Many of Vrak’s loyal viewers have been rehashing their (happy) memories of some of the channel’s landmark series for several days, which will be unplugged on October 1st. The truth is that the channel’s revenue had been in free fall for at least five years.
Whether it’s Once Upon a Time in Trouble, A Grenade With That?, Mixmania, In a Galaxy Near You, or The Cabin, Vrak has produced some hit series. But as my colleague Léa Carrier reminds us, Bell Media has been neglecting its youth clientele for a few years now.
Two weeks after the announcement of the closure of Vrak, Bell Media still refuses to comment publicly on its decision. Of course, the announcement came a week after Videotron decided to no longer offer the Vrak and Z channels to its subscribers, where half of its customers were…
But Vrak’s financial difficulties existed well before Quebecor’s decision. According to data provided by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Vrak’s revenues have halved since 2018, from $20.4 million to $11.2 million. During the same period, its subscribers increased from 1.3 million to 763,000…
Did the ban on advertising to children under 13 – a provision guaranteed by the Consumer Protection Act – have an impact on the channel’s advertising revenue? Of course, we would have liked to ask Karine Moses, senior vice-president, content and news, of Bell Media, who signed the press release announcing the closure of Vrak. But she does not answer questions from the media.
A few years ago, in the context of a report on advertising aimed at children, we asked the question of Dany Meloul, now general manager of French television at Radio-Canada, who held the position of vice- President, Programming, French-Language Television, at Bell Media.
To the question: are advertisers expressing their frustrations at not being able to speak directly to children? Dany Meloul had replied: “It is sure that it is an additional constraint. »
According to the Consumer Protection Office (OPC), there is no modification under study to authorize commercial advertising aimed at children – who are exposed to it on digital platforms anyway. “The law is still in force and no bill provides for modifications on this subject,” the OPC communications advisor, Marie-Pier Duplessis, simply told us.
In the statement released by Vrak two weeks ago, Ms. Moses justifies the decision to disconnect Vrak by saying that “the regulatory framework” that broadcasters like Bell Media must comply with is “outdated and does not take into account current challenges. “. What regulatory framework are we talking about exactly? Again, impossible to obtain details from Bell, who did not respond to our interview requests.
La Presse was able to view Bell Media’s interventions during the CRTC’s regulatory consultations on online streaming services this summer. Bell complains in particular about the disadvantageous position of traditional television broadcasters compared to online broadcasting platforms.
“Canadian broadcasters’ revenues have fallen by 26% [in 2021-2022] while those of online broadcasters have increased by 750%”, they lament, while recalling that online broadcasters do not have to respond to same requirements.
Last June, Bell Media asked the CRTC to review its requirements with respect to its spending on local content (11% of its gross revenues) and the number of mandatory broadcast hours (14 hours per week for its English-language TV channels). Finally, it asked the CRTC to reduce its obligation to invest in Canadian content for its English-language TV channels from 30% of its revenues to 20%.
During its interventions with the CRTC, Bell also asked that its channels that broadcast information be excluded from the requirements of the organization.
The CRTC, which has not yet ruled on these applications, would like online streaming services to contribute Canadian and Indigenous content, but is proposing that Canadian broadcasters with annual revenues of less than $10 million be exempt. A threshold disputed by Bell Media, which requests that this exemption threshold be raised to 20 million.
According to Manuel Badel, a consultant in the media industries sector, their approach is to get the CRTC to “consider the company, not as a media group, but as a set of channels, where each channel would be an entity in itself. By dividing the group, each entity has a more limited size and level of income and could find itself in the category of online broadcasters, especially independent, which in some way would not be under the authority of the CRTC,” he believes. -he.
That said, Mr. Badel understands the reaction of Bell, and even Quebecor, which fears being subject to the same rules as multinationals like Netflix or Disney. “The challenge for traditional broadcasters, and even specialty channels, in the current environment is not easy, and it must be admitted that they face enormous challenges,” he believes.
Nevertheless, according to him, the entry into force of the Law on online news is good news. “It’s the implementation that’s the most difficult,” he says.
“But I am sure that in the long term, by having more players who will finance Canadian content, it will alleviate a little pressure on institutions like Telefilm, SODEC or the FMC and traditional broadcasters,” believes Manuel Badel. .
Michel Arpin, who was vice-president of the CRTC from 2005 to 2010, also believes that the Canadian regulatory body is on the right track by defining a new regulatory framework following the adoption of the Broadcasting Act. “The problem with the CRTC is that it takes time to put in place, but the organization now has the tools it needs to establish a new framework that will be more equitable. »
Time is precisely what Bell Media denounces in its interventions. “We will have to wait years for a new framework to be put in place, which is unacceptable,” write its representatives, while calling for “immediate” emergency measures.
The CRTC, which received interventions from the entire Canadian television community this summer, must announce its new framework in the coming months.