Thank you.
As Mr. Mattocks said, since 1996, CBC/Radio-Canada has become the first broadcaster in the world to make its radio available live on the Internet. Today, Radio-Canada has the most elaborate media site in the francophone market. There you can find strong new offerings on the economy, international news, science and health, as well as technology. It also includes seventeen regional news feeds that cover current affairs across the country in real time.
Some 1,800 individuals put comments on the site, the address of which is www.radio-canada.ca. We attach a lot of value to the constant exchange we have with our audience. The Radio-Canada site attracts 1.7 million Internet users a month, 20% of Canada's francophone population.
One of the challenges in the francophone market is to retain enough room for diversity. That's why, since January, Radio-Canada has been offering a completely new service that has very quickly become the first francophone Web television in North America. It is called TOU.TV and, in partnership with eight broadcasters and tens of content producers, it offers an open platform accessible to everyone across Canada, and we offer approximately 3,000 hours of French-language television on demand on the Internet.
Since this past January, there have been more than 18 million hits on the new TOU.TV platform. Its success was immediate and its reputation has quickly exceeded our expectations.
TOU.TV attracts a younger audience than the conventional networks, and that audience tends to stay longer than on the conventional Internet. TOU.TV enables francophones across the country to watch programs produced by francophones from coast to coast. For example, a program like Volt, which is produced by TFO, which was hitherto available only in Ontario, is now available everywhere. It's also the ideal platform for launching Web series produced by Radio-Canada, the best known of which are undoubtedly Les chroniques d'une mère indigne, En audition avec Simon, RemYx and Temps mort.
CBC/Radio-Canada wants to continue to distinguish itself as a leader in the digital universe. Direct competition is increasingly strong and forces us to improve constantly. Consequently, competition on the Internet really knows no borders; the BBC, CNN, France 24, all those sites can be competitors for Radio-Canada. In this context, we are concerned about our ability to continue forcefully asserting our francophone identity in an increasingly English-language digital universe.
We are absolutely convinced that Radio-Canada has a leading role to play in the future expression of culture and democracy in the digital universe and that we will be able to be a force for assertiveness and innovation in that area.
Thank you for your attention, and I hope we can answer your questions.