Analog cable service is on the way out in Montreal.

Vidéotron Ltd. has stopped accepting orders for analog cable service from new customers as it prepares to make the transition to all-digital operation sometime in 2013.

The cable operator, dominant in Quebec, wants to dump analog service to make room for additional HD channels and faster broadband service, and although the company has retained a few dozen analog channels in some areas for the benefit of hotel operators and budget-minded seniors, the time has come to turn the lights out on the 60 year old technology.

Vidéotron is transitioning its customers hanging on to analog service in chunks, according to a report in the Gazette.  The vast majority of those customers are seniors, but hotel rooms also comprise a substantial percentage of the 412,000 holdouts.

Vidéotron experimented with a partial transition to digital in the Gatineau region, cutting analog service to just 30 channels. To entice customers to switch to digital, Vidéotron offered free digital set-top boxes to existing analog customers and special promotional packages that gave them digital service at the analog price. Company officials say it is unlikely customers across the Island of Montreal would get similar deals, but some price concessions on equipment are likely.

Vidéotron hopes the transition will make room for up to 100 new HD channels on a system that currently has just 71. The cable operator is facing increasing competition from Bell’s Fibe TV and satellite service, which provides a larger selection of HD channels, particularly for Anglophones in the province.

Other stories of interest:

1. Say Goodbye to Analog Cable TV: Operators Need the Space for IP-Based Video
2. Time Warner Cable Will Abandon Analog Cable Within 5 Years – Converting to All-Digital Systems
3. Shaw Uses DTV Conversion to Sneak Through Its Own Digital Conversion Rate Hike
4. Comcast’s “All-Digital Migration” Hits Denver – Analog Customers Will Need Digital Boxes Or Face Loss of Channels
5. Cablevision Going All-Digital in New Jersey; $6.95/Mo Cable Boxes Offered Free… for Now