“TVA Publications is pressing ahead with its strategic plan aimed at strengthening its leading position and better meeting the needs of its readers and advertisers.”
That’s press-release speak for “we’re cutting dead weight to save costs.”
Quebecor’s TVA Publications announced on Wednesday that it is ending six magazines, about 10 per cent of its titles:
- 150 plans (home building and renovation, 3 times a year at 15,750 copies)
- Animal (pets, 8 times a year at 10,844 copies)
- Décormag (home decor, since 1972, 10 times a year at 73,046 copies)
- Le Lundi (women/celebrity/lifestyle, since 1977, 49 times a year at 18,014 copies)
- MOI&cie (women, since 2006, 12 times a year at 70,062 copies)
- Signé M (Louis-François Marcotte’s recipes, 9 times a year at 28,977 copies)
Décormag was one of the 14 magazines TVA acquired from Transcontinental in April. That acquisition and others led to a lot of magazines of similar styles at TVA, and this will help rationalize that a bit.
Lundi is the most interesting shutdown here for me, not just because it’s the only weekly, but because of its history. Lundi was founded by Claude J. Charron after he split off from Pierre Péladeau in 1977. Charron sold the magazine to a company that then sold it to Quebecor, and started a similar magazine called 7 jours. Quebecor bought 7 jours in 2000, and so after a non-compete clause ended Charron started La Semaine. Eventually Charron sold La Semaine to … who else, Quebecor. (Radio-Canada has a story on Charron’s history here.)
Quebecor is keeping 7 jours and La Semaine, but is pulling the plug on the original.
Groupe TVA also issued a press release praising the MOI&cie TV channel, in an effort to cut inevitable speculation about the future of that part of the brand after its magazine’s end.
TVA’s statement doesn’t make any mention of how many jobs will be lost as a result of this decision.