Vidéotron

Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company founded in 1964. It's active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily serves Quebec and Ottawa, as well as the Francophone communities of New Brunswick and some parts of Eastern Ontario. Its principal competitors are Bell Canada and Telus Communications.

Vidéotron is the fifth-largest wireless carrier in Canada, with nearly 1,700,000 mobile subscribers as of Q2 2022.

History

Vidéotron was established in 1964, under the name "Télécâble Vidéotron Ltée" as northern Montreal's first cable television network. It started with 66 subscribers. André Chagnon served as the company's founding president.

On January 24, 1990, Vidéotron launched terminals in Quebec, the first interactive television (ITV) system in North America.

From 1995, the company entered the Internet era and acquired its own Internet portal, InfiniT.com.

In 1997, CF Cable TV, which operated primarily on the western end of the Island of Montreal, southern Laval and Northern Ontario, was acquired by Vidéotron, further expanding its base. The Northern Ontario division was later sold to Regional Cablesystems.

On March 29, 1999, the company launched digital television in Montreal.

By the start of the 21st century, Rogers Communications struck an accord with the Chagnon family to purchase Vidéotron.

In the spring of 2010, Vidéotron launched IllicoWeb, an online television and video-on-demand service. In September, it launched a 3G+ wireless service, with plans to offer a quadruple play service with its existing cable services.

On December 30, 2017, assets from Vidéotron G.P. were transferred to Vidéotron Ltée, as the company underwent a corporate reorganization.

In September 2018, Vidéotron began beta testing for Fizz, a discount flanker brand on its network.

Services

Vidéotron serves 1,830,400 cable television customers, including over 1,517,600 digital cable subscribers. Vidéotron also has more than 1,408,200 high-speed cable Internet subscribers, the most in Quebec. As of September 2013, the company had activated 478,000 mobile phones, and was providing cable telephone service to nearly 1,281,200 customers.

Vidéotron offers broadband and IPTV-based digital cable television under the Helix and Illico brands, which is based on Comcast's X1 platform and hardware. Helix serves as a successor to the company's existing Illico TV digital cable platform. Vidéotron's community channels are branded as MAtv.

The company offers a subscription video on-demand service known as Illico+ (formerly Club Illico). It has produced original series such as '' Escouade 99'', '' Portrait-Robot'', '' The Night Logan Woke Up (La nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s'est réveillé)'' and '' Mégantic''.

Vidéotron cable services were once available in the United Kingdom, but were acquired and merged into Cable & Wireless plc along with Bell Cablemedia and NYNEX Corporation in 1997.

Cable telephone service

On July 29, 2004, Vidéotron announced plans to launch a telephone service using VoIP technology by the first half of 2005. Vidéotron launched its cable phone service in late 2004 to compete with Bell Canada and Telus. Deployment of this service started on Montreal's South Shore. By press release on January 24, 2005, Vidéotron announced that 300,000 customers on Montreal's South Shore had access to this service and that deployment would continue all over Quebec throughout 2005. Vidéotron also announced that about 2,500 customers had already subscribed to this service, following a trial conducted in the fall of 2004.

Mobile network

In July 2008, Videotron ltée and Quebecor acquired spectrum licences for advanced wireless services from an Industry Canada auction at a total cost of $554,559,000. The licences cover Quebec for an average of 40 MHz spectrum, Toronto with 10 MHz and south-east Ontario. The network was launched on September 9, 2010.

Vidéotron began beta testing in 2018 for a new mid-range mobile flanker brand, , in Quebec and in Ottawa. In 2023, as an aspect of Rogers Communications' acquisition of Shaw Communications, parent company Quebecor acquired Shaw-owned Freedom Mobile.

Technical support

The major centres are located in Montreal, Longueuil, Quebec City, Gatineau, Joliette, Saguenay and St-Hubert. Vidéotron also has outsourced customer service centres that include Utopia, Gexel Telecom and Atelka. In 2007, Videotron formed a partnership with Xceed Contact Centre to outsource some of the call centres to Egypt.

Controversy

High-Speed Extreme Internet

On August 14, 2007, Videotron announced starting October 1 they would impose a 100-gigabyte-per-month download/upload limit with a penalty of $1.50 per extra gigabyte to their previously unrestricted High-Speed Extreme Internet service, even to existing subscribers. This decision created outrage among its Internet users, and led to a class action suit against Videotron by consumer advocacy group Union des Consommateurs. In September 2013, the court authorized the suit to proceed. Ultimately the Quebec Superior Court rendered a $1.2 million judgment in favour of the plaintiffs.

See also

* List of Canadian mobile phone companies
* List of internet service providers in Canada

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Videotron
Canadian companies established in 1964
Telecommunications companies established in 1964
1964 establishments in Quebec
2007 controversies
Cable and DBS companies of Canada
Quebecor
Internet service providers of Canada
Companies based in Montreal
Mobile phone companies of Canada