V (TV network)


V is a Canadian French-language terrestrial television network. The network has five owned-and-operated and three affiliated stations throughout Quebec, although it can also be seen over-the-air in some bordering markets in the provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick. It can also be received in some other parts of Canada on cable television or direct broadcast satellite.
The network was launched in 1986 as Télévision Quatre-Saisons, and was known by that name until Remstar, which had bought the network in 2008, renamed it "V" on August 31, 2009. It was the namesake and flagship property of V Media Group, a separate company majority-owned by Remstar owner Maxime Rémillard.

History

In 1968, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission first expressed interest in the establishment of a third French-language commercial television service in the province of Quebec to compete with Télévision de Radio-Canada and the loose association of independent stations that eventually became TVA. However the CRTC did not call on applications for licences.
In 1972, the CRTC said it was prepared to receive licence applications in order to authorize a third commercial television service in Quebec, although it was not until 1974 when the CRTC granted licences to Télé Inter-Cité Québec Ltée. to operate TV stations in Montreal and in Quebec City. However nothing came of this project.
On November 15, 1984, the CRTC launched another call for applications. In 1985, it held public hearings in Montreal to examine competing applications from partners Cogeco Inc. and Moffat Communications, and another application by the Pouliot family, owners of Montreal's CTV affiliate, CFCF-TV and radio stations CFCF and CFQR-FM. Both applications applied to launch television stations in Montreal and Quebec City. On September 6 of that year, the CRTC approved the application of the Pouliot family and its company, Réseau de Télévision Quatre-Saisons Inc. TQS was authorized to operate a French-language TV station in Montreal with an effective radiated power of 566,000 watts on channel 35. It was also granted a licence for a French-language station in Quebec City, but that station began operating as a full-time rebroadcaster of the Montreal station.
The network was launched in 1986 as Télévision Quatre-Saisons. The flagship was CFJP-TV in Montreal, with CFAP-TV in Quebec City as a full-time rebroadcaster. The network had affiliates in five other cities. The network spent most of its earlier years in severe financial trouble. At one point, the revenues from CFCF-TV were all that were keeping the network afloat. It was, however, able to launch affiliates in Val-d'Or in 1987 and Rivière-du-Loup in 1988, as well as upgrade its Quebec City rebroadcaster to a full-fledged station in 1989. In its early years, it was known for advertising in English on its then-sister radio stations.
In 1995, the Pouliots sold their media holdings to Quebec cable company Vidéotron, who already owned TVA, Quebec's other private commercial network. Due to monopoly ownership concerns, Vidéotron immediately turned around and sold TQS to Quebecor, a newspaper publisher. Around this time, the network began branding primarily as "TQS"; for its first decade on the air, most verbal references had used "Quatre-Saisons."
Quebecor acquired Vidéotron in 2001, and put TQS back on the market. Later in 2001, TQS was bought by a joint venture of CTVglobemedia and Cogeco, another cable company. Cogeco owned a 60 percent controlling interest in the venture and handled most of operations, while CTVglobemedia owned 40 percent. The acquisition, in a sense, reunited it with CFCF, which had been bought by CTV a year earlier.

Bankruptcy protection

On December 18, 2007, TQS filed for bankruptcy protection. At this point the network was given 30 days in which to reorganize and revamp itself, with the goal of finding a viable solution to pay off its creditors. On January 16, 2008, a judge extended the grace period for an additional 45 days.
Montreal's newspaper La Presse reported on January 15 that Rogers Communications and RNC Media were each interested in acquiring some individual stations within the network, although RNC Media later denied the report and Rogers declined to comment. On February 25, 2008, the network confirmed that it had received four purchase bids, although it did not disclose the identities of the bidders.

Remstar's takeover

On March 10, 2008, the Quebec Superior Court approved the sale of TQS to Remstar Corporation, a Montreal-based television and film producer and distributor. Creditors, who were owed more than $33 million, voted to accept the Remstar proposal in May. The CRTC approved the application on June 26, 2008.
Remstar announced on April 23, 2008 that 270 jobs would be cut at TQS, while the information services division would be abolished entirely — thus eliminating all newscasts from the network starting in September 2008. While the CRTC ordered Remstar to retain local news programming on the network, it did take the network's precarious financial situation into account by allowing a reduced amount of local news programming until the network's licence renewal hearing in 2011.
At the network's fall upfronts presentation for 2009, the network announced a repositioning plan, including a shedding of the TQS moniker and its black sheep logo in favour of the name "V", complete with a black-and-gold circle logo with a stylized letter V. The V name reflects the channel's new mission of "vedettes", "vitesse", "voyages", and "vice ou vérité".
The new program lineup included the daily news and discussion programs Le show du matin, hosted by Gildor Roy, and Dumont 360, hosted by Mario Dumont. V's rebranding took effect on August 31, 2009 at 6 am ET after the infomercial block.

