Télé-Québec

History[edit]

On April 20, 1945, the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, under the mandate of Premier Maurice Duplessis, passed a law allowing Quebec to create and run a public broadcasting network, as a provincial counterpart to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.


However, it never got beyond the planning stages until February 22, 1968, when the Daniel Johnson Sr. administration created a new public broadcasting agency, "Radio-Québec", under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. Shortly afterward, the first Radio-Québec program, a radio program on the history of Canada called En montant la rivière, was produced. Produced later that year was its first television program, Les Oraliens, where space aliens taught kids how to properly pronounce French words and phrases.


In 1969, a new law was passed by the National Assembly of Quebec, creating l'Office de radio-télédiffusion du Québec ("Quebec Office of Radio and Television Broadcasting"), where Radio-Québec was placed.


Radio-Québec began broadcasting on its own on September 1, 1972, as a cable channel, which broadcast evenings on community channels in Montreal and Quebec City, then expanded in 1973 to Hull, Gatineau and Sherbrooke. As a cable network, Radio-Québec was generally on the air weeknights from 8 pm to 10 pm.^[1] The network of over-the-air transmitters was launched on January 19, 1975, with the sign-ons of CIVM-TV in Montreal and CIVQ-TV in Quebec City, making its programming available to an even wider audience. In its early days after the terrestrial network began, Radio-Québec would provide week-delay videotapes of its programming line-up to cable systems in communities not served by a Radio-Québec station. Some Radio-Québec programs were also seen on most Radio-Canada stations, not only in Quebec but throughout Canada as well; this arrangement continued into the 1980s.^[2]


In 1977, Radio-Québec opened its third station, CIVO-TV in Hull, serving the greater Ottawa area—the station was built after acquiring the facilities of a failed TVA affiliate, CFVO-TV.^[3] That same year, Passe-Partout premiered.


Radio-Québec was off the air during most of 1978, due to a lockout of its employees in a labour dispute.


In 1979, Radio-Québec's agency was restructured as a provincial crown corporation, Société de radio-télévision du Québec ("Quebec Radio and Television Broadcasting Corporation"). The network had also adopted the slogan, L'autre télévision ("The other television"). From about 1980 to 1985, the Radio-Québec theme song that played when the station concluded its broadcast day was sung nightly by pop singer Veronique Beliveau who was also at the time the official face on television for the Simpsons department store chain in Quebec.^[4]


On January 1, 1985, Radio-Québec began providing its programming to its stations and cable systems via satellite, using Anik C-3. Also that year, the CRTC permitted Radio-Québec to show commercials during some of its programming, initially for a two-year trial run. This authorization became permanent—by the 2002–03 fiscal year, Télé-Québec's revenues from advertising would account for 45.8% of its total revenue.


In 1994, the Quebec government announced budget cuts for Radio-Québec, in which its budget was reduced by $10 million. In 1995, Radio-Québec president Jean Fortier announced that the network was virtually bankrupt. As a result, over 150 staffers were laid off (out of over 750 people employed), with plans for further layoffs to trim the employee count to 300 staffers. Programming produced in-house would either be cancelled or transferred to independent companies. In addition, the network would adopt the "Télé-Québec" name the following year, in 1996,^[5] with the crown corporation renamed as Société de télédiffusion du Québec. A proposal for the new Télé-Québec to carry strictly educational programming was never carried out. Instead, it retained its mixed educational-entertainment schedule.


The monetary shortfall was short-lived, as by 1997, Télé-Québec resumed productions on its own and increased its amount of original programming.


Since August 17, 2018, the children's programs have been branded as Squat for youths and Coucou for preschoolers, each with its own website and mobile app.