please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message cogeco inc. type public company traded as tsx cgo tsx cca industry mass media telecommunication founded trois rivi res quebec canada 1957 1 founder henri audet headquarters montreal quebec canada key people louis audet president and ceo jan peeters chairman of the board products cable tv internet telecommunications broadcasting website corpo.cogeco.com cca www.cogeco.ca 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 subsidiaries operate radio stations and a public transit advertising company in quebec as well as business telecommunications and information technology services through its fibre optic and data centre network . cogeco is an acronym for compagnie g n rale de communication general communications company . 2 contents 1 history 2 digital services 2.1 digital cable television 2.2 internet access 2.3 voip digital telephony 2.4 cogeco data services 3 cogeco diffusion inc. 3.1 radio 3.1.1 acquisition of corus qu bec 3.2 television 3.3 cogeco m trom dia 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit cogeco entered the television business in the mid 1950s with the launch of a radio canada affiliate in trois rivi res cktm tv . citation needed 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 citation needed 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 citation needed rogers communications owns city and omni ; quebecor owned vid otron owns the tva network with several o & o stations . through its broadcast holdings cogeco cable tsx cca is a major cable television distributor offering analogue and digital television high speed internet services and voip telephony . it is the second largest cable system operator in ontario and in quebec citation needed respectively behind rogers & vid otron and the fourth largest in canada . starting in 2006 cogeco cable began overhauling its ontario and quebec hybrid fibre coaxial physical plant networks to expand the total amount of bandwidth available . the ability to offer expanded 2 way bidirectional services such as high definition digital cable high speed internet and voip digital telephony and to improve network reliability is the driving force behind this upgrade . after upgrades are complete the ontario network will have 750 mhz citation needed of bandwidth and the quebec network will have 550 mhz of bandwidth . citation needed with this capacity a total of 110 or 83 analogue channels depending on the network can be transmitted . given that each analogue channel occupies 6 mhz of bandwidth cogeco utilizes the latest compression multiplexing and modulation technologies to be able to transmit up to thirteen standard definition tv signals or else up to three high definition tv signals on each of these channels . 3 cogeco used to own cabovis o a cable system in portugal ; on february 29 2012 that it was announced that cogeco sold cabovis o to altice a european media group . 4 cogeco acquired the u.s. based cable provider atlantic broadband in july 2012 . 5 in december 2012 cogeco acquired peer 1 hosting a canadian based internet infrastructure provider specializing in managed hosting dedicated servers cloud services and colocation . 6 digital services edit digital cable television edit 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 with 90 % of homes passed also able to access digital video on demand services . 93 % of homes passed also have access to cogeco cable s two way bi directional cable plant giving customers the ability to enjoy high definition tv programming and high speed internet services . 3 cogeco cable uses motorola and pace set top boxes for delivery of their digital cable services . three choices are available a standard definition television sdtv receiver a high definition television hdtv receiver and an hd pvr . citation needed internet access edit a marker post alerting to the presence of cogeco optical fiber cogeco cable uses a docsis 3.0 compliant network citation needed to provide all of their internet protocol ip based services such as internet access and voip . to position itself as a leader in delivering broadband solutions to its customers cogeco cable became actively involved in the docsis program citation needed and was one of the first major cable operators to deploy a docsis based network . 7 in april 2009 cogeco implemented a penalty for surpassing the bandwidth limits for each tier for standard this is 1.50 per 1gb to a maximum of 50 monthly . a three month history is available online . since february 2013 cogeco has offered 60mbit s download speeds in select areas which takes advantage of the new docsis 3.0 platform upgrades . this platform takes advantage of four downstream data carriers and a special docsis 3.0 cable modem to provide speeds of over 250mbit s. voip digital telephony edit 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 & 0 operator services . as of october 16 2006 70 % of all homes passed by cogeco cable plant are able to access this service . 8 cogeco data services edit on april 1 2008 cogeco acquired maxess networx a division of enwin utilities . 