MONTREAL — The failing TQS network must be rescued so that Quebec creators don’t lose a cherished venue and so that media behemoth Quebecor, which owns rival TVA, doesn’t dominate French-language private broadcasting, says the province’s actors union, Union des artistes.

The so-called black sheep of Quebec TV is irreplaceable because it takes creative risks other networks don’t, UDA VP François L’Écuyer tells Playback Daily. ‘No other broadcaster does what TQS does. It’s innovative,’ says L’Écuyer. ‘The TV industry is already vulnerable. If TQS goes under, it’s going to make it even more fragile.’

Cogeco, which is the majority owner of TQS — the remaining shares belong to CTVglobemedia — announced on Dec. 18 that the network was being placed under bankruptcy protection, blaming increased production costs and declining advertising revenue. TQS also tried to convert into a specialty channel so it could charge a subscriber fee, but its request was quashed by the CRTC.

TQS was given 30 days to try to reorganize its financial affairs. That deadline is up this Friday.

The populist TQS has an audience share of 14%, roughly equal to that of Radio-Canada’s. Most of the province’s top 20 shows are broadcast on TVA, which pulls in roughly 30% of Quebec viewers and would be the only conventional private network in the province if TQS folds.

The network was founded in 1986 to liven up the province’s conventional television landscape and to offset the tendency of an increasingly bilingual French-language audience to watch English TV. Although best known for airing its late-night soft-porn series Bleu nuit and for the opinionated news show Le Grand Journal, TQS is also behind popular dramas such as Bob Gratton: Ma vie, my life and suburban téléroman 450, Chemin du Golf.

‘It invests in drama, and its absence would be mean less work for many. Many people got their start on TQS,’ says L’Écuyer.

UDA decided to make its support for the beleagured network public in the hope that investors will come onside.

It’s not just UDA that is worried about TQS’s future. Last week, Quebec Culture Minister Christine St. Pierre blamed SRC for the network’s problems, echoing TQS’s own allegations when it initially filed for bankruptcy. Both TQS and St. Pierre blasted the pubcaster for putting an end to its deal to rent TQS broadcast facilities in three cities starting in 2009.

But L’Écuyer finds the SRC blame game sterile: ‘Those sorts of comments aren’t going to help the future of the network. No one in particular is to blame. It needs new investors.’