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| Type | Subsidiary of Quebecor Media |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1964 |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec |
| Key people | Robert Dépatie (President & CEO) |
| Industry | telecommunications |
| Products | cable television, high speed internet, telephone, Wireless communication |
| Website | Videotron Ltd. |
Vidéotron Limited is a Canadian integrated Telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. The company primarily serves the Quebec region, the francophone communities of New Brunswick and some parts of Eastern Ontario. It is a subsidiary of Quebecor Media.
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History
Vidéotron was established in 1964, under the name "Télécâble Vidéotron ltée." as northern Montreal's first cable television network. Their initial subscriber base was 66. André Chagnon served as the company's founding president. From 1966 - 1969, the company acquired and upgraded their network to fill all of Quebec. By 1980, Vidéotron acquired Câblevision Nationale to become the largest teledistributor in Quebec. Vidéotron acquires Télé-Métropole in 1986, the largest private French-language television company in North America. By 1990, Vidéotron launches Vidéoway terminals in Quebec, the first system of interactive television in North America. 5 years later, the company enters the Internet era and acquires their own Internet portal, InfiniT.com. CF Cable, which operates primarily on the western end of the Island of Montreal, southern Laval and Northern Ontario, is acquired by Vidéotron in 1997, further expanding their base. The Northern Ontario division, subsequently, was sold to Regional Cablesystems. The company launches digital television in spring of 1999 in Montreal, and then in Hull and Quebec City in the autumn.
By the start of the 21st century, Rogers Communications strikes an accord with the Chagnon family to purchase Vidéotron. However, citing cultural sovereignty concerns, the second-largest shareholder invokes their right to veto the purchase. Quebecor acquires Vidéotron instead, after months of legal proceedings. On May 23, 2001, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approves the transfer of broadcasting licenses from Vidéotron to Quebecor; allowing the interactive television service illico to be launched.
Video on demand and high-definition television become available in 2003. Vidéotron launches wireless service in August 2006 and, two years later the company announced the launch of two new internet access services; Ultimate Speed Internet 30 and Ultimate Speed Internet 50 will deliver speeds of 30 Mbit/s and 50 Mbit/s respectively.
Business
Vidéotron serves 1,732,600 cable television customers, including over 1,000,000 digital cable subscribers. Vidéotron also has more than 1,109,000 high-speed cable Internet subscribers, the most in Quebec. As of August 2009, the company has activated 73,480 phones through their wireless service as well as providing cable telephone service to nearly 934,900 customers.[1] Vidéotron's cable services are available in Montreal, Quebec City, Gatineau, Sherbrooke and Saguenay. Vidéotron also serves areas in eastern Ontario, such as Rockland and the surrounding municipality of Clarence-Rockland.
Vidéotron cable services has also been available in the United Kingdom, Africa, and the United States. One of its previous subsidiaries, Videotron Telecom, was financed by the Carlyle Group.
Vidéotron also provides telecommunication services to business and governments since the integration of Vidéotron Télécom into Vidéotron Ltée. The services include dark fiber, SONET, ATM, and Ethernet links as well as video circuits used by various Quebec television networks.
Vidéotron's cable community channels are branded as VOX.
Videotron Wireless Network
In July 2008, Videotron ltée and Quebecor officially acquired spectrum licenses for advanced wireless services from Industry Canada auction at a total cost of $554,559,000. The licenses cover Quebec for an average of 40MHz spectrum, Toronto with 10MHz and south-east Ontario. The network is expected to be fully operational in late 2009.
Pornography and Project Cleanfeed
In November 2006, Vidéotron, Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, MTS Allstream, Rogers, Shaw, SaskTel and Telus, in conjunction with cybertip.ca (a nationwide tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children), announced the creation of Project Cleanfeed Canada, an initiative designed to block access to hundreds of child pornography sites. Videotron launched, in 2007, the Vigilance on the Net campaign. The campaign visited several Quebec high schools in the Fall of 2007 to deliver security messages directly to teens and their parents.
Extreme High-Speed Internet
On August 14, 2007, Videotron announced starting October 1 they will impose a 100 GiB per month download/upload limit with $1.50 per extra GiB to their previously unrestricted High-Speed Extreme Internet service, even to existing signed subscribers.[2] This decision created outrage among its Internet users, and has led to a class action suit against Videotron by consumer advocacy group Union des Consommateurs; the action is still pending.
Call Centers
The major centers are located in Montreal, Quebec City and St-Hubert. Vidéotron also has outsourced customer service centers that include Utopia, Gexel Telecom, Synergie-Contact and Atelka. In 2007, Videotron made a partnership with Xceed Contact Center to outsource some of the call centers to Egypt.
References
See also
External links
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