Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 25th, 2011

[Christine Wilson]

Children's programming is the largest genre of any programming we have on CBC. We have 32 hours of children's programming a week. What's probably special, and it's why parents count on CBC, is that we don't provide programming that just the kids like; we provide programming that the parents want the kids to like.

We have a child psychologist, a developmental psychologist, who works with us to make sure we provide programming for the whole child—the cognitive growth of the child but also the emotional growth, and the physical well-being of the child as well. That's all very important to us.

A little bit of what you saw in the 2015 strategy was marking the fact that we have to be very careful that we are where children are. We can't just continue to be on CBC television; we have to make sure that as children start using other platforms and addressing media in different ways, we can get that content to them.

[Tyrone Benskin, NDP, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

The two networks are also making great use of the web for that. Last night, my three-and-a-half-year-old and I spent 30 minutes on CBC Kids. We were navigating—she did that by herself—and playing around with the content that supports what she sees in the morning, whether it's the Razzberry Jazzberry Jam or Doodlebops, or something like this.

Then she'll switch over to Radio-Canada and she'll watch Toc Toc Toc. The quality of the website in French for Zone des petits...when you click on it, you'll see incredible games, interaction between a kid and the different actors or creations that are on Radio-Canada in the morning.

It's much more than simply kids watching on Sunday or Saturday mornings. It's about how we can make them have fun and play with the website, as they are being exposed to all of these great characters.

Do I have time for one—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

No, you're two minutes over, Mr. Benskin.

Mr. Armstrong.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you.

And thank you for your presentation.

Mr. Lacroix, you attended the national gala, the premiere of Breakaway, a great Canadian movie, hosted by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore.

Can you tell us what the CBC is doing to promote the movie industry in Canada?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

Do you want to talk about our investment in film?

[Christine Wilson]

Absolutely. We were partners in Breakaway, so we're very happy about that. It will be on CBC.

One of the most exciting things we're doing that speaks directly to your point is that we will be offering, starting next summer, a two-hour block of Canadian film every week. You might be interested that one of the issues we have with two-hour blocks of film is that because The National news is on at 10 o'clock, it's very difficult for us to find movies that you can play between 8 and 10 o'clock that are family-friendly. And some Canadian movies that are great Canadian movies--I'm thinking of Incendies, for example--are not something you could play between 8 and 10 o'clock.

So we're creating a big slot all summer long of what's going to be the Canadian movie night in Canada. It will run between 9 and 11 o'clock, or 9 and whenever the movie ends, because some Canadian films run long as well. That's going to start next summer.

[Louis Lalande]

Last year, with regard to French-language services, Quebec cinema produced 14 new films and Radio-Canada was a partner in that it invested in 11 of those 14 films, so that was a major investment.

I would also like to point out that for the first time in the country, a French-language film was produced in Ontario. Its title is La Sacrée and Radio-Canada was a partner right from the outset, with producer Mark Chatel. The premiere was held a few weeks ago and naturally Radio-Canada is going to broadcast it as well.

That is an important investment and it is appropriate to emphasize it, because we have a tendency to forget it. It's an important investment that contributes to the richness of Canadian cinema overall.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Thank you.

CBC was granted a one-year extension on the digital transition. Can you elaborate why that had to happen and how the progress is going?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

In June 2010 we came out and said that we were going to put out 27 transmitters where we have originating programming, meaning that every place in this country where you have a program that we create will have a digital transmitter. That investment was a $60-million investment. We said that for that to happen in the context of our resources--and also in an environment where more than 93% or 94% of Canadians get their TV signal by either a cable or a satellite provider--that was the most we could invest at that particular time.

We kept the 627 other analog transmitters going by special permission of the CRTC.

We'll see what happens in the next months. We haven't decided exactly what we are going to do. We'll see what kinds of resources we have, and come the end of our extension whether and how it will play out. But the idea was that we wanted to make sure that we delivered our services across the country in the most economical way, by making use of our resources, and we thought that was a very viable plan.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

Technology is changing, and it seems like a big part of your plan is trying to adjust to the changes that are happening now and how people will view their content, and anticipating changes that may happen over the next few years.

