Montréal, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 Videotron today posted impressive growth for the third consecutive quarter, exceeding its subscription forecasts for each of its four products: cable television, cable telephone, Internet access and wireless telephone service.
Cable television
As of September 30, 2007, Videotron had a total customer base of 1,616,000 across its cable TV service area. In the third quarter of 2007, Videotron posted a net increase of 41,000 subscribers to its illico Digital TV service, bringing the total to 720 000. Consumer response to illico on Demand, Videotron's video on demand (VoD) service, continues to be enthusiastic. Year-to-date, illico on Demand has logged more than 15.6 million paid and free orders, including 5.5 million orders in the third quarter of 2007. Illico on Demand exclusives such as Le Banquier and specials stemming from summer 2007 sponsorships, such as Juste pour rire and Les Francofolies de Montréal, proved highly popular. The VoD service Videotron launched in 2003 remains the only such service in Videotron's service area to offer a catalogue of more than 1,500 titles.
Cable telephone service
As of September 30, 2007, 574,000 households and organizations were subscribed to Videotron's cable telephone service. Between July 1 and September 30, 2007, 70,100 Quebecers signed up for the service, compared with 60,900 subscriptions in the same period of 2006. Videotron set a new weekly record during August 2007 with 8,700 new cable telephone customers in one week, including 1,900 subscriptions in a single day. The service also set a new record for quarterly growth.
"I am proud to be able to say that since the deregulation of the local telephone market in the spring, Videotron has continued to compete successfully and our cable telephone product has maintained and indeed increased its popularity with Québec consumers," said Robert Dépatie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Videotron. "We have a high-performance product, delivered via a robust and reliable network, and it is changing the way people think about residential telephone service."
Since the beginning of 2007, an average of 35% of weekly sales of Videotron's cable telephone service have been to customers who did not previously subscribe to any Videotron product. Approximately 67.5% of them took the "trio" package of cable telephone, cable television and Internet service.
Internet
Videotron's Internet access products also posted strong growth. The subscriber increase of 43,900 registered in the third quarter of 2006 was exceeded this year, with the addition of 45,100 new customers during the quarter, bringing the total customer base to 899,000 as of September 30, 2007.
Wireless telephone service
As of the end of the third quarter, Videotron had activated 39,000 phones on its wireless telephone service, a quarterly increase of 8,000 phones. Videotron is continuing development of this platform by adding new and more varied content.
Videotron Ltd. (www.videotron.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development, Internet access services, cable telephony and wireless telephone service. Videotron is a leader in new technologies with its illico interactive television system and its broadband network, which supports high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital cable television, and other services. As of September 30, 2007, Videotron was serving 1,616,000 cable television customers in Québec, including 720,000 illico subscribers. Videotron is the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 899,000 subscribers to its cable modem service. As of September 30, 2007, Videotron had activated 39,000 phones on its wireless telephone service and was providing cable telephone service to nearly 574,000 Québec households and organizations.
