Search Results for: shaw

Cable / Telecom News

Should town telcos be able to get BDU licenses?

OTTAWA – There are just under 40 independent telephone companies left in Canada – little telcos that for one reason or another, were never swallowed up by Bell Canada. All of them, save one, are in Bell’s Ontario or Quebec territory. Of those, there are six which are owned by municipalities: Bruce Municipal Telephone System, Cochrane Public Utilities Commission, Dryden Municipal Telephone System, Kenora Municipal Telephone System, The Corporation of the City of Thunder Bay – Telephone Division, all in Ontario, and Prince Rupert City Telephone, in British Columbia. This week, the Department of Canadian Heritage closed a comments… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Bell Nordiq earnings climb

MONTREAL – Bell Nordiq Income Fund this week reported net earnings of $8.7 million, while the combined operating revenues of principal operating companies Telebec and NorthernTel were $88.6 million, with net earnings of $26.3 million and available distributable cash of $30.1 million. As anticipated, cash distributions declared were $23.9 million, consisting of $8.7 million to the Fund and $15.1 million to Bell Nordiq Group Inc. "Our solid second quarter performance is the result of both stable organic growth and strong margins," commented Roch L. Dubé, president and CEO, Bell Nordiq Group Inc. "Our growth businesses, Internet and wireless, continued… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

Telus strike imminent

VANCOUVER – Telecommunications Workers Union president Bruce Bell told CKNW radio host Bill Good yesterday that Telus employees will strike on Friday. That’s the date Telus said it would unilaterally impose its latest, last, contract offer on its workers, whether their union approves or not. After four and a half long years without a contract (and without a raise for employees) Telus is fed up, vice-president of corporate affairs Drew McArthur told www.cartt.ca Wednesday. The union has simply refused to budge, not even putting Telus’ contract offer to a vote among its members. Telus first tabled the offer in… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Recent radio growth deep, sustainable, says Cassaday

TORONTO – With huge top and bottom line growth in radio, Corus Entertainment today went to some lengths to show that it isn’t just happenstance or an anomaly, but a broad-based resurgence. The company’s third quarter results, released Thursday, showed the company’s radio profits surged by 21% on a 12% increase in ad revenue. For public companies, this is always challenging. It’s great news now, but then the company is under pressure to grow even more next year. Company CEO John Cassaday showed financial analysts late Thursday afternoon how broadly-based the spike in ad revenue is, saying 12… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Satellite radio is just another competitor, say Corus and Rogers

TORONTO – While many of their radio brethren have either hopped on board one of the Canadian satellite radio license-holders or appealed to the government to rescind the licenses, Corus Radio and Rogers Radio have stayed on the sidelines. During a conference call with financial analysts Thursday, Corus Entertainment CEO John Cassaday said that while he envisions some impact from Canadian Satellite Radio and SIRIUS Canada, they’re nothing but new competitors to overcome. “Our view is that it is possible over time that there will be some impact on in-car tuning to radio but we believe that’s, in all… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Radio profit leaps at Corus

CALGARY – Radio segment profit increased by 21% to $22.2 million, while television segment profit was up 15% to $34.7 million for Corus Entertainment as the company reported its third quarter results today. As for ad revenue, radio posted a 12% increase while the specialty television ad revenue climbed 16%. Corus owns 53 Canadian radio stations and a number of specialty TV channels such as YTV, CMT, W and Scream. Nelvana, the company’s content division, contributed to the momentum with positive earnings and cash flow for the fourth consecutive quarter, says the company. "We were very pleased with our… Continue Reading

Radio / Television News

Personnel shuffles at Q92

TIMMINS – Rogers Radio’s Q92 in Timmins has undergone a few personnel moves recently. General manager market sales Mick Weaver recently departed to head up Rogers’ CHEZ 106 and Oldies 1310 in Ottawa, says Rogers Radio’s Timmins manager Art Pultz. The market sales manager is now Angelo Lia while Pultz has now taken on a larger role as operations manager. Q92’s popular morning man Darryl Spring is now working overnight at the Edge in Toronto – so the Timmins “drive” show is being hosted by Jeff Spindel, who joined from 97.7 Sun FM in Grande Prairie (OK Radio) with… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

UPDATE: Cogeco quadruples Q3 income, is anticipating strong telephony results

MONTREAL – While reporting a quadrupling of third quarter net income to $8.2 million Cogeco Cable, the country’s fourth-largest MSO, said the number of telephone customers it has predicted adding is likely conservative. The company has only been in market with a voice over Internet protocol service since June 8th (and only in some of its markets – Oakville-Burlington launched June 8th, Trois Rivieres three weeks later) and company CEO Louis Audet declined to give any early signup data. However, it has told analysts this year it expected to connect 7,000 to 8,000 telephony customers by the end of… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

OPINION: Don’t let VOIP be a killer app

THE VOIP REVOLUTION could end with a single phone call. No, not by a call from the CRTC deregulating the incumbent telcos, but by one dropped 9-1-1 call. I’ve often wondered why, since the launch of VOIP, the newcomers came to market without 9-1-1 service. When Primus and Vonage and others began, buried in their marketing materials in teeny type, were notes mentioning their service can’t offer some of the basics people have come to expect, like, oh, 9-1-1. While they’ve since moved to offer the emergency calling feature, I thought its absence was unconscionable at launch. Personally, if I’m… Continue Reading

Cable / Telecom News

UPDATE: 20 years to the day… Rogers launches VOIP; Call-Net buy approved

TORONTO – Trust Ted Rogers to have a sense of history. Twenty years to the day after his company (which employs a corporate historian) launched wireless telephony in Canada through Rogers Cantel with a phone call between then-Toronto mayor Art Eggleton and then-Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau, Rogers Communications is officially getting into the wired voice business through voice over Internet protocol and plain old circuit-switched telephony on Friday, July 1st. But, it’s nothing like the launch of Cantel, or Rogers’ earlier wired telephony attempt, Unitel. The company hits the ground not only running, but in a leadership position. The… Continue Reading