Discover

'TQS' is a Canadian French language privately owned television network based in Quebec. It is owned by TQS Inc., a joint venture of Cogeco and CTVglobemedia.

Contents

History

Slogans

Programming

TQS stations

Regional affiliates

See also

External link

History

The network launched in 1986 as 'Télévision Quatre Saisons' (Four Seasons Television) under the ownership of the Pouliot family, who then owned Montreal's CTV affiliate, CFCF-TV, and radio stations CFCF-AM (now CINW) and CFQR-FM. However, the network quickly ran into financial problems; at one point, the revenues from CFCF-TV were all that were keeping the network afloat. However, the network was known for advertising in English on its then-sister radio stations.
In 1995, the Pouliots sold TQS 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.
Quebecor acquired Vidéotron itself in 2001, and put TQS back on the market. Later in 2001, TQS was bought by a joint venture of CTVglobemedia (then known as Bell Globemedia) and Cogeco, another cable company. Cogeco owns 60% of the venture and handles most of the operations, while CTVglobemedia owns 40%. The acquisition, in a sense, reunited it with CFCF, which had been bought by CTV a year earlier.
Since 1998, the network has branded itself as ''le mouton noir de la télé'', or "the black sheep of television". It has long been a distant third in the ratings to TVA and Radio-Canada, in part because most of its affiliates are on UHF. However, it has produced a number of major hit series in Quebec.
The network is not widely available outside of Quebec, although some communities in northern and eastern Ontario and in New Brunswick receive TQS affiliates on cable. The affiliate in Gatineau is part of the Ottawa market, and is available in nearly all of eastern Ontario on cable.
Unlike TVA, TQS does not have mandatory cable carriage rights outside of Quebec, but may be offered at a cable company's discretion if there is a sufficient local market for French language television programming. The network affiliate in Rivière-du-Loup also has a rebroadcaster in Edmundston, New Brunswick, the network's only over-the-air transmitter outside of Quebec.

The network is known to many English Canadian viewers for ''Bleu Nuit'', a showcase of softcore pornography broadcast late Saturday nights, similar to the old Baby Blue films that once aired on Toronto's Citytv. In fact, TQS was once considered the French counterpart of Citytv.

In early 2005, TQS was part of the consortium that won the Canadian broadcast rights to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, as well as the 2012 Summer Olympics. This was considered a serious coup, as the rival CBC had previously won Olympic broadcast rights from the 1996 Summer Olympics through to the 2008 Summer Olympics. TQS will be the primary French broadcaster, while CTV will be the primary English broadcaster; TSN, RDS and Rogers Sportsnet will provide supplementary coverage.
The current TQS logo, which uses the lowercase form "tqs", was adopted in fall 2006. While some network publicity materials now use the lowercase form in text, the uppercase form also remains common.

Slogans

★ 1987-1989: ''On grandit ensemble!'' (We grow together!)

★ 1995-1997: ''Allumée!'' (Turned on!)

Programming

TQS stations

===Owned and operated (co-owned by Cogeco and CTVglobemedia)===

★ CFJP - Montreal

★ CFAP - Quebec City

★ CFKS - Sherbrooke

★ CFKM - Trois-Rivières

★ CFRS - Saguenay

Regional affiliates

★ CFGS - Gatineau

★ CFVS - Val-d'Or

★ CFTF - Rivière-du-Loup

See also

★ List of Quebec television channels

★ List of Quebec television series

★ Television of Quebec

★ Culture of Quebec

External link

★ Official Site