Cogeco TV customers down 9,620 in quarter to end-May 2014

Thursday, July 10th, 2014
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MONTRÉAL, Québec — Today, Cogeco Cable Inc. (TSX: CCA) (“Cogeco Cable” or the “Corporation”) announced its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2014, ended May 31, 2014, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”).

Cogeco Cable Canada partnership with TiVo

During the third quarter of fiscal 2014, the Corporation’s subsidiary, Cogeco Cable Canada, recognized an impairment of $32.2 million of property, plant and equipment, capitalized wages and borrowing costs related to an Internet Protocol Television (“IPTV”) solution project on which its Canadian cable services segment had worked. As a result of the unexpected performance issues encountered with the platform, it had to be abandoned by Cogeco Cable Canada.

Subsequently, in order to enhance its competitiveness, Cogeco Cable Canada has concluded a partnership with TiVo Inc. (“TiVo”), a global leader in next-generation television services that enable viewers to consume content across all screens in and out-of-the home to be launched at Cogeco Cable Canada by mid-fiscal 2015. The TiVo solution was successfully launched in the first half of fiscal 2014 at the Corporation’s Atlantic Broadband subsidiary with great customer acceptance.

Customer Statistics

Television service customers:

                                               Net additions (losses)
                           ------------------------------------------
                                 Quarters ended     Nine months ended
                           --------------------  --------------------
                  May 31,    May 31,    May 31,    May 31,    May 31,
                     2014       2014       2013       2014       2013
                ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Total           1,034,991    (9,620)    (8,407)   (31,961)   (21,143)
 Canada           807,831    (8,021)    (7,363)   (26,940)   (17,771)
 United States    227,160    (1,599)    (1,044)    (5,021)    (3,372)

Fiscal 2014 third-quarter and first nine months net losses for Television service customers stood at 9,620 and 31,961 compared to 8,407 and 21,143 for the comparable periods of fiscal 2013.

In Canada, for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2014, net customer losses for Television service stood at 8,021 and 26,940 compared to 7,363 and 17,771 for the same periods last year. Television service customer net losses are mainly due to the promotional offers of competitors for the video service, service category maturity and the IPTV footprint growth from competitors.

In the United States, net customer losses for the Television service stood at 1,599 and 5,021, respectively, for the third quarter and first nine months of fiscal 2014, compared to net losses of 1,044 and 3,372 for the comparable periods of last year as a result of competitive offers in the industry.