Official Languages committee  Our mandate is to develop and deliver similar programming to Anglophones and Francophones. In the tender call we responded to, Mr. Godin, the conditions were clear: you had to meet the objectives set out by the IOC, which involved delivering coverage of the Olympic Games in Canada, in French and English.

Official Languages committee  Yes, it was one of the conditions set out in the call for tenders.

Official Languages committee  The President of the CRTC does not have the power to force us to do anything in that area. We are talking about a business agreement between two parties. I would like to come back to one point. The people at CTV are big boys. It is a serious network that I have a great deal of respect for, even though we sometimes clash because we are competitors, so that makes sense.

Official Languages committee  Sylvain, could you address that? That was one of their first proposals, back in 2005, and one we responded to on many occasions.

Official Languages committee  Sylvain, could you take that question?

Official Languages committee  Sylvain, I would like you to comment on revenues from outside Quebec—please explain what that represents. Even Mr. Frappier explained that the amount of money that part represents is insignificant. However, we would be losing a lot of money, because advertisers do a media buy for the entire network.

Official Languages committee  Sylvain discussed this in front of the Senate Committee, saying that the important thing for us is that there be separate English and French programming as part of our coverage. CBC/Radio-Canada has always done that, because Francophone and Anglophone viewers are not interested in the same athletes.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Rodriguez, when you read all these comments about CTV… It is difficult to negotiate with CTV because CTV does not need us. Its representatives told you that they cover all of Canada and that--

Official Languages committee  It is.

Official Languages committee  It is a condition set out in the contract, Mr. Rodriguez.

Official Languages committee  That is correct.

Official Languages committee  May I make a comment? Mr. Rodriguez, I did not say that CTV was not meeting the conditions. What I am saying is that CTV was well aware of the contract and tender call conditions. I presume the people at CTV convinced the IOC that they would be able to broadcast the Olympics in French and in English equally, by unscrambling the RDS signal and adding the TQS signal.

Official Languages committee  For most of the Olympic coverage we have provided on our airwaves, CBC/Radio-Canada has not made any profit. The costs associated with covering the last five Games were very extensive.

Official Languages committee  I am talking mainly about what CBC/Radio-Canada has done in the past. Over the years, we have covered the Olympic Games. As you know, there is a cost associated with broadcast rights. We then try to recover an equivalent amount through the sale of advertising. We absorb the rest.

Official Languages committee  They can be made public.