MONTREAL – After announcing suspension of its monthly payments to the Canadian Television Fund (CTF), Quebecor Media now says it wants to opt out of the CTF entirely and put all money owed by its cable company, Videotron, into a fattened Fonds Quebecor, under its own control, for the support of home-grown productions destined exclusively for broadcast by its own properties.
Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau told a press conference Monday, broadcast live on the company’s all-news channel LCN as well as on its canoe.qc.ca web site, that the proposal is the “best way to ensure the survival of a strong and dynamic industry."
“What we propose is a new formula which will permit us to put more money into the system, which would put more people to work. That’s our deepest wish. As for the [future of the] CTF, that’s not up to us. That’s up to the legislator and the CRTC to determine.”
Overall, the proposal would see Quebecor increase its spending for Canadian content production to $109 million over three years.
This year, spending would climb from $19 million ($15.2 million to the CTF and $3.8 million to the Fonds Quebecor) to $30 million. It would rise 20% a year for the following two years.
The Groupe TVA, a subsidiary of Quebecor Media, would maintain its support for the production and acquisition of original content at the 2006 level of 33% of its operating budget.
The proposal, sent to federal Heritage Minister Bev Oda and the CRTC on Monday, would also see changes made to the governance of the Fonds Quebecor so that Quebecor would name three of the five Board members and the CRTC the other two. The two parties would jointly select an external firm to audit the fund.
The company also wants to re-define eligibility rules for Canadian-content financing to take into account the new multi-platform reality.
As such, financing would be available for conventional TV, speciality channels and video-on-demand, as well as movies and productions for broadcast on Internet and mobile devices.
Péladeau acknowledged that other networks would not get any of the Fonds Quebecor money.
“Our proposal is to invest in productions destined for the family of Quebecor Media, that’s right,” he said.
Asked if the proposal would signal the death of the CTF, he said “that depends on what others decide. We won’t impose our approach. What we propose is an opting-in or an opting-out formula. That leaves others to choose the method that best corresponds to their needs. In choosing to opt out, as we are doing, we’re surrendering our right to direct funding from the federal government.”
Shaw Communications, which has also suspended its CTF contributions, is not a party to the proposal as it has said repeatedly it just wants to give the money back to customers.
Péladeau also had harsh words for CTF Chair Douglas Barrett who, as reported by Cartt.ca, appeared last week before the House of Commons Heritage Committee. Barrett’s suggestion that additional structural change in the CTF would not be useful were “completely stupefying”, he said.
“I’m convinced after hearing that, that we’re confronted with a systematic refusal to face reality.”
The reality, according to Péladeau, is that viewers are no longer getting content from conventional TV but from various sources. “So to be profitable now, a series must be used on different audio-visual platforms,” he said. “In financing Canadian programming, this new reality must be integrated from the moment of a series’ conception and ensure that it’s broadcast on several platforms.”
Péladeau rejected criticism from Quebec film and television producers that Quebecor’s action threatens a relatively thriving industry which supplies most of the top-rated TV shows for all of the province’s networks.
“This approach will allow our industry to face the challenges of the digital revolution and, far from resulting in a reduction in the level of production, it will result in an increase in the quality and volume of production,” he said. “And rather than being experts in financing, independent producers would become experts in production. And at the end of the day, there would not be any jobs lost, on the contrary.”
Peladeau also told the Globe and Mail he is launching a $2.1 million lawsuit against Radio Canada chief Sylvain Lafrance after a bout of name calling in Quebec media last week, including one statement where Lafrance said Peladeau was behaving like "a hooligan," says the report.
Glenn Wanamaker is Cartt.ca’s Quebec editor.