Sale to Bell Media

In July 2019, V Media Group announced that the network would be sold to CTVglobemedia's successor Bell Media pending CRTC approval, leaving the company to focus on its specialty channels Elle Fictions and Max. Bell proposed the addition of in-house newscasts on all five V O&O stations, with 90 minutes per-day on weekdays in Montreal and Quebec City, 60 minutes elsewhere, and half-hour weekend newscasts in all markets, as well as providing advertising and master control services for Elle Fictions and Max.
The sale was approved on April 3, 2020; as a condition of the purchase, the CRTC stated that all five V stations must air five hours of local programming per-week through the 2020-2021 broadcast year, and expanding to eight-and-a-half hours per-week in Montreal and Quebec City by 2021-2022. At least half of all local programming must be locally-reflective. The sale was closed on May 15, 2020.

Programming

The network has long been a distant third in the ratings to TVA and Société Radio-Canada. During the analogue era, most of its affiliates operated on the UHF band, and operated at moderate-to-low power compared to their TVA and Radio-Canada counterparts. Even in digital, most V affiliates do not have nearly the reach of their TVA and Radio-Canada counterparts. However, it has produced a number of major hit series in Quebec.

News

From the network's launch to its 2008 restructuring, the nightly Le Grand Journal formed the core of V's news programming. Jean-Luc Mongrain anchored the program from 1999 until its final edition aired on August 29, 2008. Benoît Dutrizac also anchored a 10 p.m. news talk show, Dutrizac, in the later half of the 2000s.
News programming continues in a reduced form on V, now produced by independent producer ADN5. News summaries of approximately three minutes are inserted into the network's morning and noontime programming, along with a 30-minute newscast weekend evenings.

Sports

V has long aired a nighttime sports show, beginning with Sports Plus, then 110%, followed by L'attaque à 5.
Its carriage of live sporting events began with Super Bowl XXI in 1987. It has carried games of the National Hockey League, including the Quebec Nordiques from 1988 to 1994 and the Montreal Canadiens from 1994 to 2002. It also aired games of the Montreal Expos from 1994 to 1998.
V carries live events of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and boxing events organized by Groupe Yvon Michel.
In February 2005, V was part of the consortium that won the Canadian broadcast rights to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. V shared morning coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics with RDS, followed by its own afternoon and evening programming. Because V is not being carried on many cable systems outside the province, unlike previous rights holder Télévision de Radio-Canada, the non-profit public affairs network CPAC gained special authorization from the CRTC to allow its French coverage of the 2010 games to be simulcast on the network, which enjoys mandatory cable coverage across Canada.

Movies

The network is known to many viewers for Bleu Nuit, a showcase of softcore pornography which formerly broadcast late Saturday nights, similar to The Baby Blue Movie that once aired on Toronto's Citytv.

Prime time

Programming on V's stations outside Montreal and Quebec City

Since the rebranding of the TQS network to V, on August 31, 2009, V's three owned and operated stations outside Montreal and Quebec City have dropped all non-network programming and become de facto repeaters of flagship CFJP-DT in Montreal. Unlike O&O stations, non-owned affiliates of the V network, such as CFGS-DT in Gatineau/Ottawa, CJPC-DT in Rimouski, CFTF-DT in Rivière-du-Loup and CFVS-DT in Val-d'Or/Rouyn-Noranda, continue to broadcast local programming.

Coverage

Unlike TVA, V does not have mandatory cable carriage rights outside Quebec, but may be offered at a cable company's discretion if there is a sufficient local market for French-language television programming. Consequently, the network is not widely available outside Quebec, although some communities in Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia receive V affiliates on cable.
CFGS-DT in Gatineau is part of the Ottawa television market, and is carried in both analogue and digital on cable systems in nearly all of Eastern Ontario. Eastlink systems in Northeastern Ontario also carry CFGS in both analogue and digital. Rogers Cable systems in Central and Southwestern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area, offer CFGS on their digital tier. CFTF-DT in Rivière-du-Loup has a rebroadcaster in Edmundston, New Brunswick—the network's only over-the-air transmitter outside Quebec—and is carried in both analogue and digital across most of northern New Brunswick.
To ensure that the network's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics reached francophone viewers outside Quebec, its coverage was simulcast on CPAC, which has mandatory carriage on the basic service of all Canadian cable and satellite providers, from February 12 to 28, 2010.
V offers a free live stream of its original programming and some acquired programs on the Internet. Through IP geolocation, this stream is only available in Canada.

V stations

Notes:

Owned-and-operated stations

Affiliated stations

V HD

On June 4, 2007, TQS launched an HD simulcast of its Montreal station CFJP-TV for cable subscribers. In December 2007, TQS launched a transmitter in Montreal making the HD simulcast of CFJP-TV available over-the-air.
V HD is available nationally via satellite and on digital cable, and for free via DTT using a regular TV antenna and a digital tuner on the following channels:
Beginning in 1997, TQS branded itself as le mouton noir de la télé, a slogan that could have served as the network's acknowledgment that its history of financial difficulties, edgy programming, and limited availability outside Quebec had not always given it a prestigious place in the TV industry or in the eyes of the viewing public. The black sheep slogan was discontinued with the network's rebranding from TQS to V at the end of August 2009.
V has a 21% revenue share of the French-speaking private television market. The private francophone sector generates revenue of $361 million which equates to $75 million for V.