RIMOUSKI – Télévision Quatre-Saisons (TQS) viewers in eastern Quebec will get their own regional news bulletin, if licence proposals submitted by TQS and Télévision MBS are accepted by the CRTC.
Under the proposals, a two-person bureau based in Rimouski would produce a three-and-a-half minute news segment, five days a week. Another three minutes daily would offer community notices and public service announcements.
The new service would supplement existing TQS news bulletins produced in Rivière-du-Loup and Montreal, and would serve Rimouski, Mont-Joli, Matane, and the Matapedia Valley, a population basin of about 100,000 people.
Cogeco Inc.-controlled TQS has asked the CRTC for permission to delete its CFTF-TV transmitter in Rimouski from its licence, and to transfer it to Télévision MBS.
“We’ll be offering a complementary news service, and it will be different than what the other networks do because it will be a bit more in depth,” said Pierre Harvey, a spokesperson for MBS.
A first regional news bulletin was launched by the Rivière-du-Loup station in October.
MBS is owned by Télévision Inter-Rives, whose founder and president is Marc Simard. He owns CFTF, CIMT, and CKRT, all in Rivière-du-Loup and each one with an affiliate agreement, either with TQS, TVA, or Radio-Canada), and another in Carleton, on the Gaspé peninsula, affiliated with TVA.
The CRTC has set Dec. 1 as the deadline for public comments on the licence amendments.
Glenn Wanamaker is Cartt.ca’s Quebec Editor.
