Quebecor and Bell are urging the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to ease the obligations of traditional broadcasters as quickly as possible. The two competitors speak of an “urgency to act”.
“Our democracy is at stake,” said Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau on Monday during testimony given at the start of the hearings being held every day in Gatineau for the next three weeks on of Bill C-11 on online streaming.
“Canadian companies can no longer wait for the end of the long process of implementing the new Broadcasting Act,” says the big boss of Quebecor.
He emphasizes that private programming companies are suffering “more than ever” from the decline of their audiences and their advertising and subscription revenues, as well as the increase in broadcasting rights.
“The situation is unsustainable,” said Suzane Landry, vice-president of content development, programming and information at Bell Media, in an interview.
Bell must in turn appear this Tuesday morning to present his recommendations to the CRTC.
Noting in passing that Bell’s news services (CTV News and Noovo Info) lost 40 million in 2022, Suzane Landry said she would like an acceleration of the ongoing reform process and an acceleration of decision-making at the CRTC.
Bell hopes in particular to quickly obtain more flexibility in its regional information obligations. The company says it wants to cover local news based on the current news of the day and be able to use its resources accordingly instead of having to produce content by region in an equivalent manner.
The creation of a fund to support information is requested by Bell.
“Since the government and the CRTC have chosen to regulate the unregulated – and we have recently seen this with Meta which simply blocked news sites in Canada and with Google which threatens to follow the parade – we firmly believe that, unfortunately, foreign online companies will not comply with any mandatory contribution,” Pierre Karl Péladeau said Monday.
“Foreign platforms continue to propose to the CRTC spending obligations on Canadian programs while wanting to modify the definition, thus having the sole objective of serving their own interests to the detriment of a real contribution to the entire Canadian broadcasting system . Should we recall the fiasco of the 500 million agreement concluded between Netflix and Canadian Heritage which was only window dressing without any accountability? Let us be careful not to fall into the same trap twice,” he added.
“Without an in-depth review and significant relief of the regulatory framework, the battle we are waging against foreign online services will get the better of Canadian broadcasting companies, to the complete detriment of the public interest. »
Earlier this month, TVA Group announced a reorganization resulting in the elimination of 547 positions, or 31% of its workforce.
Mr. Péladeau affirms that the situation is just as worrying for Canadian cable distributors who, year after year, he says, experience a drop in their subscriptions in favor of foreign online services.
“The strong trend towards disconnection, reduction of services or no subscription altogether is intensifying, as demonstrated by a recent study indicating that 24% of Canadians viewing content online intend to cancel or reduce their cable subscription in the next 12 months, a catastrophic loss of more than 2.3 million subscribers. The significant decline in cable distributors’ revenues will only become more pronounced, further impacting their ability to contribute to Canadian content. »
“Without a regulatory straitjacket that requires us to have a mandatory basic service with mandatory distribution channels, broadcast and programming quotas, reporting on reporting, and the list goes on, our companies might have had a better chance to innovate and reinvent yourself,” says Pierre Karl Péladeau.
Appearances are scheduled every day until the hearings conclude on December 8. In addition to Quebecor and Bell, there will be those of Google, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Rogers, Cogeco, Telus, Radio-Canada, ADISQ and others.