Bell Media to buy Quebec TV network and Noovo video service from Groupe V

Bell Media owns more than two-dozen stations in 14 communities. (File Photo: Bell Media/Facebook)

MONTREAL — Bell Media Inc. is snapping up French-language conventional network V — replete with francophone dramas and reality shows — from the hands of Quebec-based Groupe V Media, opening another front in BCE Inc.’s viewership battle with Quebecor Inc.

The two telecommunications heavyweights were already clashing in some specialized niches, including sports, but Bell Media did not have a conventional French-language channel, unlike its competitor, which owns the TVA television network.

The transaction, whose price was not disclosed, is subject to regulatory approvals and does not include Groupe V’s specialty channels Elle Fictions and Max.

The deal includes video-on-demand service Noovo.ca and the 25Stanley sports news website.

“I think this acquisition makes us compete even better with our closest rival,” Bell Media Quebec president Karine Moses said in a phone interview Wednesday.

As online platforms like Netflix shake up viewing habits, Bell, which owns the Sports Network and English-language channel CTV Montreal, hopes to win out by “taking advantage of its machine.”

“We believe in conventional television,” said Moses. “ 1/8V 3/8 is an asset that was missing from our portfolio. Conventional networks are important vehicles for independent Quebec producers.”

Moses said Bell Media has about 16 per cent market share in the Quebec television sector. With V in its portfolio, that would rise to 22 per cent — still a far cry from TVA Group’s roughly 38 per cent, she added.

She said she’s hopeful for a green light from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which blocked Bell Media’s attempt to buy Corus Entertainment Inc.’s Historia and Series+ specialty channels last year. The federal agency also refused Bell’s request to reduce its budget for original French-language content.

Groupe V Media posted an operating loss of $2.4 million for the year ended Aug. 26, 2018, according to CRTC data, which does not break down performance by channel. In 2017, the loss was $2.8 million.

“The media industry is undergoing profound change,” said Maxime Remillard, president and founder of Groupe V Media, which took over V in 2008 (when it was called TQS). “For an independent group, it’s more and more difficult. I believe that the future belongs to businesses that are vertically integrated.”

Controlled by Quebec’s Remillard family, Groupe V Media is a private company that counts three other shareholders, two of which are owned at arm’s length by the province: Investissement Quebec and the Caisse pension fund manager. Together with the Fonds de solidarite FTQ, a labour-sponsored fund, they had a stake of 45 per cent as of 2014.

The three institutional investors will remain with the company, which will change its name and continue to operate its two specialty channels. Though the transaction price was not disclosed, Remillard said that “all shareholders were happy.”

“At the level of the total value, there will be no losses for the population,” Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon told reporters Wednesday. “According to our value assessment, Investissement Quebec will make a profit.”

Besides its flagship TV station in Quebec City, Groupe V owns stations in Montreal, Saguenay, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivieres and affiliate stations in three other Quebec communities.

In 2013, Groupe V announced the acquisition of the MusiquePlus and MusiMax specialty channels from Bell Media.

Bell Media owns more than two-dozen stations in 14 communities.