How is the impact of over-the-top media like Netflix, Hulu, and these other mediums affecting CBC, and are you maybe adjusting your plan to deal with that?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

It doesn't affect us that much, except that we actually sold inventory to Netflix. We have an agreement with them. We've provided them some content that the other Canadian players didn't want. So actually for us it was additional revenue. We sold them inventory that nobody wanted to see any more, and they used it--only on the CBC side. We looked at certain things with respect to Radio-Canada. We're not there yet. So frankly, at the end of the day, it's very incidental in terms of how that affects us.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

I know that in my household I'm about the only one left who watches any television, because they watch on iPads and on other platforms and use their phones. And 30-second clips are what a lot of young people are watching, and they move on to something else. So it's good that you're trying to anticipate that and being flexible.

On the other side, are you prepared for the onslaught of negative attacks upon the CBC from the millions of Coronation Street watchers across the country? Are they prepared for this being taken off or moved from their time slot?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

You're going to be very happy to hear that, on the contrary, we've recommitted to Coronation Street.

[Scott Armstrong, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester—Musquodoboit Valley, NS]

That's good news.

[Christine Wilson]

I know, it just keeps getting better.

We've had Coronation Street on for 50 years, and somehow over time we got to be nine months behind, right? For a long time this was a bit of a joke among Corrie lovers—and they are legion and vocal—but then it got to be a bit of a business problem. Because geofencing is not very strong, and as people really started to love Corrie, they found other ways to watch, and our investment in this product—which we would never dare take off—was being jeopardized.

What we're doing this year is we're doubling up on Corrie. The reason you see Corrie on this sheet between 7 and 7:30 is because we're doubling up. We have Corrie on every night between 6:30 and 7:30, and obviously it will take us nine months to catch up. Once we've caught up we'll be in sync with Britain and we won't have any more complaints and people won't be going over the geofence. Corrie will not be between 7 and 11; Corrie has rarely been between 7 and 11 o'clock on our schedule. It's normally in fringe or in the afternoon.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

So it's going to go back to 6:30.

[Christine Wilson]

Correct, it will be at 6:30.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

That's why it doesn't show on your sheet, going forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Armstrong.

We will go to Madame Boutin-Sweet.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

I want to thank our witnesses for being here with us today. Mr. Lacroix, I have a question for you.

You mentioned that your employees would have to adapt to the new realities. Can you tell us more about what that means, and whether it will mean staff cuts?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

We used the word "reinvention" several times at Radio-Canada. In English, we say "innovative disruption" to talk about the changes we are dealing with. Approximately 500 jobs in the radio and television environment are going to be transformed into digital jobs. So this is a transformation we are undergoing. Certain employees will indeed leave as they will not have the knowledge or necessary skills to allow them to retrain. Others will be supported in various ways through this period of change. To deliver services in the 450 region, that is north of Montreal, in Longueuil and Laval, if we have to make certain adjustments to have the necessary expertise, we are going to have to find people who are more skilled at this type of work.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

You talked about training some people in order to transfer them to other types of jobs.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

Absolutely. Training and development in an environment where everything is changing every few minutes, every few seconds—you know how fast this type of change happens—is highly important for us. In fact our investment in training employees is one of the items we are trying to preserve in the context of this strategic plan. We have to do more, we are aware of that, especially if we want them to be able to adapt to the environment of our 2015 strategic plan.

Louis, did you want to add something on this?

[Louis Lalande]

Just like any other large business, Radio-Canada is experiencing the effect of demographic change. That factor should not be forgotten. As we move into the digital era, we see an opportunity. Because of the very nature of things, several employees are going to leave because they will have completed their mission at Radio-Canada. As they reach a certain age, they retire. This is why the next three or four years are going to be a key period for us. We will be able to ensure that we make the most of those factors so as to not miss certain things and invest in new opportunities.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

To put this comment in perspective, I will quote an approximate figure of 40%, which corresponds to the proportion of the workforce that will be reaching retirement age in the next four years. This does not mean that these employees are going to retire but that they will have reached retirement age and will have met the necessary criteria to retire if ever they choose to do so.