QUEBEC CITY – Remstar Corp., the future owner of the troubled Quebec TV network, TQS, caught its news staff by surprise Wednesday, announcing it intention to eliminate its entire news programming by September.
The move would eliminate 271 jobs, but put the network back on the road to financial health, officials of Remstar and the interim management committee said. The cuts would leave TQS with 210 permanent employees.
Remstar, owned by brothers Maxime and Julien Rémillard, will be applying to the CRTC in the coming days for a transfer of license, and will at the same time ask that its license be modified, allowing it to broadcast without any obligation to provide news programming, TQS communications director Claude Deraîche told cartt.ca.
As part of its financial plan, the network will also review all of its service contracts, and will seek to re-negotiate them or end them, the company’s statement said.
“The financial plan is severe, but it’s a reflection of the severity of the enterprise’s financial problems,” said Tony Porrello, the court-appointed overseer. The new owners must still finalize an arrangement with creditors.
Remstar, a Montreal-based film and television production company, announced a deal to purchase TQS from Cogeco (60%) and CTVglobemedia (40%) in March. TQS sought bankruptcy protection in December to give it time to find new owners.
TQS reported an accumulated deficit of $71 million last year and operating losses last year of $18 million.
The network operates stations in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Trois Rivières, and Saguenay.
Effective June 2, the network will broadcast only two news programs, and will also eliminate its network-wide morning news and current affairs program, “Caféine”. All news production would end in September.
Bruno Savard, co-host of the supper-hour program Le Grand Journal, said employees were in “total shock” when the announcement was made. They had anticipated some cutbacks, he said, but had also entertained hopes the new owners would bring long-term stability.
“The unions had offered their collaboration to [Remstar] from the start,” said Luc Bessette, the president of union representing employees. But there were never any meetings, he said, and it “appears the employer never envisaged any other path than massive job cuts”.
While the Quebec Federation of Journalists lamented the loss of a province-wide news voice, TQ referred to an abundance of news offered on the principal French and English networks, as well as the two French-language all-news channels.
“TQS feels the service in information programming is over-abundant and impossible to make profitable, which is a problem that affects the entire broadcasting industry,” said Serge Bellerose, the new interim head of TQS.
The money saved will eliminate the deficit, he said, and allow the network to reinvest in the production of cultural and entertainment programs.
TQS officials cancelled their scheduled appearance Wednesday at the CRTC hearings on the state of Canadian broadcasting. The network had blamed part of its financial troubles on the CRTC’s refusal last year to require distributors to pay conventional networks carriage fees – an issue which is being reviewed at the current hearings.
