Montreal: As many as half a dozen potential buyers of Television Quatre Saisons are going over the books. There’s a flurry of near-secret meetings between potential dealmakers, with the early money on a mixed Quebec-based consortium of broadcast and production company interests.

tqs is on the auction block as a result of a split crtc decision on a wide-ranging application from Groupe Videotron. The Feb. 27 decision approves an application by tva/CanWest to acquire and convert cbc affiliate ckmi-tv in Quebec City to a CanWest Global System station with transmitters in Montreal and Sherbrooke, Que., and approves the transfer of CF Cable tv to Videotron, but denies the takeover of tqs, instead ordering trustee Andre Caron to auction off the network no later than April 29.

The buzz on the street is tqs could cost $25 million, estimated to be its selling price in the Videotron takeover, despite a loss of $15 million last year and cumulative 10-year losses in the order of an epoch-ending $150 million.

‘There really isn’t much of an ebitda (operating profits for tqs). cfcf wouldn’t break it out. They lump the whole broadcast division (revenues) together,’ says David McFadgen, an analyst with Sprott Securities in Montreal. ‘There’s going to be several people stepping up to the plate, so it could go for more than $25 million.’

Whoever ultimately wins out, McFadgen says investors will be ‘concerned’ the acquisition does not bring about the ruin of yet another operator.

tqs is thought to have annual revenues in the $45 million to $50 million range.

Companies in the running may include CanWest Global Communications, whose chairman Izzy Asper recently said a market of six million can’t be ignored; Cogeco Inc., which is likely to be very aggressive in its pursuit of tqs; Les Reseaux Premier Choix, the French-language pay and specialty operator owned by Astral Communications; Reseau des Sports, a part of the wealthy Toronto-based NetStar broadcast family; Radiomutuel, which has or shares licences for MusiquePlus, Musimax and Canal Vie and whose president Normand Beauchamp said the company was in an acquisition mode at the January agm; and various Montreal production/distribution companies, including Groupe Coscient, which might see a minority interest as a way of securing preferred supplier status.

A spokesman for the apftq, the Quebec producers association, says the selling price for tqs may be less of an issue than the level of benefits promised by a new owner, especially from the crtc’s perspective.

apftq rules state a production company loses its independent producer status if it owns more than 30% of a broadcast interest. Such a company would forfeit access to the 18% Quebec refundable production tax credit.

As for the tva/CanWest startup, producers will pay special attention to the new station’s interpretation of a clause in the crtc decision stipulating the $10 million slated for new indie production originate ‘for the most part from Quebec independent producers.’ An additional $3.6 million from CanWest’s existing Canadian expenditures will also be allocated to Quebec production.

Montreal ad agency reaction to ckmi’s arrival has been largely positive, pointing to the likelihood of an influx of new and returning advertisers and a loss for u.s. border stations, which have had an inordinate share of the Montreal anglo tv market. ckmi is prohibited from selling local advertising and is expected to be on air Sept. 1.

With ckmi in the fold, CanWest Global’s programming reach is extended to 78% of Canada’s English-speaking population.

cfcf-tv, the ctv network affiliate, has been sold to wic for $70 million.

In refusing Videotron’s application to take over tqs, which would have given it joint ownership of the two leading French-language broadcasters, Tele-Metropole and tqs, plus tqs’ 20% share in ppv service Canal Indigo, the crtc says it noted widespread concern with concentration in the Quebec tv sector. The commission says its denial is consistent with ‘an effective prohibition of common ownership of two broadcast outlets of the same class in the same market.’