MusiquePlus

MusiquePlus is a Canadian French language cable television specialty channel owned by Astral Media operating from Montreal, Quebec.

MusiquePlus is devoted to music and music related programming from various genres including pop, rock, RnB and focuses on a younger demographic than its sister station, MusiMax. It is the French language equivalent to MuchMusic which is owned and operated by CTVglobemedia.

The channel has only discretionary status outside of Quebec, meaning that cable companies may choose to offer it if there is a sufficient local audience for French programming, but are not required to do so. Within Quebec, however, the channel has mandatory cable carriage rights.

History

Launching on September 2, 1986, MusiquePlus first originated with only an eight hour schedule; it consisted of music videos and interviews and performances that were taped from a studio on Boulevard St. Laurent in Montreal. Four hours of this programming was created by MuchMusic in Toronto and sent to Vidéotron for broadcast in Quebec to subscribers of MuchMusic. This programming repeated once daily. At the time MusiquePlus was owned 100% by CHUM Limited as a division of MuchMusic, but was not yet licensed by the CRTC.

In 1987, the CRTC approved a licence for MusiquePlus and on September 1, 1988, MusiquePlus launched as a 24 hour channel under the ownership of CHUM Limited and Radiomutuel with both companies holding an equal 50% each.

In June 1999, Astral Media announced they would make a takeover of Radiomutuel and soon gained control of Radiomutuel's assets including MusiquePlus shortly thereafter.

In July 2006, CTVglobemedia announced they would make a takeover bid to buy CHUM Limited. Initial plans were to keep MusiquePlus and MusiMax although shortly CTVglobemedia announced that they would sell MusiquePlus. On April 11, 2007, Astral announced that they will be acquiring the remaining 50% in MusiMax and MusiquePlus from CTVglobemedia. The sale was completed June 30 of that year. Later in September 2008, Astral then gave MusiquePlus a new logo, moving away from the MuchMusic style branding.

Music and programming

In the early beginnings of MusiquePlus, much of its programming relied heavily on music videos which came from a much more diverse selection of genres due to the fact that MusiquePlus was the only French language music service available at the time. As the channel grew over time, dependence on music videos decreased and programming began to include films, reality TV series and more. Also with the launch of MusiMax which was licensed to target an older demographic, MusiquePlus could focus on a younger audience and cater its music programming to them.