Bell Media is renaming Noovo le fil, aligning the network’s broadcast news content with its digital news branding.
Effective Aug. 28, Noovo’s news program will be known as Noovo Info.
Marie-Christine Bergeron will host weekdays at 5 p.m., with Michel Bherer hosting the 10 p.m. broadcast. Lisa-Marie Blais will continue to host the 5:06 p.m. broadcast for Québec, with Jean-Simon Bui taking over hosting duties for Saguenay, Mauricie and Estrie programming at the same time. Sabrina Rivet will continue to host the Friday 10 p.m. broadcast.
Beginning on Sept. 11, Bherer will also host the returning discussion show Les débatteurs de Noovo, airing Monday to Thursday at 10:30 p.m.
Noovo le fil began airing in 2021, acting as the cornerstone of the network’s news division in Bell Media’s strategy to extend the network’s reach in Quebec. The new name, however, aligns the newscast with the Noovo Info brand, which launched in 2022 as the network’s digital news platform.
“By changing the name of our news program to Noovo Info, we are bringing together, under a single identity, all the offerings offered by Bell Media’s French-language news service,” said Jean-Philippe Pineault, chief information officer at Bell Media. “The show will retain its philosophy, DNA and vision to continue doing things our way.”
According to Numeris figures, Noovo’s news programming increased its total audience by 24% year-over-year in the spring, and by 56% among the 25- to 54-year-old demographic. Les débatteurs de Noovo generated a total audience increase of 18% and a 47% jump in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic. The number of unique visitors to the Noovo.Info website site has grown 173% year-over-year through the first half of 2023, according to Adobe Analytics data.
The rebrand comes as Bell Media is petitioning the CRTC to remove local news requirements for its CTV, CTV2 and Noovo stations. The company has said that it does not plan to remove local news from its stations, but that being released from CRTC-mandated quotas will provide more “flexibility […] to provide a better news service to the local communities that we serve.” The company also said that its current requirements “are unnecessary in light of the current economic environment in which we must operate.”
