Quebec being the French quarter of North America, it became necessary for Quebecers to create their own entertainment industry.

The industry has evolved into a completely self-supporting entity, thanks to an aggressive film, stage, and broadcast industry that experienced major growth in the early 1960s.

Today, the Quebec entertainment industry revolves around an intricate, yet informal star system not unlike that of Hollywood’s.

Quebecers of all ages crave information regarding their stars from both a personal and professional angle.

In effect, stars, or ‘vedettes’ as we call them in Quebec, are treated as family members who are real and come to life on stage, screen and tv on a continual basis.

The growth of the entertainment industry, and particularly tv, created the need for TV Hebdo, which was first published in 1960.

TV Hebdo is the only paid tv magazine containing a listing in Quebec, with sales of 250,000 weekly. That makes it the best-selling magazine in the province.

The magazine has been evolving with the star system for 33 years with content that is well-adapted to the needs of its readers on all aspects of the stars’ lives both personally and professionally.

The editorial content of TV Hebdo is reviewed once a year and subjected to focus groups every three years with readers and non-readers.

Based on the results of these surveys, the content is adapted and updated.

TV Hebdo opens with a glossy four-color section that reports on the events of the upcoming week.

Among other features, the newsprint section includes a readers’ column, sports column, two-page children’s column, film guide, showbiz guide (local and Hollywood) plus an accurate listing of the week on tv.

Seventy-seven per cent of TV Hebdo’s readers are 18-49 years of age, with the fastest growing segment, those aged 12-17, representing 14% of our readers.

Michel Trudeau is publisher of TV Hebdo, a publication of Montreal-based Les Editions Telemedia.