9 on june 13 2008 cogeco acquired the telecommunications division of toronto hydro toronto s municipal electric utility . as of august 1 2008 toronto hydro telecom is now known as cogeco data services . 10 on august 2 2011 cogeco cable acquired quiettouch inc. and was integrated under cogeco data services to complement cds array of services . on august 31 2011 cogeco cable acquired mto telecom inc. the largest private telecom provider and fibre network operator in the montreal greater area and was integrated under cogeco data services to expand cds presence in the province of quebec . cogeco diffusion inc. edit the media subsidiary that began as cogeco radio t l vision was renamed cogeco diffusion inc. in 2011 following the takeover of corus quebec from corus entertainment . radio edit prior to cogeco s acquisition of corus qu bec all its stations except cjmf fm were part of the adult contemporary network rythme fm . montreal cfgl fm 105.7 quebec city cjec fm 91.9 later sold to leclerc communication quebec city cjmf fm 93.3 sherbrooke cfge fm 93.7 trois rivi res cjeb fm 100.1 cogeco also owned the now defunct cko radio network after acquiring agra subsidiary cybermedix in 1989 ; the network and its stations went dark in november of that year . acquisition of corus qu bec edit on april 30 2010 it was announced that cogeco will acquire all radio stations owned by corus entertainment in quebec including its corus qu bec group of stations and montreal anglophone station cfqr fm since re called ckbe fm pending crtc approval . 11 cogeco will acquire these stations for 80 million as these stations are less profitable to corus than their stations in other parts of canada . 12 however cogeco must either apply with the crtc for an exemption from the common ownership policy or sell off some of these or their own stations as they will be over the maximum allowable number of stations in montreal quebec city and sherbrooke . the sale of the corus qu bec stations to cogeco was approved by the crtc on december 17 2010 on the condition that cogeco owned cjec fm and corus owned cfel fm and ckoy fm since re called cjts fm be sold to another party by december 2011 . 13 on november 9 2011 it was announced that cogeco would sell cfel fm and cjec fm to leclerc communication inc. a company owned by quebec city businessman jacques leclerc owner of laura secord chocolates and biscuits leclerc . 14 the sale was approved by the crtc on january 19 and completed on january 31 2012 . 15 the stations were delisted from cogeco diffusion s website shortly thereafter . 16 cjts fm would cease operations on december 6 2011 when cogeco was unable to find a buyer for the station by the deadline ; 17 its license has since been cancelled . 18 the sale included the transmitter sites and equipment in kahnawake which had been used for cinf and cinw before the stations closed down in january 2010 ; the sale excluded the licences as they were submitted to the crtc for cancellation . 19 the sale did not include ckrs fm in saguenay which was sold to a local company radio saguenay . 20 the stations acquired were gatineau cjrc fm now ckof fm montreal cfqr fm now ckbe fm chmp fm ckac ckoi fm quebec city cfom fm cfel fm cfel later sold to leclerc communication saint j r me cime fm sherbrooke ckoy fm cjts fm cjts now defunct trois rivi res chln fm now ckob fm television edit cogeco t l vision cogeco s primary television venture is the tvcogeco system of local community channels in markets served by cogeco cable . as of the sale of tqs cogeco no longer owns any conventional television assets . in 2008 . cogeco also sold its 20 % interest in canal indigo to quebecor media . citation needed the five tqs o & os which were owned by cogeco were acquired by remstar as part of the tqs transaction montreal cfjp tqs quebec city cfap tqs saguenay cfrs tqs sherbrooke cfks tqs trois rivi res cfkm tqs concurrently cogeco also sold its three t l vision de radio canada affiliates directly to the cbc saguenay cktv radio canada sherbrooke cksh radio canada trois rivi res cktm radio canada cogeco m trom dia edit on december 6 2011 cogeco acquired m trom dia cmr plus inc. a company that specialises in transit advertising in various canadian cities . m trom dia cmr plus had been related to the m trom dia cmr group of radio stations that was acquired by corus in 2005 and eventually resold to cogeco but was not part of the sale to corus . 21 see also edit tvcogeco references edit cogeco annual report 2006 pdf . retrieved 2007 04 14 . ez2me2009 2011 04 14 . station identification for cktm tv which included the cogeco logo and its meaning . youtube . retrieved 2011 11 28 . a b cogeco annual report 2006 page 10 pdf . retrieved 2007 04 14 . sale of cabovis o televis o por cabo s.a. to european group altice pdf . retrieved 2012 03 01 . cogeco cable inc. acquires atlantic broadband pdf . july 18 2012 . retrieved 14 may 2014 . cogeco cable inc. to acquire peer 1 network entreprises inc. pdf . july 18 2012 . retrieved 14 may 2014 . cable television laboratories inc. specs news & technology newsletter august 2002 . retrieved 2007 04 14 . cogeco annual report 2006 page 5 pdf . retrieved