Cogeco

Cogeco Inc. is a diversified telecommunications and media company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves residential and commercial customers through various subsidiaries. The company provides cable television, telephone and Internet connectivity services to consumers in parts of Ontario, Quebec, and several regions of the United States. Its media subsidiary operates radio stations and a public transit advertising company in Quebec. COGECO has expanded into business telecommunications and information technology services through its fibre-optic and data centre network. COGECO is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication ("General Communications Company").

History

Cogeco entered the television business in the mid-1950s with the launch of a Radio-Canada affiliate in Trois-Rivières, CKTM-TV. Later the company expanded with the creation of CKSH-TV in Sherbrooke, a radio network and diversification in the cable television industry. Until 2008, Cogeco co-owned the TQS network (now "V") with CTVglobemedia, and eight television stations affiliated with TQS and Radio-Canada. TQS and its five owned-and-operated stations were sold to Remstar Corporation, and the Radio-Canada affiliates were sold directly to Radio-Canada, in 2008. Cogeco is the largest cable company in Canada that does not own any terrestrial TV outlets (Rogers Communications owns City and Omni; Quebecor-owned Vidéotron owns the TVA network with several O&O stations).