming book, The Wisdom of the Wall 2. His first book of poetry, Wisdom of the Wall sold over 30,000 copies.
“With the loss of established Jewish media like The Canadian Jewish News, CJTV…
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Cogeco decries “bad faith tactics”
MONTREAL and TORONTO — The latest maneuverings in the now open battle between Rogers and Cogeco — as the former persists in its efforts to take over the latter — were made public by Cogeco Wednesday.
After Rogers sent a letter Tuesday to Cogeco board member Louis Audet (president of Gestion Audem, the Audet family holding company and Cogeco’s controlling shareholder) suggesting Audet had behaved in an “unacceptable manner” after Altice USA and Rogers presented their joint proposal to buy the company on September 1, Cogeco published the Rogers letter on its website and issued…
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EXTON, Pa. — SCTE-ISBE, organizers of the annual Cable-Tec Expo, announced today a global cast of cable companies and organizations has stepped forward to provide sponsorship support for this year’s free virtual event, which will take place October 12-15.
Canada’s Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications, as well as Liberty Global in Europe, Millicom in Latin America, Midco in the United States, and the U.S.’s National Cable Television Cooperative all have become attendee registration sponsors of the all-digital event. Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications and the SCTE Foundation had previously committed sponsorship dollars to make Cable-Tec Expo Virtual Experience free for…
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Cogeco, meanwhile, awaits CRTC’s new wireless policies
By Greg O’Brien
TORONTO – Rogers Communications CEO Joe Natale on Tuesday explained a little more about why his company is pursuing the purchase of Cogeco Cable so hard (and why he’s not intending to back off), while a senior executive of its intended target insisted that pursuit will be fruitless.
“The bid is really about answering some basic questions as we look at our investment into the future,” Natale told BMO telecom and media analyst Tim Casey at the bank’s annual Media and Telecom conference, held virtually. The $10.3 billion bid for the company,…
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