MONTREAL and OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) has lost its most influential French-language member.
Quebecor Media-owned Le Groupe TVA, the country’s largest private French-language TV broadcaster, informed the CAB of its withdrawal in a letter Friday, citing irreconcilable differences over how best to represent the interests of generalist TV networks. Its representatives have also resigned from all CAB committees.
“We do so with regret, and not without having tried, by every means, to convince the Association to be the voice for our concerns about the future of our broadcasting system and to respond to [our] legitimate expectations,” wrote Pierre Dion, Groupe TVA’s president and CEO in a letter to the CAB, in French, which we translated.
CAB president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell, in a note Tuesday to other CAB members, said: “We regret, but equally respect TVA’s decision.
“However, with so many significant forces of change in play for broadcasters, there has never been a greater need for constructive dialogue and consensus building. The CAB will continue to work with its radio and television members in Quebec and across Canada to prioritize and vigorously advocate positions that advance the interests of private broadcasters,” O’Farrell said.
Reaction has been swift.
Bill Roberts, former CAB senior vice-president for television and now president and CEO of S-Vox (owners of VisionTV, The Christian Channel and One: Body, Mind & Spirit), said he’s “troubled” by TVA’s departure, saying “it’s a setback for broadcasting in terms of all the regulatory and policy decisions to come”.
“For us, the CAB is just critical. We must understand that the broadcasting system is not just about those who string together the wires but also about the writers and producers and everyone else, and that there be a unified voice,” Roberts told Cartt.ca in an interview. “It’s time for broadcasters to pull together rather than fall apart.”
In his letter addressed to the CAB, Dion was conciliatory and expressed thanks to CAB staff, saying “we have appreciated the quality of the many services provided”.
However, Dion suggested the association may have become a victim of its broadened membership, which now includes pay and specialty TV as well as radio and conventional TV.
As a result, he said, “divergent interests are more and more evident. That leads to decisions of convenience and ultimately to defence of the status quo”.
“Unfortunately we see that the CAB is not able to adequately represent the interests of generalist TV whose future, in Quebec and in Canada, is being played out in the overhaul of the regulations that govern the production and distribution of Canadian content.
“Nor is the CAB able to propose satisfactory solutions regarding the challenges of the digital revolution in particular, and of the fragmentation of audiences and sources of financing, or to recognize the need to deregulate the relationship between broadcasters, distributors, and producers.”
Dion said “our common objective should be to contribute significantly to the modernization of the Canadian system, to promote our own content, and to encourage investment in this content. But the CAB is incapable of doing that.
“When Quebecor and Groupe TVA proposed investing significantly more in content, its promotion, and its use across broadcast platforms, the CAB preferred to ignore the consequences of the status quo for an organization such as TVA, and pleaded instead in favour of defence of the Canadian Television Fund.”
Dion pointed out that over the next two years, the federal government and the CRTC will be making important decisions that will have “considerable impact on the future of generalist TV, on Canadian content, and on the vitality of the Canadian broadcasting system.
“We will continue to plead for the major changes that would ensure a better future for the most important French-language broadcaster in Canada and, we hope, for the entire broadcasting system.”
In his note to other CAB members, O’Farrell did not respond directly to TVA’s criticisms, saying only that “achieving consensus among members is at the core of the CAB’s advocacy role.
“For the most part, industry players are successful in fashioning divergent and sometimes opposing views into consensus positions for the industry and the Canadian broadcasting system. Through the CAB, these outcomes often require considerable effort by broadcasters in both voicing and hearing unaligned perspectives on fundamental policy and regulatory issues. In its letter, TVA indicated it had reached the conclusion that its corporate views diverged from the industry’s consensus position on key policy issues.”
S-Vox’s Roberts, who also worked as a senior policy analyst with the CRTC, said he hopes TVA’s withdrawal is not a signal to others to follow suit. “We can’t have a Rest of Canada Association of Broadcasters.”
In his time at the CRTC, he said, “we always found it helpful to have a coherent policy position coming from the CAB on behalf of private broadcasters. Now, this becomes a fractured process. I hope that TVA can be encouraged back into the fold. The best thing is to have a strong CAB from coast to coast.”
Dion said that despite TVA’s pull-out from the CAB, it will continue to work with other broadcasters to bring about change. He also expressed hope that the network could still work with the CAB on specific issues.
Glenn Wanamaker is Cartt.ca’s Quebec Editor.
