Videotron ‘full speed’ ahead on IPTV: Brouillette

Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron is working on deploying its new IPTV service as quickly as possible, Manon Brouillette, CEO of the company’s telecom division, told analysts in a conference call Wednesday. “We want to to the market as fast as possible,” she said, following the company's fourth quarter report. Brouillette declined to offer any more details, promising to provide “more information close to the launch.” Videotron announced in August it plans to, like Canada’s other major cablecos, launch an IPTV service based on Comcast Corp.’s X1 platform. Telecom revenues were up 4.5 per cent year-over-year to $841.4 million in the three months ending Dec. 2017, the company said. Wireless revenues posted the biggest jump, increasing 18 per cent to $161.8 million. Internet revenues also increased, at a smaller rate of 5.9 per cent, for a total of $263.1 million. Cable TV was down 1.1 per cent to $253.4 million, though streaming platform Club Illico saw a significant boost, going up 25.6 per cent to $10.8 million. In the quarter, the company added 33,700 wireless customers, more than the 26,200 it added in the same period a year ago, and 12,400 internet customers, less than the 16,700 increase in the same quarter the previous year. However, it lost nearly double the number of TV customers as a year ago, reporting it was down 8,500 customers in the quarter, compared to 4,800. Year-end TV customers stood at 1.64 million, down from 1.69 million at the end of the previous year, while internet customers were up from 1.61 million to 1.67 million. Over-the-top (OTT) subscribers went from 314,700 to 361,600, over that year. Wireless saw the biggest subscriber increase, from 893,900 to 1.02 million, while wireless average revenue per user (ARPU) went from $51.96 to $53.56. Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi said in a Wednesday note that he was pleased to “see wireless ARPU growth accelerating after a disappointing 3Q17 performance. Overall, we continue to see room for wireless growth as continuous network improvement and bundling power should help close the market share gap with incumbents.” Media revenues were down 10.2 per cent to $199.5 million, the company said. It noted its broadcasting revenues fell 8.7 per cent, due to lower advertising revenues at TVA as well as lower subscription revenues at its specialty channels, which it said were “negatively affected by the decision on TVA Sports’ royalty fees.” The company has filed for leave to appeal that decision in the Federal Court of Appeal. However, the specialty channels saw higher ad revenues, the results noted. Overall, Quebecor reported $1.06 billion in revenues in the quarter, up 0.8 per cent from the same quarter a year earlier. Net income was $86.4 million, down from $143.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. The company said a comparable $57.7 million decrease in its net income attributable to shareholders included a $56.8 million hit due to "unfavourable impact of fluctuations in the fair value of convertible debentures.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

Videotron ‘full speed’ ahead on IPTV: Brouillette

Broadcast | March 14, 2018

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Videotron ‘full speed’ ahead on IPTV: Brouillette

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