CEO Pruneau wants it to be the in-home hub for Quebecers
MONTREAL — Vidéotron has officially joined the IPTV family, announcing Tuesday its Helix platform is available to the general public as of now.
Using Comcast's X1 technology, which is also deployed by Rogers (Ignite) and Shaw (BlueSky), it includes features like cloud-based DVR, restart of missed live TV programs, voice-controlled remote, intelligent Wi-Fi and combined search of live TV, video-on-demand and three streaming apps: YouTube, Netflix and Videotron's own Club Illico.
But those three apps are it for now. No Amazon Prime Video, or Bell's Crave, or DAZN, or Radio-Canada's Tou.tv, which is very popular in Quebec. Vidéotron CEO Jean-François Pruneau (pictured) and other company employees stress most video viewing happens on the platforms Helix features, and others will be added soon, but there is nothing firm, yet. There is also no ability to create custom apps, which means many power streamers will have to keep their Rokus or Chromecasts around.
"We'll listen to Quebecers, if they show an interest," Pruneau told Cartt.ca when asked about the omissions. "We want to be the veritable hub for Quebecers… Innovation at Videotron is an ongoing process. It's a platform that will continue to innovate."
He noted that discussions with Netflix took some time (billing will still be managed through Netflix), and that he wants to add services like the upcoming Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.
Though streaming services are available through the app, there is no plan to offer alternatives to the set top box, which remains necessary to run the voice controls. As well, some content available in home will not be available outside of customers’ homes. Helix will also offer some additional TV channels that are not on the capacity-limited legacy Illico cable system. (The separate systems will also have different channel number assignments, which will complicate things for TV guides.)
Package prices are similar to the existing Illico system (which will continue to be offered, at least in the short to mid term), but the new equipment costs extra. Customers will be given the option to buy the new equipment outright or on a 36-month payment plan — $7 a month for the gateway/router, $5 a month for each television set-top box, and $6 for a package of three wi-fi extenders (though Frédéric Déry, vice-president of product and customer experience, estimates only about one in 10 users will need them in their homes).
Pruneau said he was not willing to share targets for adoption of the new service and equipment, but said they were "ambitious."
The in-home gear (pictured) is smaller and simpler than previous systems. The television terminal has only four connectors 
— HDMI input, HDMI output, ethernet and power via USB-C. It no longer requires a coaxial cable connected directly into the terminal, and can connect to the Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi gateway has cable, power, telephone and ethernet connections.
Some of the features Vidéotron is promoting as part of the system:
Restart: Access to unrecorded up to 72 hours in the past, depending on the rights agreements Vidéotron has with each TV channel. Notably, this feature is not available on Bell Media's TSN and RDS channels, though it is with Crave and CTV. Vidéotron says the feature is available with 173 channels — 74 of those channels going back up to 72 hours.
Download-and-go: About 1,200 titles are available as downloads that can be saved to a device and accessed on flights and other places that don't have internet access.
Intelligent Wi-Fi: Set up profiles for individual users, and monitor and control Wi-Fi access for each profile, including limiting the amount of time spent online and setting curfews. Automatic diagnostics of connection quality and speed. Controllable outside the home online or through an app.
Smart home integration: Control smart lighting and locks via the Helix app and voice-recognition remote control.
Voice-controlled remote: Speak into a remote control and access content from television, on-demand or streaming services. This is the fun feature people will talk about most.
On-screen widgets: A menu offering statistics and schedules for sports leagues, including the ability to follow favourite teams, and set recordings for their upcoming matches. Plus weather and other useful data.
Several features offered by Comcast and Vidéotron's competitors are still missing. There is no integration with telephone services, such as the ability to play voicemail on the television. Pruneau said that feature is being tested with Comcast's users before being expanded to Comcast's partners.
The lack of a Crave app, and no restart option for TSN and RDS, suggests dealing with Bell (who is also their main competitor in IPTV services in Quebec with Fibe) is a major challenge for Helix to gain traction. Bell and Vidéotron parent Quebecor are engaged in several legal and regulatory battles, including over how the other provider is packaging Bell's Super Écran pay TV channel.
"Bell is a competitor, a client, a provider. In the spectrum of business relations they're everywhere," Pruneau said. "I still have confidence that we'll arrive at a deal."
Another Bell-Quebecor battle concerns the Abitibi region in northwestern Quebec, where Bell subsidiary Cablevision du Nord is the incumbent cable provider and Vidéotron is trying to expand service as a third party. Pruneau said his company is serious about expanding into that region.
"You can't be more serious than that," he said, calling it a market with no real competition.
Is Vidéotron considering expanding into other areas, perhaps those served by Cogeco? "Everything is on the table," he said. "We're studying region by region."
Pruneau said the launch of Helix was the culmination of 18 months of hard work by 3,000 employees. The main challenge was the translation of the X1 system for Quebec's French-language market. "Francization wasn't enough," he said, so employees trained the voice recognition system to work with all sorts of different Quebec accents, from Saguenay to Gatineau. He said he was "very, very happy" with the co-ordination with Comcast, and even invited his employees to applaud a group of Comcast employees present at the launch.
Pruneau also said Vidéotron will improve its monthly billing, too, which he admitted was getting complaints from users for being too complicated. He said the new bills will be easier to understand. The company is also updating its website, offering a "more personalized" shopping experience, and giving users the ability to request personalized quotes based on their individual needs.
Photo by Steve Faguy.
