A Quebec entrepreneur is planning to bring obituaries out of the back pages of newspapers to a new home on the small screen.
Gerald Dominique hopes “Je me souviens”—a niche network dedicated to broadcasting digital obituaries—will begin broadcasting by the summer.
The French-language specialty channel will charge a fee to broadcast obituaries, prayers, hospitalization notices and messages of thanks.
The Quebec entrepreneur obtained a licence from the CRTC last month, and has designs on expanding the channel to the rest of the country under the moniker “Remember the Name.”
“The goal of this channel is to tell stories,” said Dominique.
“How many stories are lost all over the world each year—great stories about people’s lives—those are the stories we hope to tell.”
Dominique said he’d often hear about people passing away, but the information would be fragmented or cursory.
“There is always the exchange of information [among friends and family], but it never makes it into the paper—which offers only one dimension of the story and costs a fortune,’’ Dominique said.
The TV obits will include sound, music, photos, video, text and testimonials, and will cost about the same as a newspaper obit.
Dominique also hopes to feature obits and memorials for more famous personalities, including political figures and celebrities.
Dominique estimates there are about 56,000 deaths each year in Quebec, and even a fraction of those stories could provide the revenue he needs.
Obituary television is relatively new.
Etos TV, one of the world’s first television networks devoted to death, launched last year in Germany with considerable fanfare.
That network shows pictures and video clips of the deceased for a fee, and broadcasts documentaries on related topics. It is backed by an association that represents German funeral directors.
Dominique, 44, is firming up plans for the launch.
He doesn’t yet have the same type of financial backing as the Germans, and acknowledges he will need some assistance.
“Certainly I’d like to have some help—I’m not sure what kind—but I would need some help,” Dominique said.
“But if the planets align, I should be on the air in July.”
