Montreal: The new French-track pay-per-view service Canal Indigo premieres Monday, Aug. 26 at 6:30 p.m. on four cable channels, but vp/gm Rene Bourdages says the plan is to expand to 10 channels as soon as possible, perhaps within months.

‘It’s very hard to know how many channels we’ll offer in two years,’ says Bourdages. ‘Our initial plan called for an increase in channels within two years, but that was 18 months ago.’ The next stage is ‘anywhere between five to 10 (channels), depending on the capacity.’

Bourdages says revenues depend on the addressable base rollout and channel capacity on cable. ‘The cable companies are rebuilding, so the answer changes from week to week,’ he says.

The channel’s debut movie is the James Bond classic Goldeneye.

Indigo has three program channels plus a ‘barker’ channel on basic cable and will be available in 250,000 Quebec homes equipped with addressable Videoway set-top boxes. The service is carried by both Videotron and CF Cable TV.

The first Quebec movies on the menu are Beijing Express, Erreur sur la personne and La Fabrication d’un meurtrier.

Indigo is projecting revenues in the $4 million to $4.5 million range in its first year.

The minimum Cancon quota is 20 Canadian movies a year (or no less than one in 12 films), with 10% of gross revenues dedicated to a new French-track drama fund (Fonds Harold Greenberg) chaired by producer Rock Demers.

Indigo will offer Canadian, European and Hollywood movies, typically following their video release, in addition to live sports and cultural specials.

Bourdages says Indigo is hoping to broadcast Montreal Expos baseball for September. Another big ticket is the Tyson-Seldon title fight, slated for Sept. 7.

Pay movies will be priced at $3.99, $4.99 for adult fare after 10:30 p.m. The ppv revenue formula is an equal split between distributor, broadcaster and cable operator.

Indigo’s broadcast services are provided by Reseau Premier Choix, with event programming co-ordinated by Reseau des Sports (rds).

Indigo’s managing partner, Viewer’s Choice Canada – owned 50% by Astral Communications, and NetStar and Rogers Pay Per View, with 25% each – own 40% of the service.

The remaining 60% is owned equally by the TVA Network, Television Quatre Saisons and Cogeco Radio-Television.

Bourdages, a former radio executive, gm with Music Choice Canada and director of development with Cogeco, reports to newly named vcc executive vp/gm Michael Skea.