Three French-language diginets to launch four years after being licensed

Three of five licensed Category 1 French-language specialty TV channels are set to launch late next month, almost four years after they were licensed. TVA is moving ahead with the September 30 launch of its mystery channel Mystère (originally licensed as 13ième rue) and its business news channel LCN Affaires, while CTV Inc.’s RDS will be launching a headlines sports channel, Le Réseau Info Sport. Astral Media’s MusiquePlus and CHUM Ltd. have confirmed with the CRTC that they are ditching the fashion channel Perfecto La Chaîne, and TVA is abandoning the comedy channel Télé Ha!Ha! Astral Media is also reportedly in talks with distributors attempting to secure carriage for one of its Category 2 movie channels. No one at Astral could provide details at press time. While English Canada has seen a slew of homegrown digital channels launch, Quebec broadcasters have been reluctant to join the fray because the small number of digital subscribers in the province adds up to a poor business case. But after giving the licensees their third delay in their launch, the CRTC indicated that the extension until September 30, 2004 would be the last one granted (CCR, Aug. 22/03). TVA senior VP of specialty channels and business development Serge Bellerose tells Canadian Communications Reports that with sufficient efforts, the Quebec market can now sustain the new French-language digital channels. "We are forecasting that there will be nearly one million (digital TV) subscribers (in Quebec) by the end of this year," says Bellerose. "There are about 900,000 now, and we are forecasting significant growth over the next two or three years in the range of 150,000 to 200,000 more digital subs per year. These numbers are sufficient to launch a service now." Bellerose says that only a partial version of LCN Affaires will launch by the September deadline as TVA works on upgrading its infrastructure, including building a new studio. The full version of the channel, which will require original productions and in-house shows, should be ready by mid-January 2005, he notes. It will be an extension of TVA’s existing news channels, including its all-news channel LCN, Bellerose states. Mystère, which will consist mostly of rebroadcast mystery dramas, such as Dragnet, Diagnosis Murder, and Omerte will be fully operational next month. Mystère will operate on an eight-hour wheel of programming that will be repeated. An official announcement of the launch of the channels is expected in a week or two. RDS publicist Philippe Malo confirms the launch of Info Sports this September, and says it will be on free preview for the first three months. He did not know how the channel would be packaged, or what distributors will charge for it. Part of TVA’s strategy is to keep their channels on free preview for a lengthy time of more than a year. "We are proposing a 15-month-long free preview period," says Bellerose. "And the reason why we are offering that is that we really want to develop awareness of our TV services. In the market, TVA is obviously number one on conventional (TV)…But on the specialty side, the key player remains Astral. We are competing with a big player, and we really want to have the time to develop awareness, specifically with Mystère." He adds, "We experienced the launch of the diginets in the English market in 2000 with Men TV and Mystery (TVA has part ownership in these English-language digital channels) and we realized after three or four months of free preview that it was not enough to reach a high penetration level. Most English (digital TV) services are reaching 25% to 30% penetration in the English digital TV market. We cannot achieve success with such low penetration numbers. So we really want to make sure that we will develop the brand and the awareness. At the end of 2005, we will have a very aggressive promotion and marketing campaign to make sure people will subscribe to our services around Christmas." Right from the get-go, the Quebec broadcasters resisted launching their Category 1 TV channels, which are mandated to be carried by all distributors, due to the low digital penetration levels in Quebec, where the primary audience is located (CCR, Feb. 28/01). Two years ago, three French-language European television stations, EuroNews, Paris Premiére and planète, were launched (June 21/02). But Paris Premiére pulled the plug on the Canadian market a year and a half later after acquiring about 29,000 Vidéotron ltée subscribers. The channel was also carried on Bell ExpressVu LP and the Quebec cable cooperative Coopérative de câblodistribution de l’arrière-pays (CCR Update, Dec. 19/03). But Bellerose feels that TVA’s two Category 1 television channels that are to launch will fare much better. "You cannot compare Paris Première with Mystère, first; and, secondly, we are launching our services with the real capacity to promote them through our other assets," he points out. "TVA is able to use all its assets such as conventional, the Journal de Montréal, LCN and our own magazines - we will use all those assets to promote very heavily our services. Paris Première was unable to do so, and I strongly believe that the programming offered by Mystère will be more attractive." He says that TVA decided not to launch its Category 1 comedy channel because there is no business case for it. "There is not enough programming available in the market, or the programming would be too expensive to make sense," he states. "And there are a lot of comedy shows on conventional (TV) and existing specialty, so it would have been tough to succeed." But Bellerose tells CCR that TVA is planning to launch at least two and as many as four Category 2 digital channels in 2005 in addition to the two diginets it will launch this year. High on the list of possibilities is a French-language home and garden TV channel, which could launch by next spring.

Three French-language diginets to launch four years after being licensed

News | 08/27/2004 4:00 am EDT

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