According to Cogeco Cable, CRTC Measures to Support Over-the-Air Broadcasters Will Come at a Higher Cost to Cable and

MONTREAL, CANADA, Jul 06 (MARKET WIRE) --
Following the release earlier today of public notices by the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Cogeco Cable
Inc. (TSX: CCA) is deeply concerned with the federal broadcasting
regulator's decision to impose substantial and growing cross-subsidies
for the benefit of Canadian over-the-air (OTA) television broadcasters
through a number of parallel regulatory measures.

Cogeco Cable already pays 5% of all its revenue derived from video
distribution to fund Canadian television programming initiatives, which
include the independently-managed Canadian Media Fund and Cogeco Program
Development Fund. On October 30, 2008, the CRTC decided to create a new
local programming improvement fund (LPIF) of approximately $68 million
annually to provide further financial support for local programs of the
Canadian OTA television broadcasters. Canadian OTA television
broadcasters are comprised essentially of the large public and private
commercial television networks. To finance this new fund, the CRTC
decided to impose an additional cross-subsidy of 1% of cable and
satellite video distribution revenue. This additional mandatory
cross-subsidy has now been increased to 1.5% of video distribution
revenue to bring the LPIF at over $100 million annually. A 6.5% aggregate
cross-subsidy represents on average approximately $48 per year for the
Cogeco cable video consumer.

Of even greater concern is the fact that the CRTC has now reversed its
position on fees for carriage and also decided to require that Canadian
cable and satellite distributors pay substantial additional amounts to
Canadian OTA television broadcasters for the distribution of their
signals, which are available over the air for free, while continuing to
require the distribution of these signals on cable and satellite. Based
on publicly stated broadcaster expectation, this may well have an
additional average impact of up to $60 per year for Cogeco Cable video
customers.

Another source for concern is the threat by the CRTC to have US
television network signals removed from cable and satellite in Canada in
order to further protect Canadian OTA television broadcasters.

"The CRTC has embarked on a course of action that will inevitably cause
cable and satellite retail rates to rise significantly, and the choice of
services presently available on Canadian cable and satellite to be
further constrained, through these regulatory measures. Sadly, Canadian
consumers have only until August 10, in the middle of summer vacations,
to make their voice heard on these measures by filing comments in
writing. The logic of having Canadian cable and satellite customers pay
substantially more to support in fact the costly acquisition of prime
time American television programs and its aggregation with subsidized
Canadian local programs by the Canadian OTA television broadcasters
should be seriously challenged", said Louis Audet, President and CEO of
Cogeco Cable.

ABOUT COGECO CABLE

Cogeco Cable (www.cogeco.ca) is a telecommunications company and is the
second largest cable operator in Ontario, Quebec and Portugal, in terms
of the number of Basic Cable service customers served. Through its
two-way broadband cable networks, Cogeco Cable provides its residential
customers with Audio, Analogue and Digital Television, as well as HSI and
Telephony services. Cogeco Cable also provides, to its commercial
customers, data networking, e-business applications, video conferencing,
hosting services, Ethernet, private line, VoIP, HSI access, dark fibre,
data storage, data security and co-location services and other advanced
communication solutions. Cogeco Cable's subordinate voting shares are
listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA).

Contacts:
Marie Carrier
Director, Corporate Communications
514-764-4761

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