MONTREAL — There may be a third buyer interested in bailing out Quebec’s failing French-language cable network TQS, which has received an extension on court protection from its creditors.

‘Another company may be interested, but we have not received any official letter of interest,’ a spokesman for TQS, Gilles Corriveau, tells Playback Daily. Corriveau says the network has received letters of interest from two other companies, though they remain confidential.

Nine companies have signed confidentiality agreements to examine the network’s financial records, and two of those firms have sent letters of interest, but no official offers have been made, says Corriveau, who works for Enigma Communications, the public relations firm hired to represent the network while it’s under bankruptcy protection.

Since TQS sought bankruptcy protection from its creditors in December, there has been much speculation in the Quebec media as to whether the cable channel, which has between 12% and 15% of the TV market here, will survive.

Although Corriveau believes that a buyer will likely bid on the network before the Feb. 29 deadline imposed by Quebec Superior Court this week, it’s possible that TQS’s owners, Cogeco (60%) and CTVglobemedia (40%), might get fed up and ‘pull the plug’ on the black sheep of Quebec TV.

‘It’s a possible scenario, although I would be flabbergasted and surprised if that happened. Everyone is trying to solve this problem,’ says Corriveau.

While the network officially maintains it’s business as usual, this week it announced it’s postponing airing four series: the popular 450, Chemin du golf and two new shows, Grande fille and C’t’une joke.

A Quebec Superior Court judge called a hearing for an update on the process, to be held Feb. 21 in Montreal, says Corriveau.