TORONTO – Growth in cable, Internet, and telephony subscribers has led Cogeco Cable to predict a 36% increase in net income in 2006, the company announced at its annual shareholders’ meeting.
And the company is exploring adding wireless, like competitor Vidéotron will do in Quebec when it launches mobile phone services through Rogers, CEO Louis Audet told reporters.
Net income in 2005 nearly tripled, to $28.7 million, compared with a net loss of $32 million in 2004. Cogeco predicts net income will rise to $39 million in fiscal 2006.
In 2005, the company lost 2,400 basic cable subscribers, but…
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TORONTO – The HDTV war is heating up as Bell ExpressVu and Rogers Cable both announce they’re adding more sports programming in high definition.
Bell is adding NCAA basketball and football, as well as sports cinematographer Warren Miller’s latest extreme skiing adventure “Higher Ground” in HD. Bell says it now offers the most HD content of any distributor in Canada, and is the only digital distributor to offer the Miller show.
"Higher Ground," part action and part documentary shot on the slopes of Alaska, Colorado, Switzerland, and British Columbia, is available as a pay per view purchase on channels…
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TORONTO – As part of its acquisition of OMNI TV B.C. and Manitoba, Roger OMNI Television has announced a benefits package totalling $950,000 for independent producers based in the provinces.
The money will go towards 30- and 60-minute documentaries focusing on religion and faith, considered category 4 programming under the CRTC regulations. The fund will be spent over seven years, with no more than $250,000 allocated in each year.
Proposals for stories, biographies, and documentaries examining religious, spiritual, ethical, and/or moral values in all faiths will be reviewed twice a year: from Jan. 1 to Mar. 1, and from…
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TORONTO – The outlook for Canada’s traditional fixed-line telecom industry in 2006 is poor, while things are looking better for wireless services and the cable industry, according to the latest credit ratings report by Standard and Poors.
Competition for wireline business will hurt incumbent telcos (Aliant, Bell Canada, Manitoba Telecom Services, and Telus) as the cable operators and other players enter the telephony market, the report says. Likewise, though, the cablecos (Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, and Videotron) will face more competition from telephone operators providing video services via DSL. “The blurring of boundaries between wireline, wireless, and cable will continue,”…
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TORONTO – The Radio Marketing Bureau has announced its new board of directors, elected at the annual general meeting held on Dec. 1.
The new board members for the coming year are Jim Blundell (CHUM Radio), Brad Boechler (Newcap Radio), Glenn Chalmers (Standard Radio), Lesley Conway-Kelley, Vice Chair (CHUM Radio Sales), Victor Dann, Past Chair (Rogers Broadcasting), Patrick Grierson, Chair (Canadian Broadcast Sales), John Harding, President (Radio Marketing Bureau), John Hayes (Corus Radio Group), Elmer Hildebrand, Treasurer (Golden West Broadcasting Ltd.), Ron Hutchinson (imsradio), Mark Maheu (Newcap Broadcasting), Gary Miles (Rogers Broadcasting), Luc Sabbatini (Groupe Radio Astral), Gerry Siemens…
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By Laurel Hyatt
“Long live jocks,” Pete Townshend would sing if he knew how important announcers still were to radio.
The latest BBM ratings imply that stations with strong on-air personalities are still on top, while those that step back and let the music speak for itself are finding themselves with less of a voice.
The top two stations for share of hours tuned (adults 12 and over) for survey 4 of 2005 in Toronto (read: the media centre of Canada) were… drumroll please… CHUM FM, with 9.1 (double digits are unheard of these days in Tranna) and CHFI…
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LAST WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENT of BCE’s divestiture of all but 20% of its ownership holding in Bell Globemedia left one enormous burning question.
What is the company going to do with the $1.3 billion in proceeds from its sale of control of one of Canada’s largest media companies? BCE CEO Michael Sabia told an analyst conference call last week that the company won’t be announcing what it plans to do with the money until February.
Here, in no particular order, is the www.cartt.ca Top 10 List of things BCE could do with its new pile of money, when it…
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CALGARY – Shaw Communications announced this morning that it is resigning from the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association ("CCTA") effective today.
“As the telecommunications and broadcasting industries evolve, it is becoming increasingly clear that the member companies of the CCTA have divergent interests and differing strategic objectives making it difficult to build industry-wide consensus on various issues. Shaw believes that it will be better served by pursuing its own strategies and developing its own objectives without the added burden of seeking industry consensus,” says the Shaw release.
It’s not immediately known at this point what the long-term future is for…
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TORONTO – Rogers Cable is the first BDU in Canada to carry The Israeli Network, offering the service to digital cable customers in Ontario.
A free preview of the network, on channel 635, is available until Jan. 4, 2006. After that, it will cost $14.95 a month, not including the rental or purchase of the digital set-top box.
"We’re thrilled to launch The Israeli Network on Rogers Digital Cable," says Slava Levin, co-founder, CEO, and President of Ethnic Channels Group Limited, which operates the channel. "Our years of experience in the multicultural television and broadcast industry will allow us…
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MONCTON, NB – Rogers Cable is launching subscription video on demand in New Brunswick, after rolling out in larger cities. Digital customers in Moncton, Fredericton, Bathurst, Edmundston, Miramichi, and Saint John will now have access to more than 70 movies and television series.
The Movie Network On Demand will be available on channel 308 at no additional charge to customers who currently subscribe to The Movie Network. Viewers can choose to watch a movie or program at any time with the ability to pause, rewind, and fast-forward the show, just like with a VCR or DVD player.
"The Movie…
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