Acting president and CEO calls for C-18 to be quickly passed
MONTREAL – TVA Group recorded $130.5 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2022, which represents a year-over-year decrease of $20.2 million.
The Quebecor subsidiary, which reported its Q3 2022 financial results yesterday, reported adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $18.2 million – a $17.3 million unfavourable variance compared to Q3 2021.
The broadcasting segment specifically recorded $104.6 million in revenue in Q3 2022, compared to $111.1 millionin the same quarter the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA in the segment was $14.1 million. This is a $7.6 million unfavourable variance, which was “mainly due to the decreased profitability of TVA Network, which posted an 8.2% decrease in its advertising revenues, combined with increased investments in content,” a press release says.
“The specialty channels were also affected by declining advertising revenues and reported lower profitability, with the exception of “TVA Sports,” whose adjusted EBITDA remained stable as a result of considerably lower costs compared with the same period of 2021, when the channel broadcast the Stanley Cup finals.”
“Third quarter results were affected by decreased profitability in the Broadcasting segment, among other things, due to the difficult situation in advertising,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, acting president and CEO of TVA Group, in the release.
“Despite the lower revenues, we continued to increase our investments in content, a strategy that has enabled us to set ourselves apart and maintain our leadership position in the face of fierce competition from both traditional platforms and the web giants, which have access to significant capital,” he said.
Péladeau also outlined several things he wants to see changed in Canada’s broadcasting landscape.
This includes the CRTC intervening in Radio-Canada’s ability to sell advertising.
“Whereas private broadcasters struggle to hang on to advertising revenues in order to fuel their content investments, Radio-Canada continues to hold an unfair competitive advantage by selling its advertising space at a ridiculously low price and offering programming that is designed to compete directly with that of private broadcasters,” he said.
Péladeau would also like Bill C-18, the Online News Act, to be passed quickly “to ensure that the use of our news content is recognized and paid for at fair value by the digital behemoths who currently steal advertising dollars away from local businesses.”
Finally, he pointed to what he claims is “the highly prejudicial treatment of “TVA Sports” by the distributor Bell.”
“Unlike all other distributors in Quebec, Bell persists in blocking “TVA Sports’” prospects of profitability by refusing to pay a fair rate and giving preference to its own channels, such as RDS, which are descendants of the monopoly Bell once enjoyed and to which it would still like to subject Quebecers and Francophones outside Quebec.”
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