Montreal: Following its successful bidding war against Rogers for control of Videotron, Quebecor has announced it will sell Television Quartre Saisons, Quebec’s second French-language private network.

The decision to sell the network is contained in a $5.4-billion cash offer to purchase circular, sent to Videotron shareholders Sept. 28.

Quebecor anticipates it won’t be able to keep both Reseau tva and tqs, following consultations with regulatory authorities and market sources.

Interest in acquiring the network, which has about 12% of the French primetime audience, comes from Corus Entertainment, Chum Television, bce, Astral Media, and Cogeco, which currently holds 15% of the network and operates tqs affiliates in Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres and Chicoutimi.

Based on Quebecor’s purchase last March of 7% of the equity of tqs held by Cancom, the estimated sales price of the network is about $65 million.

tqs has been in a net loss position since its launch in 1986 and declared a loss in the order of $10 million last year. *