Noovo is a Canadian French-language terrestrial television network owned by Bell Media, a division of BCE Inc. Originally launched in 1986 as Télévision Quatre‑Saisons (TQS), it rebranded to "V" in 2009 and to "Noovo" on August 31, 2020.Bell Media rebrands V to Noovo – Cartt.ca The rebrand unified the conventional TV channel and its digital platform Noovo.ca under one integrated brand, targeting younger audiences and Francophone pop culture in Quebec.Media in Canada – Bell Media brings V and Noovo under one banner
The network was launched in 1986 as Télévision Quatre-Saisons (TQS), and was owned by the Pouliot family until Vidéotron acquired the network in 1995, before being resold to Quebecor. Quebecor then divested TQS in 2001 who then sold the network to a joint venture of Bell Globemedia and Cogeco until Remstar bought the network in 2008, who renamed it V on August 31, 2009."TQS enterrée: place à «V»" . La Presse, August 19, 2009. It was the namesake and flagship property of V Media Group (now known as Remstar Media Group), a separate company majority-owned by Remstar owner Maxime Rémillard (partially through Remstar). V was re-acquired by Bell Media in May 2020, after which it was renamed Noovo on August 31, 2020. The name "Noovo" is a stylized phonetic spelling of "nouveau", the French word for "new".
History In 1968, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) 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 (channel 29) and in Quebec City (channel 2). Télé Inter-Cité found itself unable to launch the network due to materials shortages and delays in equipment delivery; the CRTC granted a time extension to 1976. Civitas Corp., owner of several radio stations in Quebec and a denied applicant for the same channels a year earlier, filed to buy Téle Inter-Cité, but the CRTC denied the purchase and noted that the proposal to reduce local programming commitments substantially altered the original accepted application. Unable to go forward due to what it called "economic reasons", the firm surrendered the licences for revocation in 1976.
On November 15, 1984, the CRTC launched another call for applications in response to a bid from Cogeco. In 1985, it held public hearings in Montreal to examine competing applications from partners Cogeco Inc. (60.3%) and Moffat Communications (39.7%), and another application by the Pouliot family, owners of Montreal's CTV affiliate, CFCF-TV and radio stations CFCF (later CINW, now defunct) and CFQR-FM (now CKBE-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., noting its existing facilities in Montreal and more realistic revenue projections compared to Cogeco. TQS was authorized to operate a French-language TV station in Montreal with an effective radiated power of 566,000 watts on channel 35. The CRTC initially denied the Quebec City bid on grounds of insufficient local advertising revenue; it was, however, allowed to set up a full-time rebroadcaster of the Montreal station there.
The network launched on September 7, 1986, as Télévision Quatre-Saisons ("Four Seasons Television"). 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. As part of the launch, the existing expansion plans to add two storeys to the CFCF building were expanded with another two floors. The network—already lean, employing 125 additional personnel on top of CFCF's 500—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 (then known as Bell Globemedia) 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."French-language television network TQS facing potential bidding war", The Canadian Press, January 16, 2008. On February 25, 2008, the network confirmed that it had received four purchase bids, although it did not disclose the identities of the bidders."TQS receives four formal bids for troubled Quebec TV network" , CKGL, February 25, 2008.
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."Judge approves Remstar acquisition of TQS", Report on Business, March 10, 2008. Creditors, who were owed more than $33 million, voted to accept the Remstar proposal in May."TQS creditors accept deal that would see them get $7 million of $33 million", The Canadian Press, May 22, 2008. The CRTC approved the application on June 26, 2008.CRTC Notice of Public Hearing 2008-5.
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. "Les employés de TQS à fleur de peau" , canoe.com, April 24, 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 reflected the channel's new mission of "vedettes" (stars), "vitesse" (speed), "voyages" (trips), and "vice ou vérité" (vices or truths). Some people jokingly hypothesised that "V" was chosen to honor Rémillard's then girlfriend, Karine Vanasse.
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. "TQS changera de nom". Le Soleil, June 3, 2009."New name, direction for TQS", posted on mediacanada.com 8/21/2009
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 expanded in-house news programming, and will also provide 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.
On August 19, 2020, Bell Media announced that the network would be rebranded as Noovo on August 31, taking its name from V's streaming platform of the same name.
Programming
The network has long been a distant third in the ratings to TVA and Ici Radio-Canada Télé. 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 Noovo's news programming when it was named TQS. As with the channel per-se, Le Grand Journal failed to establish itself as a hard competitor to the very popular TVA and Radio-Canada newscasts, trying on several different formats to mixed success; however, it launched the careers of many Quebec TV news presenters who would later land bigger jobs at other radio and TV outlets.
The newscast would become a factor on the ratings when popular anchor and political commentator Jean-Luc Mongrain was hired as lead presenter in 1999, and the show adopted a harded-edge, tabloid and more aggressive approach, with a mix of hard news, commentary and heavy viewer interaction; the move coincided with TQS moving all of its daily programming to a street-front studio at Quebecor's headquarters. He anchored the program from August 30, 1999, until its final edition aired on August 29, 2008.
The 10 p.m. edition, presented by Denis Lévesque, became increasingly known for its aggressive and often confrontative debates on hot topics, leading to it regularly beating Le Téléjournal on the ratings. Lévesque left TQS shortly before the start of the 2005 season, over a controversy regarding the hiring of presenter Isabelle Maréchal to serve as commentator and newsreader; in an interview with La Presse, he told he didn't want to do "spectacle information", as Maréchal was mostly known for presenting entertainment programming. Eventually, she anchored the 10 p.m. edition during that season, before being replaced by Benoît Dutrizac, freshly hired from Télé-Québec, who anchored a 10 p.m. news talk show, Dutrizac, focusing on interviews and analysis, with the news element relegated to the final part of the slot. The format was not a success, with a conventional news bulletin reinstated in 2007, with Esther Bégin being hired from LCN and presenting it until the closure of the news service.