Montreal: A new international French-language service, TV5 USA, begins dth broadcasting early in December.

The 24-hour service is the first French-language network to broadcast across the u.s. and will be delivered via the Echostar Dish Network as a premium service available for $9.95 a month. Guy Gougeon, president and ceo of the TV5 Quebec-Canada and the Latin American and u.s. operations, says early dth and possibly cable subscriber projections for the service aims for 70,000 households by late 1998.

Unlike TV5 Quebec-Canada, a non-profit consortium of Quebec-based broadcasters, TV5 USA has been legally constituted as a corporate entity under the laws of the State of Delaware.

The service will operate out of Montreal with three senior TV5 USA executives reporting to Gougeon: special advisor Yves Guerard, responsible for TV5 USA’s development; Eric Halgand, program director for both TV5 USA and TV5 Latin America; and Claire Bourgeois, director of communications.

TV5 USA is expected to have about 30% Canadian content and Gougeon says the primarily movie, drama, news and current affairs program sked will feature an English-subtitled Saturday night feature film presentation. Additional subtitling for TV5 USA is under study.

According to TV5 data, more than 14 million people in the u.s. are of French origin while two million speak French at home. Target markets include the north eastern urban corridor, specifically New York and Boston, American college campuses in general, and other areas including Florida, Louisiana and California.

TV5 currently reaches across five continents including Asia and Africa and is available in more than 70 million households, says Gougeon.