Cogeco

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Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline (previously known as Atlantic Broadband), and Cogeco Media.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The company provides a range of telecommunication products and services including cable television, radio and television broadcasting, telephony, and Internet services in Ontario and Quebec in Canada, and in thirteen states along the east coast of the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Cogeco Inc. is a publicly traded company (Template:Tsx) and is controlled through multiple voting shares (accounting for 71.29% of votes) by the Audet family's holding company Gestion Audem Inc.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="crtc-ownchart">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In turn, Cogeco Inc. fully owns Cogeco Media, and owns 82.96% of the voting rights in Cogeco Communications Inc., a separate publicly traded company (Template:Tsx) which owns the Canadian and U.S. cable and telecom operations.<ref name="crtc-ownchart" /> The name Cogeco is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication ("General Communications Company").<ref name="Station identification for CKTM-TV">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

In June 1957, Henri Audet (1918-2012) left the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), became president and managing director of Télévision St. Maurice Inc., and was awarded a broadcasting license by the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) to operate a television station in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. The call sign would be CKTM-TV,<ref name="Station identification for CKTM-TV" /> and it would become an affiliate of the CBC's French-language network. Télévision St. Maurice Inc. was later renamed Cogéco Radio-Télévision Inc., a subsidiary of Cogeco Inc. He would also become chairman and president of La Belle Vision Inc.,<ref name="broadcasting-history.ca">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which was in 1972, Cogeco's first acquisition.<ref name="Cogeco History">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="History of Canadian Broadcasting">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Henri Audet was chairman and CEO of Cogeco Inc. between 1976 and 1993, and later in 1996, was named President Emeritus of Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc.<ref name="Henri Audet Bio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

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File:Cogeco Cable Services inc.gif

Over time, the company divested itself of all its on-air broadcast television assets. In 1989, the company obtained its initial presence in Ontario by acquiring cable systems in Burlington and Oakville and in 1996 expanded further in Ontario by acquiring an additional 25 cable systems (303,000 customers for CA$350 million) from Rogers Communications.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Between 1998 and 2001, Cogeco increased its footprint in both Quebec and Ontario with the acquisition of an additional 19 cable systems.<ref name="Cogeco History" /> In a turn of events, in 2009, and again in 2010, Rogers invested substantially in both Cogeco Inc. and Cogeco Cable Inc.,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> resulting in some speculation surrounding the two rivals.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2011, the company increased its radio station assets by acquiring Corus Québec, a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in 2018 acquired additional radio stations from RNC Média, giving it a total of twenty-two radio stations in Quebec and one in Ontario.<ref name="Cogeco History" /> Also that year, the company purchased Métromédia for CA$41 million to later sell it in 2018 to Bell Media for an undisclosed amount.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 2012, the company also sold its cable system Cabovisão in Portugal to the European media group Altice.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In July 2012, the company expanded into the U.S. market by acquiring the cable system operator Atlantic Broadband.<ref name="Cogeco History" /> In December that same year, it acquired Peer 1 Hosting, an internet infrastructure provider,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and later in October 2015, merged it with its Cogeco Data Services, forming a new subsidiary called Cogeco Peer 1.<ref name="Presenting Cogeco Peer 1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In January 2018, Cogeco Communications Inc. announced that its US subsidiary Atlantic Broadband had completed the acquisition of the cable systems owned by Harron Communications which were operating under the brand name MetroCast<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> for US$1.4 billion,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> making the company the eight largest hybrid fibre coaxial cable operator in North America.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In February 2019, the company announced it sold Cogeco Peer 1 to private equity firm Digital Colony for CA$720 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cogeco Peer 1 later changed its name to Aptum Technologies.

On 2 September 2020, Altice USA announced an unsolicited offer to purchase both Cogeco and Cogeco Communications. Altice announced it would immediately resell Cogeco's Canadian assets to Rogers, which retains large minority interests in both Cogeco companies, while Altice would keep Cogeco's U.S. assets including Atlantic Broadband.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Cogeco's controlling shareholders, the Audet family, indicated shortly thereafter that they would not support the offer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was also rejected by the companies' boards of directors, and Quebec Premier François Legault had also signalled his opposition to losing another major Quebec-based company.<ref name="tgam-rogers-quebec-office">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Altice and Rogers said they would continue to pursue a purchase, with Rogers promising to maintain a separate management team and regional headquarters for its Quebec operations.<ref name="tgam-rogers-quebec-office" /> In October 2020, Altice made a second offer, increasing it to CA$11.1 billion in cash, which was again rejected by the Audet family.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The offer expired that November.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rogers subsequently sold its remaining stakes in the Cogeco companies to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in December 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Following the acquisition of systems in Ohio in 2021, Atlantic Broadband rebranded as Breezeline in early 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 21 October 2020, Cogeco Communications announced an agreement for the acquisition of DERYTelecom by its subsidiary Cogeco Connexion for $405 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Founded in Saguenay, DERYTelecom is the third largest cable company in Quebec. The closing of the transaction is announced on 14 December 2020.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In February 2023, the company announced that it had acquired the telecommunications operation of Internet service provider Oxio.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Digital services

Digital cable television

Within its Canadian cable operations in Ontario and Quebec, 98% of all homes passed by Cogeco Cable-owned plant are able to access digital cable services.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In August 2018, Cogeco announced that it would convert its cablesystems to IPTV using MediaKind platforms.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Internet access

File:CogecoOpticalFiber.jpg

A marker post alerting to the presence of Cogeco optical fiber

Cogeco Cable was one of the first major cable operators to deploy its network compliant with the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) standard to provide all of its Internet Protocol (IP) based services, such as internet access and VoIP as early as 2002.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In April 2009, Cogeco implemented a penalty for surpassing the bandwidth limits for each tier. As of August 2021, Cogeco offers up to gigabit download speeds (30 Mbit/s upload) in certain areas which takes advantage of its DOCSIS 3.1 platform upgrades and 180 Mbit/s download (10 Mbit/s upload) most of its footprint on DOCSIS 3.0.

VoIP digital telephony

Cogeco Cable launched its digital phone service in June 2005, a VoIP-based telephony service offering customers unlimited local & long distance calling within Canada and to the United States, voice mail, call display, call waiting, visual call waiting, call forwarding, 411-directory assistance, 911-emergency assistance, 611-technical support assistance, 711-message relay services and 0-operator services.

See also

• YourTV
• Cogeco radio stations
• List of cable television companies
• List of internet service providers in Canada

External links

• Official website
• Facebook page
• Twitter account
• History of Cogeco Inc. - Canadian Communication Foundation
• CRTC chart of Cogeco's assets