MusiquePlus

MusiquePlus
MusiquePlus logo
Launched	September 2, 1986
Owned by	MusiquePlus Inc. (Astral Media)
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) (2010-present) 480i (SDTV) (1986-present)
Country	Canada
Broadcast area	National
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec
Sister channel(s)	MusiMax
Website	MusiquePlus (French)
Availability
Satellite
Bell TV	Channel 141 (SD)
Shaw Direct	Channel 775 (SD)
Cable
Available on many Canadian cable systems	Check local listings
IPTV
Bell Aliant TV	Channel 603 (SD)
Bell Fibe TV	Channel 141 (SD)
Optik TV	Channel 421 (SD)

MusiquePlus is a Canadian French language Category A specialty channel owned by Astral Media operating from Montreal, Quebec.

MusiquePlus is devoted to music and music related programming from various genres including pop, rock, RnB and focuses on a younger demographic than its sister station, MusiMax. It is the French language equivalent to MuchMusic which is now owned and operated by Bell Media, and was once its sister station until it was fully purchased by Astral Media.

The channel has only discretionary status outside of Quebec, meaning that cable companies may choose to offer it if there is a sufficient local audience for French programming, but are not required to do so. Within Quebec, however, the channel has mandatory cable carriage rights.

History

Launching on September 2, 1986, MusiquePlus first originated with only an eight hour schedule, sharing channel space with TVJQ (a predecessor of VRAK.TV); it consisted of music videos and interviews and performances that were taped from a studio on Boulevard St. Laurent in Montreal. Four hours of this programming was created by MuchMusic in Toronto and sent to Vidéotron for broadcast in Quebec to subscribers of MuchMusic. This programming repeated once daily. At the time MusiquePlus was owned 100% by CHUM Limited as a division of MuchMusic, but was not yet licensed by the CRTC.

In 1987, the CRTC approved a licence for MusiquePlus and on September 1, 1988, MusiquePlus launched as a 24 hour channel under the ownership of CHUM Limited and Radiomutuel with both companies holding an equal 50% each.

In June 1999, Astral Media announced they would make a takeover of Radiomutuel and soon gained control of Radiomutuel's assets including MusiquePlus shortly thereafter.

In July 2006, CTVglobemedia announced they would make a takeover bid to buy CHUM Limited. Initial plans were to keep MusiquePlus and MusiMax although shortly CTVglobemedia announced that they would sell MusiquePlus. On April 11, 2007, Astral announced that they will be acquiring the remaining 50% in MusiMax and MusiquePlus from CTVglobemedia. The sale was completed June 30 of that year. Later in September 2008, Astral then gave MusiquePlus a new logo, moving away from the MuchMusic style branding.

Musique Plus HD

On August 23, 2010 Astral launched a HD feed of MusiquePlus called MusiquePlus HD, although most of its content is 480i video upscaled to 1080i.^[1] It is currently only available on Vidéotron Cable.

Music and programming

In the early beginnings of MusiquePlus, much of its programming relied heavily on music videos which came from a much more diverse selection of genres due to the fact that MusiquePlus was the only French language music service available at the time. As the channel grew over time, dependence on music videos decreased and programming began to include films, reality TV series and more. Also with the launch of MusiMax which was licensed to target an older demographic, MusiquePlus could focus on a younger audience and cater its music programming to them.

International distribution

• Saint Pierre and Miquelon - distributed on SPM Telecom systems.

Logos

• 

  First logo used since september 1988

• 

  Second logo; the words "MUSIQUEPLUS" would often appear below the logo to distinguish between MusiquePlus and MuchMusic logo.

• 

  The third logo of MusiquePlus.

• 

  The fourth logo used until 2008.

• 

  The Current logo of MusiquePlus 2008-present

Noted VJs

Current

• Claude Rajotte
• Chéli Sauvé Castonguay
• Mathieu Dorion
• Frédéric Bastien Forrest
• Patrick Langlois
• Réjean "Rej" Laplanche
• Fanny Lefort
• Tatiana Polevoy
• Denis Talbot
• Nicolas Tittley

Past

Annie-Soleil Proteau Babu Francis Bay Sonia Benezra Geneviève Borne Tobie Bureau-Huot Marc Carpentier Nabi Alexandre Chartier Véronique Cloutier Marc Coiteux Virginie Coossa Izabelle Desjardins Benoit Dufresne Yanie Dupont-Hébert Philippe Fehmiu Abeille Gélinas Stéphane "Gonzo" Gonzalez Patrick Groulx

Louis-José Houde Pierre Landry Mathilde Laurier Benoît Lefebvre Rebecca Makonnen Mathieu Marcotte Patrick Marsolais Elsie Martins Marie Plourde Juliette Powell Valérie Roberts Paul Sarrasin Malik Shaheed AKA Versatile Valérie Simard Catherine Vachon Joanne Vrakas

See also

• List of Quebec musicians
• Music of Quebec
• Culture of Quebec

References

1. ^ MusiquePlus et Musimax en HD, enfin! (French)

External links

• MusiquePlus (French)