Montréal – November 1st, 2004 – etc.tv and Vidéotron ltée today announced that the atwo companies will cooperate in the development of a ground-breaking interactive Television advertising application on the Videotron digital cable distribution system. etc.tv, Canada's Advertising on Demand Network, is a revolutionary interactive advertising application which leverages digital Television infrastructures to enable advertisers to more fully engage interested consumers with compelling content.
Reaching and holding consumer attention is one of the major challenges confronting advertisers in the evolving digital Television environment, said Robert Dépatie, President and chief executive officer of Vidéotron ltée. etc.tv leverages the unique video on demand (VOD) capability of our two-way digital network to allow viewers to link from thirty second commercials directly to long form television advertising content.
etc.tv allows Canadian broadcast distribution undertakings to participate in new advertising revenue streams while offering their digital subscribers compelling features, benefiting all stakeholders in the Television value chain.
Today's announcement signals the beginning of a new era in television advertising in Canada, commented Mark Sherman, President of etc.tv. We are ushering in a new era in which the consumer is increasingly in control of both entertainment and advertising consumption. Logically focused, digital technologies can unleash as yet unrealized potential in Television advertising. etc.tv has been designed specifically to bring increased value to viewsers, distributors, broadcasters and the engine of the commercial television model; Canada's advertisers.
Vidéotron ltée (www.videotron.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development and Internet access services. Vidéotron 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. Vidéotron serves 1,450,000 cable television customers in Québec; including over 308,000 illico subscribers. Vidéotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed cable Internet access, with 501,000 subscribers to its cable modem and dial-up services.
The etc.tv network is a cross-platform, standardized business model developed in the Media Experts iTV Lab which leverages the Video on Demand environment to allow Canadian Television viewsers access to Long Form Advertisements (LFAs), on demand. Media Experts, Canada's tenth largest Media buying company, created the iTV Lab in 2000 to understand, explore, and experiment in interactive Television.
