Montréal, January 29, 2004 - Many of the commercials seen during Canadian broadcasts of the 38th Super Bowl, to be played in Houston on Sunday, February 1, will be Canadian, not American. The US network's commercials will be replaced by the commercials carried by the networks that rebroadcast the game in Québec and English Canada.
Simultaneous signal substitution is a CRTC-authorized technical procedure, the basic purpose of which is to replace US commercials by those of Canadian broadcasters in Québec and English Canadian markets. The local cable operator is required to make the substitution. In view of the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast, Vidéotron is reminding subscribers that simultaneous substitution was introduced at the request of Canadian broadcasters, not cable operators.
Vidéotron is aware that signal substitution can be frustrating to sport fans and to television viewers interested in advertising, who want to see the full broadcast in its original form. We regret any inconvenience caused by this situation, which is beyond our control.
Vidéotron Ltée, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor Média 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 high-bandwidth network allowing it to offer, among other services, high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital TV services. In Quebec, Vidéotron serves 1,423,000 million cable customers; more than 213,000 also subscribe to interactive TV on its digital service illico. Vidéotron is also the leader in high-speed cable Internet access throughout Quebec, with more than 430,000 Internet customers by cable modem and dial-up modem.
