To avoid suffering the same fate as VRAK, which will disappear from the airwaves on October 1 after struggling for several years, specialty channels should adopt a clear, crisp and precise guideline, argue specialists and broadcasters.

“Those who do best are those who have kept a strong identity,” says Pierre Barrette, director of the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal,

The Quebec television expert may have discussed in general terms during our interview, his remarks apply to the VRAK file. Over the years, the Bell Media station has often changed direction. It has in turn addressed children, teenagers, young adults and (since 2020 only) “lovers of fiction”. Currently, its programming mainly includes foreign series dubbed in French, and no original Quebec production.

“Over the years, the clear identity of some channels has become blurred,” explains Geneviève Gagnon, supervisor, media activation at Cossette.

Thirty years after the emergence of the first specialized channels, the latter are going through a difficult period with the arrival of digital platforms, the rise in unsubscriptions and the elimination of cable packages, underlines Pierre Barrette. “To make sure they are profitable, many of them favor less expensive content, that is to say American series, bad translations. As a result, multiple channels end up offering much the same, mixed content with almost no direction,” adds the TV expert.

According to Pierre Barrette, Quebec specialty channels should follow the example of American specialty channels, which offer content that he describes as “peripheral”.

“There really is a complementary offer in the United States. What you see on specialty channels are things you don’t see on ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. In Quebec, what you find on certain specialty channels is a bit like the content of generalists. We sometimes have the impression that we are being served reheated food. »

Times were gloomy for VRAK, which has not been offered to Videotron subscribers since last Wednesday, following a decision by Quebecor, Bell Media’s eternal rival, which owns the dying antenna. According to the CRTC’s 2022 Financial and Statistical Statements, updated last June, VRAK has 763,000 subscribers, down 11.6% from 2021.

But VRAK is not the only station of its kind to experience similar erosion. None of the approximately 30 French-language specialty linear channels recorded an increase in subscribers in 2022. Cable churn (commonly referred to as “cord cutters”) has a lot to do with it. But nonetheless. The crisis is real.

Subscriber declines range from 1.9% (CASA, which now has 1,074,000 followers) to 9.9% (RDS Info, still followed by 600,000 viewers).

Broadcasters agree with Pierre Barrette’s comments on the importance of a strong identity. According to Mélanie Bhérer, General Manager, Variety, Lifestyle, Documentary and Digital at Bell Media, “you need clear themes” to hope to rally a targeted audience. She considers that each of Bell Media’s specialty stations has a defined brand: “a more feminine channel that inspires” (Canal Vie), “a channel to better understand things” (Canal D) and “a younger and more masculine channel”. (Z, which has also just been banned by Videotron). Bell Media also owns Investigation, which presents several investigative programs (commonly called true crime).

Radio-Canada is also believed to have specialty channels with a “clear brand”. The general manager, television, of the public broadcaster, Dany Meloul, believes that ICI ARTV and ICI Explora rally distinct audiences: “culture” enthusiasts on the one hand, “science and animal” lovers on the other.

For Corus, which controls Séries Plus and Historia, the DNA of each is clear: the first offers fiction series from here and elsewhere, the second offers documentaries whose mission is to “transpose on the screen all facets of the history of yesterday and today, from here and elsewhere, ”wrote the management of the network in an email.

Groupe TVA, which owns several specialty entertainment channels such as Évasion, Addik TV and CASA, declined to comment on this article. No response either from Remstar, which owns MAX, which offers French-dubbed American series such as Law and Order: Sexual Crimes and Alias, and ELLE Fictions, whose fall offering includes films, translated series (Les Scott brothers, Orphan Letters) as well as a new original production, a fashion interview show with Marie-Josée Gauvin.