Distraction Formats is closing its doors. The company, which says it has been hit too hard by the economic downturn, will lay off nine in Montreal.

The distributor was responsible for a catalogue of ’80 odd formats,’ according to founder and head Michel Rodrigue, the rights for which will return to the original creators. Rodrigue launched the company in 1996, after producing TV formats in France and Quebec.

Speaking from L.A., where he is spending some time with his wife after commuting to and from Montreal for 10 years, he says Distraction started to ‘feel the pain’ after MIPCOM last year. ‘It’s not just Distraction,’ he says, ‘the crisis hit in September/October last year and I think a lot of people were hurt, but Distraction just happened to be too fragile to resist.’

The close of Distraction affects nine jobs in Montreal plus a number of sales agents around the world who, Rodrigue points out, were not relying completely on Distraction as their source of income.