Cogeco digital cable up 32k subscribers in quarter to end-November

MONTRÉAL — Today, COGECO Inc. (TSX: CGO) (“COGECO” or the “Company”) announced its financial results for the first quarter 2010, ended November 30, 2009.

In the cable sector, first quarter RGU net additions were higher than for the same period of last year with a growth of 89,785 compared to 52,714.

Canada

The Canadian operations’ net additions to RGU of 63,172 were essentially the same as compared to 65,463 for the same period of the prior year, and continue to generate RGU growth despite early signs of maturation of some of its services. The number of net additions for Basic Cable service customers stood at 8,919 compared to 8,833 for the same period of the prior year, mainly due to the beginning of the school year for college and university students and from expansions in the network.

The Digital Television service net additions stood at 16,106 customers compared to 18,220 customers for the first quarter, and are due to targeted marketing initiatives to improve penetration and to the continuing strong interest for HD television service.

Europe (Cabovisão)

The European operations net additions have begun to stabilize and reflect the benefits of the Portuguese subsidiary’s customer retention and acquisition strategies launched at the end of the 2009 fiscal year in order to reduce the customer attrition brought on by the difficult competitive landscape in Portugal and economic environment in the Iberian Peninsula throughout the previous fiscal year. The RGU net additions for the first three months of fiscal 2010 amounted to 26,613 compared to net losses of 12,749 for the same period of the previous year. Basic Cable service customers decreased by 562 customers compared to a decrease of 8,035 customers in the comparable period of the prior year.

The number of Digital Television service customers grew by 16,114 customers in the first quarter of the current fiscal year compared to 5,397 customers in the first quarter of the prior year.

Digital Television service customers:

           November 30,  August 31,
                   2009        2009
           ------------  ----------
Canada          514,504     498,398
 Ontario        336,270     326,227
 Québec         178,234     172,171
Portugal        118,867     102,753
           ------------  ----------
Total           633,371     601,151

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