Form 20-F Videotron Ltd. / Vidéotron Ltée

Table of Contents UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 20-F REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 OR _ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 OR TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from to OR SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Date of event requiring this shell company report . For the transition period from to Commission file number 033-51000 VIDEOTRON LTD. / VIDÉOTRON LTÉE (Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter) Province of Québec, Canada (Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) 612 St. Jacques Street Montréal, Québec, Canada H3C 4M8 (Address of principal executive offices) Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act. Title of each class Name of each exchange on which registered None None Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act. None (Title of Class) Table of Contents Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act. 5% Senior Notes due July 15, 2022 (Title of Class) Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report. 172,516,829 Class “A” Common Shares Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes _ No If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. _ Yes No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes _ No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. Large accelerated filer Accelerated filer Non-accelerated filer _ Emerging growth company If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. † The term “new or revised financial accounting standard” refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012. Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing: U.S. GAAP International Financial Reporting Standards as issued Other by the International Accounting Standards Board _ If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. Item 17 Item 18 If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes _ No Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Explanatory Notes ii Industry and Market Data ii Presentation of Financial Information ii Exchange Rate Information iii Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements iv ITEM 1 – Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers 5 ITEM 2 – Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable 5 ITEM 3 – Key Information 5 ITEM 4 – Information on the Corporation 25 ITEM 4A – Unresolved Staff Comments 46 ITEM 5 – Operating and Financial Review and Prospects 47 ITEM 6 – Directors, Senior Management and Employees 81 ITEM 7 – Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions 88 ITEM 8 – Financial Information 89 ITEM 9 – The Offer and Listing 90 Item 11 - Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 111 ITEM 12 – Description of Securities Other Than Equity Securities 112 ITEM 13 – Defaults, Dividend Arrearages and Delinquencies 112 ITEM 14 – Material Modifications to the Rights of Security Holders and Use of Proceeds 112 ITEM 15 – Controls and Procedures 112 ITEM 16 – [Reserved] 113 ITEM 16A – Audit Committee Financial Expert 113 ITEM 16B – Code of Ethics 113 ITEM 16C – Principal Accountant Fees And Services 113 ITEM 16D – Exemptions from the Listing Standards for Audit Committees 114 ITEM 16E – Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers 114 ITEM 16F – Changes in Registrant’s Certifying Accountant 114 ITEM 16G – Corporate Governance 114 ITEM 17 – Financial Statements 114 ITEM 18 – Financial Statements 114 ITEM 19 – Exhibits 114 Signature 121 Index to Consolidated Financial Statements F-1 Table of Contents EXPLANATORY NOTES All references in this annual report to “Videotron” or “our Corporation”, as well as the use of the terms “we”, “us”, “our” or similar terms, are references to Videotron Ltd. and, unless the context otherwise requires, its consolidated subsidiaries. All references in this annual report to “Quebecor Media” are to our parent corporation Quebecor Media Inc., all references to “TVA Group” are to TVA Group Inc., a public subsidiary of Quebecor Media, all references to “Quebecor” are to Quebecor Inc., the majority shareholder of Quebecor Media, all references to “4Degrees” are references to 4Degrees Colocations Inc., and all references to “Fibrenoire” are references to Fibrenoire Inc. In this annual report, all references to the “CRTC” are references to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. All references in this annual report to our “Senior Notes” are to, collectively, our issued and outstanding 5% Senior Notes 3 5 3 due July 15, 2022, our 5 /8 % Senior Notes due June 15, 2024, our 5 /8 % Senior Notes due June 15, 2025, our 5 /4 % Senior Notes due 1 January 15, 2026 and our 5 /8 % Senior Notes due April 15, 2027. INDUSTRY AND MARKET DATA Industry statistics and market data used throughout this annual report were obtained from internal surveys, market research, publicly available information and industry publications, including the CRTC and Numeris. Industry publications generally state that the information they contain has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but that the accuracy and completeness of this information is not guaranteed. Industry and company data is approximate and may reflect rounding in certain cases. Information contained in this annual report concerning the telecommunication industry, our general expectations concerning this industry and our market positions and market shares may also be based on estimates and assumptions made by us based on our knowledge of the industry and which we believe to be reliable. We believe, however, that this data is inherently imprecise, although generally indicative of relative market positions and market shares. PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION IFRS and Functional Currency Our audited consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013 have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. In this annual report, references to Canadian Dollars, CAN$ or $ are to the lawful currency of Canada, our functional currency, and references to US Dollars or US$ are to the currency of the United States. Non-IFRS Financial Measures and Key Performance Indicator In this annual report, we use certain non-IFRS financial measures, including adjusted operating income, adjusted operating income margin and long-term debt, excluding QMI subordinated loans. These financial measures are not calculated in accordance with, or recognized by, IFRS. Our method of calculating these financial measures may differ from the methods used by other companies and, as a result, the non-IFRS financial measures presented in this annual report may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures disclosed by other companies. We provide a definition of adjusted operating income, adjusted operating income margin and average monthly revenue per user (“ARPU”) under “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects — Non-IFRS Financial Measures” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects — Key Performance Indicator”. We also provide a definition of adjusted operating income, a reconciliation of adjusted operating income and a reconciliation of long-term debt, excluding QMI subordinated loans to the most directly comparable financial measures under IFRS in footnotes 3 and 4 to the tables under “Item 3. Key Information — A. Selected Financial Data”. We also provide a definition of ARPU in footnote 11 to the tables under “Item 3. Key Information — A. Selected Financial Data”. ii Table of Contents Unless otherwise indicated, information provided in this annual report, including all operating data presented, is as of December 31, 2017. EXCHANGE RATE INFORMATION The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the average, high, low and end of period daily exchange rates published by the Bank of Canada. Such rates are presented as U.S. dollars per CAN$1.00. On March 22, 2018, the daily exchange rate was CAN$1.00 equals US$0.7747. We do not make any representation that Canadian dollars could have been converted into U.S. dollars at the rates shown or at any other rate.

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