Vidéotron

Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily serves Quebec and Ottawa, as well as the Francophone communities of New Brunswick and some parts of Eastern Ontario. Its principal competitors are Bell Canada and Telus Communications. Vidéotron is the fifth-largest wireless carrier in Canada, with nearly 1,700,000 mobile subscribers as of Q2 2022. Vidéotron was established in 1964, under the name "Télécâble Vidéotron Ltée" as northern Montreal's first cable television network. It started with 66 subscribers. André Chagnon served as the company's founding president. From 1966 to 1969, Vidéotron expanded by acquiring several cable networks in many regions of the province of Quebec. In 1969, the company offered the first pay-per-view service under the name Sélecto-TV. In 1974, a bi-directional network was created in Saint-Jérôme, one of the first in the world at the time. By 1980, Vidéotron acquired Câblevision Nationale to become the largest teledistributor in Quebec. Vidéotron acquired Télé-Métropole in 1986, the largest private French-language television company in North America. In 1989 the company opened the first video rental stores: Le SuperClub Vidéotron. Its first fiber optic network was created between the cities of Quebec and Montreal. On January 24, 1990, Vidéotron launched fr terminals in Quebec, the first interactive television (ITV) system in North America. From 1995, the company entered the Internet era and acquired its own Internet portal, InfiniT.com. In 1997, CF Cable TV, which operated primarily on the western end of the Island of Montreal, southern Laval and Northern Ontario, was acquired by Vidéotron, further expanding its base. The Northern Ontario division was later sold to Regional Cablesystems. On March 29, 1999, the company launched digital television in Montreal.