I want to come back to the issue of digitization, to the transition to digital broadcasting.
I was trying to explain to you, using specialty music as an example, that there is currently nothing for digital broadcasting. All you are doing is taking money already allocated to creative programming and to broadcasting and putting it into music digitization.
You did the same thing with the Canada Media Fund. There was no increase in funding, or additional money for the creative and production processes. However, a substantial portion of the money in the Canada Media Fund had been earmarked for digital gadgets. I use the word “gadgets” because it is impossible to develop a digital broadcasting strategy by neglecting a large segment of the population that has yet to keep pace and that cannot be overlooked.
For instance in 16 months—August 2011 is really just around the corner—9% of Canadians and 15% of Quebeckers will not have access to digital television as we know it today. As far as telephones are concerned, 13% of Quebeckers own a smart phone, but only 8% of them know use it to access the Internet. So then, all of the current talk about “web episodes“ and “mob episodes” will mean nothing to them. They draw a blank when they hear these expressions.
So then, the small scattered steps that you are taking do no constitute a comprehensive digital broadcasting strategy. There is no sense of any real strategy or vision.