Montréal, April 6, 2004 – Vidéotron's illico digital service grew at an unprecedented rate in 2003, achieving a net increase of 76,000 subscribers and a total customer base of over 240,000. Committed to continued innovation and more choices for subscribers, Vidéotron is announcing a wide range of new offerings on its digital illico service. New channels and services will be phased in between April 7 and 30.
New additions
12 digital specialty channels in Québec City*
22 channels in Ville Saguenay, Saint-Félicien, Rivière-du-Loup, Saint-Pascal and La Pocatière*
8 new channels in Montréal and Gatineau*
City TV will be added throughout Québec
Two religious channels will also be added to all Vidéotron grids:
- EWTN, a global, commercial-free Catholic network offering commercial-free, familyoriented programming, ranging from daily live mass and devotionals, talk shows, concerts, teaching series and children's shows;
- Salt + Light, Canada's Catholic network, broadcasting mainly in English, but also in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese; five program categories?prayer and devotionals, liturgy and celebration, faith and teaching, action and justice, and community and media.
The Montréal and Gatineau regions will get a new ethnic channel, Festival Portuguese, broadcasting a mix of sports, novellas, films, talk shows, children's programs and news from Portugal and around the world, along with coverage of Canada's Portuguese-speaking community.
The illico service will also be upgraded with the addition of the following High Definition channels:
In every region of Québec where illico is available, the basic HD package consisting of NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, Rogers Sportsnet and an HD pay-perview channel from Viewer's Choice;
In addition to the basic package, the HD line-up will be enhanced with five new HD channels (City TV, Fox, CTV Toronto, The Movie Network and a second HD pay-per-view channel from Viewer's Choice) in Montréal, Gatineau, Ville Saguenay, Saint-Félicien, Rivière-du-Loup, Saint-Pascal and La Pocatière.
Vidéotron, the undisputed leader in home entertainment, lets customers watch what they want when they want. On March 2, the company announced the launch of its HD PVR (high definition personal video recorder), demonstrating its commitment to innovating and continuously enhancing its services in order to entertain and satisfy its subscribers.
Vidéotron Ltée, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development and Internet access services. Vidéotron Ltée is a leader in new technologies, thanks to illico, its interactive television system and its highbandwidth network allowing it to offer, among other services, high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital TV services. In Québec, Vidéotron serves 1,433,000 million cable customers; more than 240,000 also subscribe to interactive TV on its digital service illico. Vidéotron is also the leader in highspeed cable Internet access throughout Québec, with more than 435,000 Internet customers by cable modem and dial-up modem.
* The full list of new digital channels is provided in specific press releases for each region.
